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Old 03-02-2011, 06:22 PM
 
1 posts, read 2,592 times
Reputation: 10

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Hi,

I'm doing a study on urban planning in San Francisco, and specifically on South Of Market neighborhood, because it's probably the area where the planning potential is the most interesting in SF.

I've just discover this forum, very interesting for me.

I have read that soma is like insecure, noisy, pedestrian unfriendly. Industrial until 90's, then lofts, artists... I have read that there is gentrification since 90's but you can still have lowvalue condo, very mixed. And how about the nightlife ? Underground nightlife ?

Is there something that symbolize SOMA ? An identity ?

I just want a little opinion by citizens like you, about your feelings of SoMa, the perception you have, whatever you live there or not.

Say me all you want to say about this area !


Thanks all, I'm delighted to visit this city next month.

Lire phonétiquement
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Old 03-02-2011, 06:50 PM
 
Location: South Korea
5,242 posts, read 13,030,842 times
Reputation: 2957
Quote:
Originally Posted by FloTang29 View Post
Is there something that symbolize SOMA ? An identity ?
Folsom Street Fair?


Anyway, I've never been crazy about it as a neighborhood, it feels really out of place in SF and doesn't really feel like a normal SF neighborhood.

Originally it was a lot of warehouses since it was near the SF port, which doesn't do much shipping anymore. There's still a lot of warehouse buildings there though a lot of them seem abandoned, but many of them have been turned into other things, maybe lofts. Also there's quite a few factory retail stores like furniture and carpet stores. Also different parts of it are pretty different from one another.

Most of SOMA is a lot of warehouses with condos and apartment buildings mixed in. The streets are almost all wide and one-way access streets to and from the Bay Bridge and the highways, this is what I think makes it feel so different. The streets are always full of traffic and people drive pretty fast, you get 4-lane streets full of cars instead of two-lane streets with more moderate traffic like you'd see in most other residential areas. This makes it noisy and makes being a pedestrian not feel as comfortable in areas with less traffic. Plus by and large there's not really any shopping strips, any commercial stuff seems scattered around rather than centered on a few blocks like in other SF neighborhoods. Overall it doesn't really feel safe, just desolate and there's not a lot of people walking around. 6th Street in SOMA is pretty crappy though and is basically the southern extension of the Tenderloin, lots of SRO's and bums and junkies wandering around being gross.

Eastern SOMA is pretty different from the rest though. Just south of Market, like around 2nd, there's a ton of office buildings which are mainly newer than buildings north of Market. It definitely doesn't feel desolate like areas further west can, especially during the day. South Park is small but cool and has a lot of cool restaurants around it. Yerba Buena Park is a neat place to chill out on your lunch break if you work nearby.

Then there's also a ton of new condo development near the ballpark and Mission Bay--this is probably the part you are most interested in but I thought you might want some thoughts about the rest of SOMA. This Southeastern area of SOMA is pretty much the only part of SF where you see so much new development since until recently it was a lot of industrial land--I wouldn't be surprised if you see more and more development in areas near SF's eastern shorelines as you go south from Mission Bay because there's so much unused blighted industrial land there.

The condos are nice and all but they're so expensive that they only really attract aging yuppies and old people. There's a surprising amount of shopping and grocery stores in parts of this condo area but the whole area still feels too sterile to me because, well, it's a bunch of condos.
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Old 03-02-2011, 08:06 PM
 
Location: Oakland, CA
1,148 posts, read 2,981,741 times
Reputation: 857
I live in Mission Bay, the redeveloped portion of SOMA. I'd say that Mission Bay feels sterile but that is because it is still being developed and brand new. The great thing is that it is a part of the city that gets to start from scratch and incorporate the latest in design, urban planning, streetscaping and landscaping. Even though Mission Bay is like a blank canvas- there is opportunity for something fresh and new to come out of it. Lots of people like to criticize it for the time being- but it is the future of San Francisco.

In regards to the last post- it does seem like the condos are all expensive- it has that look visually too- but there are at least a couple of Below Market Rate/Low Income buildings. According to the master plan, Mission Bay will have 30% of all housing allocated to low income housing.

Here are some keywords to look up for Mission Bay:

UCSF
UCSF Benioff Hospital
Legoretta + Legoretta
Salesforce
Mission Creek & Mission Creek Park
AT&T Park
Pier 70
Radiance
Arterra (First leed certified residential building in SF from what I recall)
Port of San Francisco
Gap Inc.
Mission Creek houseboats
Rich Sorro Commons (first affordable housing developed in Mission Bay, family and housing for people with AIDS/HIV)
Mission Walk (housing for low-to-moderate income families)

Last edited by mini_cute; 03-02-2011 at 08:21 PM..
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Old 03-02-2011, 10:40 PM
 
34 posts, read 65,460 times
Reputation: 56
I was fascinated by SOMA ever since I moved to San Francisco. I worked next to the Southern Pacific offices in SOMA, which owned the vast tract of land that was covered by their railroad operations. They were nice enough to a know-nothing geography minor to share some of their vision for was Mission Bay was supposed to become, and that fueled my interest. SP later gave way to the Catellus Corporation, and their ambitious plan gave way to political infighting in the City of San Francisco.

I had friends who lived in SOMA warehouses made into living spaces in the 80's, long before the modern new lofts arrived that now occupy those streets. There was quite a lot of nightlife in the alleys and larger spaces, albeit mostly underground. The established nightclubs were mostly in the western area along 11th and 9th street, or tucked under or near the freeway ramps in eastern SOMA.

I like what has been happening there, for the most part. Yes, it is sterile, but it is also very new so I think that will change. Unlike every other residential part of San Francisco, it is table flat which adds to the starkness. I actually see quite a few younger people out there, especially on weekends. The ballpark is probably the bobweight for the area, especially during the season. But I think it is slowly getting its own identity apart from that. I can see a point maybe ten years from now where it will be the first "car-free" neighborhood in the City.
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