"The City"

[eureka1]

People who are old enough to remember Herb Caen will always refer to SF as The City.

[Erratikmind]

Growing up in the 60s and to this day, my family and I have always referred to S.F. As the City.

[gwillyfromphilly]

Originally Posted by Erratikmind

Growing up in the 60s and to this day, my family and I have always referred to S.F. As the City.

I was told a while back that people in Southern California refer to San Francisco as "the city" as oppose to using that term for places like Los Angeles and San Diego. Is that really true?

[sav858]

Originally Posted by gwillyfromphilly

I was told a while back that people in Southern California refer to San Francisco as "the city" as oppose to using that term for places like Los Angeles and San Diego. Is that really true?

Not really unless it's one Bay Area transplant talking to another Bay Area transplant.

[04kL4nD]

I never heard anyone in SoCal call SF "The City"

If anything people in SoCal just call the entire Bay Area "San Francisco" because to them it's all the same thing.

[18Montclair]

Originally Posted by mysticaltyger

I grew up in Philadelphia & suburbs and we definitely did refer to Philly as "The City".

Yes and this appears to be the case in the Chicago area as well.

It appears that the difference is that SF is known as 'The City' over a much wider area well beyond the metro borders of the Bay Area.

[Folks3000]

Originally Posted by gwillyfromphilly

I was told a while back that people in Southern California refer to San Francisco as "the city" as oppose to using that term for places like Los Angeles and San Diego. Is that really true?

Sometimes, but it is rarer down there, and if they do call it that they often would say "up there in..." or something so it is obvious. More people just call the whole area San Francisco, but you hear "The City" every now and then, from transplants especially. I'd say "The City" talk sort of falls off at Fresno or so. I have never heard anyone refer to LA as "the city" that is for sure!

[LunaticVillage]

Originally Posted by 04kL4nD

I never heard anyone in SoCal call SF "The City"

If anything people in SoCal just call the entire Bay Area "San Francisco" because to them it's all the same thing.

No, for people from outside the Bay Area, there is a huge distinction between San Francisco and Oakland. People from outside the Bay think of San Francisco as the "nice" part of the Bay Area that is overpopulated with hippies, rich liberal white people who sniff their own farts and drive hybrid cars, gays, Asians and homeless people. These people believe San Francisco doesn't have "real" ghetto areas, that's all Oakland. If you tell people you are from the hood in SF (i.e. Hunter's Point, Lakeview, Sunnydale) in most places around the country around people unfamiliar with SF as a whole, you will get laughed at and people will refuse to believe you. I've met many people from SoCal who literally have no idea about the other side of things in SF. People outside of the Bay think Oakland is 100% poor and black or 50% poor and black and the other 50% are Latino gang bangers in big t-shirts (thank you Oakland Gang Wars) and think that they will get shot as soon as they enter the city limits. Oddly, many people from outside of the Bay Area have never even heard of Richmond and Vallejo.

[sav858]

Why would anyone outside the Bay Area know of Richmond or Vallejo? It would be odd if they did.

People really don't think about ghettos like you do lol.