I hear you man. SF is definitely not a big-time pedestrian city. I love that about New York, Paris, London, Hong Kong, and others places where you can really experience the human crush of life the hoof.
This is a dreamy essay. Having lived in the Bay Area I loved revisiting San Fran through your eyes but pulling it all together with your love map was the icing on the cake. I don't think I recall the places of love as much as the feelings of the environment, the emotions and sensations it evoked.
One place that does come to mind is crossing the bridge toward your place but hanging a left. Walking up into those hills for a picnic with my love. It was one of my last days in San Fran and I distinctly remember that place and that food looking over at the city and the bridge.
thanks for reading Donna, and for your reflections :) Sounds like you mean the Presidio maybe... I love it there too, I've spent lots of time at Crissy Field and even going back to my high school days, Friday nights in a tree house up in one of the big cedars in the forest there.
Beautiful memories Bowen. Thanks for sharing. My brief 1 year stint living in Bernal Heights and walking my Golden Bogie in the hilltop park every day before work was magical.
My Mom and Dad began taking my brothers and I as children, visiting his college buddy who was a ranger at Point Reyes. Decades of visits and memories since. There’s very few places like it. You’re fortunate to call it home.
Palermo! I was last there in 2015 I think. Much to love! Italy of course, which I have a long long relationship with, and an island, which is always geographically interesting. So much history there, so many overlapping civilizations, one of the major historical crossroads of the Mediterranean. My experience on the ground there was gritty and vibrant. Tons of street life, lots of young people, immigrants from parts of the world that I hadn't run into elsewhere. Great food, of course, and very interesting place to begin a longer exploration. I went on from there to spend a couple of weeks going around Sicily and the Aeolian islands -- and then up to Bologna, Venice, and the Dolomites for another couple of weeks, on that trip.
I lived in various places in the East Bay from 1993 to 2019, and held a few jobs in SF. My husband had an office in the city for many years. This essay therefore sparked nostalgia but also surprise, because everything I hear from my friends in Oakland & SF is how bad the urban centers and neighborhoods are now due to crime, mental illness, drugs, and high vacancy rates--a whole new level of violence and hopelessness, according to them. I was under the impression that the Bay Area has really lost its magic, and those who live there have a bunker mentality, on guard for being attacked, like my friend the other day who stopped at Arazmendi on Lakeshore in Oakland--one of my favorite bakeries--and had her purse straps cut by someone on the sidewalk who then ran off with her purse. She described this as if it’s a normal occurrence. Does this square at all with your view of SF now? I’d like to return to run trail races in the Oakland Hills and the Headlands, and hopefully experience the city the way you see it.
I kindof missed what you'd said about having lived here for so long yourself. I'd be interested to hear more of your own experience, and also the contrast with moving to Colorado -- very different I'm sure!
Thanks for reading Sarah, great to see you here -- and for your reflection and questions. I know this is the popular perception and sort of common public story about SF these days... and, well, there's some truth to it, but it's certainly not what the media makes it out to be, and also not at all entirely unique to the Bay Area. At the same time, I don't mean to dismiss your concerns or your friend's experience. There are lots of factors in play, and it's a long story that I can't claim to have the complete picture of. My impression as an SF native is that there is, at the moment, somewhat more & different street crime, and certainly more homelessness and poverty — and I also see lots of that in many other American cities. It's probably true that at the moment it's not quite as pleasant a place to live as it was when I was in my twenties and thirties, for example, and that's also not only due to these overtly negative factors but also due to cultural shifts and the massive current concentration of wealth and employment in tech & software. That said, many of my local friends have a bit of a running joke about the over-popularularized perception that SF is a total shitshow, because it's also true that SF is still a stunner of a place. Cultural shifts ebb and flow very much like the water under the bridge. Down sometimes, up at others. My personal feeling is that the downtrend at the moment in SF is mostly a reflection that we're past the best of times in America and seeing very palpable evidence of decline, in many many ways, all around the country. Bummer about your friend getting ripped off. I've never felt unsafe in SF except long ago in my teenage years, when entering certain neighborhoods was truly a very immediately dangerous move.
I'm a trail runner myself and I love running on Mt Tam in particular -- lots of the longer trail races include a lot of mileage in the headlands, but that's almost all fire roads with no trees. Don't miss all the world class singletrack on the mountain! Come run, it's beautiful here!
Situational awareness is key. As a San Franciscan, and one with two little girls, I’m ALWAYS on the lookout for some errant, violent act, much like a demobbed soldier back in normal society. I don’t think it’s much worse for us now than it was for New Yorkers back in the 70s and 80s. As Bowen said, we’re on a general downturn nationwide and everyone can expect to experience the insane level of social polarity that is taking root in American like a Stage IV metastasized cancer on a personal level sooner rather than later I think.
Thanks for that thoughtful reply, and I’m glad to hear you think the bad news is overblown. I ran the 2022 Miwok 100K —a greatest hits tour of the Headlands—and might return again to that race.
One thing that's changed a lot is the climate, and lots of the neighborhoods in the city too... These days it might be more interesting to stay out in the Sunset near the beach, for example, and deal less with the heart of the city. Or just stay in Marin and dip into the city itself, rather than stay there. I'm also much less of a city person on a day to day person these days than I was in my younger years.
This is beautifully written. It definitely raised my excitement and anticipation of my trip to San Francisco and Mill Valley next week, where I hope to add another layer of SF memories.
Wonderful piece. Voices of those who know the city as a child, teenager, adolescent and middle aged, soon to be old, person are rare and powerful. I too have traveled more or less all over the world, but am still trying to figure out what makes San Francisco such an alluring, captivating, frustrating, beautiful, confusing and mysterious town.
That was dreamy. Now I'm thinking of the places I've visited to try and remember how I felt.
Thanks man — let’s hear it!
Love me some San Francisco Bay Area. But Chicago is my ultimate jam. I dig cities that vibe with pedestrian energy along with a little bit of grit.
I hear you man. SF is definitely not a big-time pedestrian city. I love that about New York, Paris, London, Hong Kong, and others places where you can really experience the human crush of life the hoof.
This is a dreamy essay. Having lived in the Bay Area I loved revisiting San Fran through your eyes but pulling it all together with your love map was the icing on the cake. I don't think I recall the places of love as much as the feelings of the environment, the emotions and sensations it evoked.
One place that does come to mind is crossing the bridge toward your place but hanging a left. Walking up into those hills for a picnic with my love. It was one of my last days in San Fran and I distinctly remember that place and that food looking over at the city and the bridge.
thanks for reading Donna, and for your reflections :) Sounds like you mean the Presidio maybe... I love it there too, I've spent lots of time at Crissy Field and even going back to my high school days, Friday nights in a tree house up in one of the big cedars in the forest there.
Ah this one got me!!! That city got me, it still has me. Beautiful. Beautifully written. A quilt. A kaleidoscope of memories... really good. ❤️
Aww thanks Mary, great to see you here as always ❤️
Beautiful memories Bowen. Thanks for sharing. My brief 1 year stint living in Bernal Heights and walking my Golden Bogie in the hilltop park every day before work was magical.
My Mom and Dad began taking my brothers and I as children, visiting his college buddy who was a ranger at Point Reyes. Decades of visits and memories since. There’s very few places like it. You’re fortunate to call it home.
I see Palermo on your list of favorite cities! Curious what about the city really struck you?
Palermo! I was last there in 2015 I think. Much to love! Italy of course, which I have a long long relationship with, and an island, which is always geographically interesting. So much history there, so many overlapping civilizations, one of the major historical crossroads of the Mediterranean. My experience on the ground there was gritty and vibrant. Tons of street life, lots of young people, immigrants from parts of the world that I hadn't run into elsewhere. Great food, of course, and very interesting place to begin a longer exploration. I went on from there to spend a couple of weeks going around Sicily and the Aeolian islands -- and then up to Bologna, Venice, and the Dolomites for another couple of weeks, on that trip.
I lived in various places in the East Bay from 1993 to 2019, and held a few jobs in SF. My husband had an office in the city for many years. This essay therefore sparked nostalgia but also surprise, because everything I hear from my friends in Oakland & SF is how bad the urban centers and neighborhoods are now due to crime, mental illness, drugs, and high vacancy rates--a whole new level of violence and hopelessness, according to them. I was under the impression that the Bay Area has really lost its magic, and those who live there have a bunker mentality, on guard for being attacked, like my friend the other day who stopped at Arazmendi on Lakeshore in Oakland--one of my favorite bakeries--and had her purse straps cut by someone on the sidewalk who then ran off with her purse. She described this as if it’s a normal occurrence. Does this square at all with your view of SF now? I’d like to return to run trail races in the Oakland Hills and the Headlands, and hopefully experience the city the way you see it.
I kindof missed what you'd said about having lived here for so long yourself. I'd be interested to hear more of your own experience, and also the contrast with moving to Colorado -- very different I'm sure!
Thanks for reading Sarah, great to see you here -- and for your reflection and questions. I know this is the popular perception and sort of common public story about SF these days... and, well, there's some truth to it, but it's certainly not what the media makes it out to be, and also not at all entirely unique to the Bay Area. At the same time, I don't mean to dismiss your concerns or your friend's experience. There are lots of factors in play, and it's a long story that I can't claim to have the complete picture of. My impression as an SF native is that there is, at the moment, somewhat more & different street crime, and certainly more homelessness and poverty — and I also see lots of that in many other American cities. It's probably true that at the moment it's not quite as pleasant a place to live as it was when I was in my twenties and thirties, for example, and that's also not only due to these overtly negative factors but also due to cultural shifts and the massive current concentration of wealth and employment in tech & software. That said, many of my local friends have a bit of a running joke about the over-popularularized perception that SF is a total shitshow, because it's also true that SF is still a stunner of a place. Cultural shifts ebb and flow very much like the water under the bridge. Down sometimes, up at others. My personal feeling is that the downtrend at the moment in SF is mostly a reflection that we're past the best of times in America and seeing very palpable evidence of decline, in many many ways, all around the country. Bummer about your friend getting ripped off. I've never felt unsafe in SF except long ago in my teenage years, when entering certain neighborhoods was truly a very immediately dangerous move.
I'm a trail runner myself and I love running on Mt Tam in particular -- lots of the longer trail races include a lot of mileage in the headlands, but that's almost all fire roads with no trees. Don't miss all the world class singletrack on the mountain! Come run, it's beautiful here!
Situational awareness is key. As a San Franciscan, and one with two little girls, I’m ALWAYS on the lookout for some errant, violent act, much like a demobbed soldier back in normal society. I don’t think it’s much worse for us now than it was for New Yorkers back in the 70s and 80s. As Bowen said, we’re on a general downturn nationwide and everyone can expect to experience the insane level of social polarity that is taking root in American like a Stage IV metastasized cancer on a personal level sooner rather than later I think.
Thanks for that thoughtful reply, and I’m glad to hear you think the bad news is overblown. I ran the 2022 Miwok 100K —a greatest hits tour of the Headlands—and might return again to that race.
One thing that's changed a lot is the climate, and lots of the neighborhoods in the city too... These days it might be more interesting to stay out in the Sunset near the beach, for example, and deal less with the heart of the city. Or just stay in Marin and dip into the city itself, rather than stay there. I'm also much less of a city person on a day to day person these days than I was in my younger years.
This is beautifully written. It definitely raised my excitement and anticipation of my trip to San Francisco and Mill Valley next week, where I hope to add another layer of SF memories.
thanks Lynn, glad you enjoyed the piece! I'll be in town if you'd like to connect.
Wonderful piece. Voices of those who know the city as a child, teenager, adolescent and middle aged, soon to be old, person are rare and powerful. I too have traveled more or less all over the world, but am still trying to figure out what makes San Francisco such an alluring, captivating, frustrating, beautiful, confusing and mysterious town.
Thanks Lincoln. I'm glad it resonates with you. I'm trying to capture something of it for myself, sort of like a painting on the wall.
Beautiful writing about SF my man! So true.