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Personally I LOVE San-Francisco but I don’t see how I would love it any less if the City gets cleaned up and the problems of homelessness would be reduced.
OP is right. San Francisco has become so smug, people who live there (and many other places in the Bay Area) don't realize how ****ing smug the whole area has become.
You have the following main categories of denizen who calls SF home.
Liberal/"Saving The World" SJW Warrior - Usually found in SOMA. The hipster, gay rights, no GMO, OCCUPY wall street, down with the 1%, I'm a social media master at a startup trying to bring fresh water to the 3rd world, my girlfriend doesn't shave her pits, but she's a philosophy major so she's so much more than hygiene, I claim to be agnostic/atheist but was probably raised catholic, and I only eat at Trader Joes or Whole Foods crowd. These people can be condescending, and annoying, and the worst part about it is, if you try to shoooo them away, they will continue to berate your eating habits, and political leanings because they think they're trying to save you. "Also **** the South, bunch of uneducated, bible thumping hill billies, unlike myself who is enlightened, educated, and high and mighty." Damn, these liberal F**** can be annoying.
White Collar Aristocracy - Usually found in Danville, San Rafael, Blackhawk, or parts of Marin County but works in the city so you'll seem these types daily. The "I only drive german luxury sedans", my house is 3,000 sqft in a fortress community, no black people or hispanics in my neighborhood or white flight, who cares how foie gras is made, my boat is docked at the harbor and I use it 3 times a year, WASP to the bone, I cashed out all my stock at a tech startup that never made any profit, my 2 kids and wife (who is 15 years younger than me) are awesome, there is a gate blocking entrance to my neighborhood even though my city was ranked #1 safest city in all of the country, type of crowd. These are the type of people to cut you off on the road, or in line at the store, because... well, they're just more important than you, and **** you, you peasant. I'll talk about my wealth, and tell you how much everything I bought cost just because it makes me feel good. BTW, my kid got into Harvard. Did you hear that? Harvard.
City Lover Professional - The I love the city life because I can get groceries at 2am, ride the MUNI back home from the bar, looks down upon "birthers" living in their boring burb bungalows, hanging out at the trendiest bar in the city dropping $25 a drink, wear a suit when I go to the local CVS because I just got off work, and I'm going to walk home to my 5th story 1 bedroom apartment that I pay $3,600 a month for in the Tenderloin, there's no elevator but that's okay it's "cardio", but just in case I have my 2 year membership to 24 hour fitness where I go workout with my girlfriend or boyfriend, or just friends in general. Except I have none of those because I spend too much time at work, and I'm really anti-social because I'm jaded by society in general and I trust no one.
Those are the types of smug denizens I've encountered numerous times in San Francisco. Strangely enough, I've met people who are a mix of 2 or even 3 of the above categories.
You nailed it, CaliRestoration....
I'd also add old-timers here, who're born and grew up in the city, had inherited property or live in rent-controlled space with very long lease, and just don't have the guts to leave, despite all/way of life is crumbling down around them. Sometimes people just hold onto things.
TL;DR SF is an overpriced, over hyped city as seen by a young business/engineering professional from LA.
I've been a long time lurker but finally decided to register just to reply to this thread. My opinions and experiences are coming through from a particular POV so I don't expect folks to entirely agree/understand. In no particular order, here's my 2 cents:
1. As a native Angelino for 20+ years and now working in SF in tech, I agree with OP (although some points seem a bit exaggerated). As recent as in 2014, I'd visit SF several times/yr when it became too hot in LA and always thought it was a wonderful city. My opinion took a 180 when I moved here for a tech startup. It seems I never stayed long enough before to see the other side of SF. Now I'm looking for ways to move back to LA without losing out on my current income.
2. Cost of living sucks in SF! The rent for my 500sqft 1 bedroom "luxury" apartment is more than the mortgage for my 1,500 sqft 3bd/2br in LA. The definition of "luxury" in SF apparently is "not built before the 90s". It's not just the real estate but everything else is proportionately more expensive. Groceries, gasoline, utilities, etc... is roughly 10-20% higher than in LA. If you're coming from cities with lower COL, be prepared for sticker shock. Even coming from LA, I always felt bamboozled one way or another. Imagine paying $5 for a beer in one bar and then going to another, smaller bar paying $10 for the same beer. Just because I can afford it doesn't mean I'm willing to pay for it. Driving outside the city, there are still empty plots of land where developers refuse to build additional housing. They're content charging us up the a$$ for rent.
3. It's a dirty, dirty city. Although I live in a relatively nice building in SoMa, there is a fleet of homeless people within 5-10 minutes walking in all directions. Go north past Chinatown? Homeless. Go west past all the shopping on Market? Homeless. Go South past Yerba Buena? You guessed it right, homeless! Occasionally I'd find bearded gentlemen urinating/defecating and lovely ladies offering "services" right outside the lobby. What kills me is everyone is so jaded that they walk by like it's normal. The homeless are generally everywhere in SF. Before someone comments about other neighborhoods in SF, please pick a point and trace out half a mile in all directions and tell me that area doesn't have homeless people.
4. Weather in SF is not the most ideal. It's great compared to most places outside CA but the summers are terrible. If you disagree with this, please visit any SoCal beach during the summer and you'd understand. To date I've yet to stay at a beach in SF longer than 30 minutes, let alone bathe in the water.
5. People in SF are mediocre to the extent that warrants the "meh" reaction. Women in SF tend to be lower on the genetic lottery scale compared to LA. Want to be around beautiful women? Go to LA or SD. The same can be said about men. As a straight male, I can confidently confirm there are more handsome men in LA. Literally, the good looking people flock to LA to pursue a career in Hollywood so there is a higher concentration. My opinion may be biased because I work in tech but it seems almost everyone I meet in SF works in tech or has a spouse/partner that works in tech. This leads to very dull conversations. The glitz and glamour party scene is non-existent but there are a number of good dive bars. Don't expect to find women at bars though. There's a reason why they call it Man Jose, Manta Clara, Mantain View, etc... There are also a lot of comicon/anime/cosplay typed people here. This statement speaks for itself. The protests from Oakland often spill over to SF to the point where it's unsafe to be outside when it occurs. I've been locked in twice so far, once at a restaurant near Union Square because of the Black Lives Matter protest and recently at a Starbucks on Market due to the anti-Trump rallies. There's also this gem: Black Lives Matters Demonstrators Block All Westbound Bay Bridge Lanes « CBS San Francisco
6. The culinary experience is a little disappointing. I agree with what was said previously about SF being a great choice for fine dining but not everyone can afford to blow $300/person for dinner regularly. I applaud SF for the number of Michelin rated restaurants but great ground level eateries are lacking. I'll take tacos and AYCE Korean BBQ over Gary Danko, French Laundry, or Kusakabe any day.
7. Traffic in SF is much worse than in LA. The people who think LA traffic sucks have obviously never heard of Waze or lived there long enough to learn the traffic patterns. Yes there are a ton of cars in LA but there are more freeways that are at least 4+ lanes on both sides. There are long sections of the 101 & 880 here that are 3 lanes on each side! Traffic on SF bridges is the worst I've seen ever experienced in the US (and don't get me started bout the bridge tolls and the atrocious lines at the toll booths). The difference is LA is slow because of the quantity of cars while SF is slow because of the poor infrastructure. An accident in SF halts the infrastructure while in LA you simply re-route to another freeway. BART is much more of a dump than Metro in LA. I once witnessed a (probably homeless) guy eating raw chicken on the BART. As a driver, cyclists are rude and as a cyclist, cars try to run you over. In LA they at least realize this and refuse to paint more bike lanes.
8. Sports fans in the Bay are nuts. I thought Dodgers fans were terrible but I never felt unsafe going to a game in LA. Here, if you don't support the local teams, you are against them.
Native Angelino here. Agree with what you say except sports fans. Bay Area football fans behave like thugs. But most other fan bases there are fair weather, bandwagon, or in the case of the A's, non existent.
5. People in SF are mediocre to the extent that warrants the "meh" reaction. Women in SF tend to be lower on the genetic lottery scale compared to LA. Want to be around beautiful women? Go to LA or SD. The same can be said about men. As a straight male, I can confidently confirm there are more handsome men in LA. Literally, the good looking people flock to LA to pursue a career in Hollywood so there is a higher concentration.
I keep hearing this point from men. The culture of the Bay seems to be the problem. Some of my transplant coworkers tell me they used to dress up or wear a full face of makeup in their old cities. Now one only wears mascara and lip gloss. I'm not much for makeup but every time I'd dress up nicely to go out seems other people would stare at me. And the same coworkers all say they feel weird to dress up when everyone else is in jeans and North Face jackets.
I keep hearing this point from men. The culture of the Bay seems to be the problem. Some of my transplant coworkers tell me they used to dress up or wear a full face of makeup in their old cities. Now one only wears mascara and lip gloss.
I'm not much for makeup but every time I'd dress up nicely to go out seems other people would stare at me. And the same coworkers all say they feel weird to dress up when everyone else is in jeans and North Face jackets.
There's a young woman who had a blog and used to live in San Francisco. One time she talked about how she and her husband were going out to a restaurant and she was considering what to wear. She wanted to wear a dress with some boots that she loved, but she had to talk herself into it. She was terrified of standing out. Once she was sitting in the restaurant, she realized she was the best dressed woman there and she felt great.
As someone who lives in the southeast, I had no clue what all the angst was about. It was one of the strangest things I've ever read.
I wasn't sure if she was a drama queen or if people there just weren't into fashion.
Not that I care anymore since I've been married for many years, but Misosoba is right. The Bay Area in general has a much lower level of "attractiveness" compared to places in SoCal. In SoCal, you could go to any of the major tourist beaches and throw a handful of pebbles into the air and you will ping 3-4 "8 out of 10s" no problem.
In San Francisco that "8" immediately becomes a 10-11 based on the competition and will get at least a dozen white knight tech geeks vying for her attention by constantly asking for her "e-mail" or "Facebook friend request" and utterly failing at closing the deal.
Not that I care anymore since I've been married for many years, but Misosoba is right. The Bay Area in general has a much lower level of "attractiveness" compared to places in SoCal. In SoCal, you could go to any of the major tourist beaches and throw a handful of pebbles into the air and you will ping 3-4 "8 out of 10s" no problem.
In San Francisco that "8" immediately becomes a 10-11 based on the competition and will get at least a dozen white knight tech geeks vying for her attention by constantly asking for her "e-mail" or "Facebook friend request" and utterly failing at closing the deal.
Seriously? I've looked at videos of the scene at Venice Beach and other popular beaches around LA, and they're full of very ordinary women. A fair number of chubbies, and otherwise unremarkable women. I've heard statements like yours, so I was expecting something very different. But rumors such as yours are wrong.
I keep hearing this point from men. The culture of the Bay seems to be the problem. Some of my transplant coworkers tell me they used to dress up or wear a full face of makeup in their old cities. Now one only wears mascara and lip gloss. I'm not much for makeup but every time I'd dress up nicely to go out seems other people would stare at me. And the same coworkers all say they feel weird to dress up when everyone else is in jeans and North Face jackets.
It depends on where you work. Women in the financial sector still dress up and wear makeup. In fact, makeup is part of the "uniform" in that sector; it's pretty much required.
Seriously? I've looked at videos of the scene at Venice Beach and other popular beaches around LA, and they're full of very ordinary women.
Yeah, viewing Youtube videos totally makes you an expert on the local scene at Venice beach. I mean why travel or live anywhere, you can just view Youtube videos like you and be an expert on anywhere and everywhere!
Do you like being wrong on everything?
Last edited by CaliRestoration; 12-19-2016 at 11:22 AM..
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