San Francisco: Update and we're out

Our San Francisco stay is almost over. We overcame the initial hype backlash expressed in my last post and found some affordable places where we're comfortable hanging out.  The El Niño rains eased up, allowing us to bike along the coast, over the Golden Gate, and into the headlands and bay cities. We went rowing in the Golden Gate Park and took the ferry to Angel Island. We watched open mic comedy at a laundromat in SOMA and played urban mini-golf in the Mission. We hung out with the beach crowd at Java Beach Cafe in Sunset and sampled crepes in Dogpatch. We visited the Google headquarters and the Computer History Museum in Mountain Valley. We traveled south to San Jose, north to the Lagunitas Brewery, and east to Berkeley. We sampled Onigiri in Japantown and tea in Chinatown. We made it out to the Bonita Lighthouse, hiked the Coastal Trail, and found a great dog beach for Bailey at Fort Funston. We haven't fallen as hard for San Francisco as many people we know, but there is a lot we'll miss.

What I've learned to appreciate about San Francisco:

The quirky details: San Francisco is a compressed mess of cultures and time periods, religions and sexual expression. There is a lot of detail that's missed by tourists. The rebellious messages scratched in concrete. The miles of wire subtly wrapped around telephone poles to denote orthodox Jewish eruvs. The police and fire alarm boxes that dot the city dating from as far back as 1899. An adult-film studio housed in a massive former military armory. Historic markers and points of interest involving

San Francisco: Notes from month one in Bay City

There is plenty of time for a change of heart but, thus far, San Francisco seems like a great place to visit, not to live. Like San Diego, Seattle, Vancouver, and other cities on the water-- it's gorgeous. There are all types of things to do. But, like the typical San Franciscan row house we live in; we're glad we tried it and will be glad when we're someplace less noisy, drafty, and expensive.

Part of this view comes from being extremely spoiled. We went to Baker Beach yesterday and watched hundreds of tourists standing around taking pictures of the Pacific. Each one will probably bring those pictures home and talk about how picturesque the city and ocean were. But we just moved from Oregon were we regularly had miles of pacific ocean to ourselves with no roads in site. At the beginning of the year, we lived on an island in the Atlantic where we'd be the first ones on the beach in the morning with no one to share it with but starfish and crab. A small crowded beach with hundreds of people standing around with their fingers in their noses is better than no beach, but it's also not particularly enjoyable, either.

The other major thing standing in the way of my loving San Francisco is the prohibitive cost of living. I'm all for paying more for good food and drink, but there is a limit. I write a bit more about it  below.

Notes from the first month:

1. Carry Cash! Before moving here, money would sit in my wallet for months waiting on the rare "cash only" situation. Not in San Fran! Cash only businesses are so common, everyone is in the habit of carrying it, notices are practically hidden, and nothing says "you're not from around here" like not

San Francisco: Home sweet home #9 and first impressions of the neighborhood

We definitely like to mix things up with our housing; whether it's living on an island, above a grocery store, on the Delaware River, or in a high-rise on the 19th floor.  Even the apartment that felt like it was in the middle of a highway is remembered fondly. Now, we get to stay in a historic row-house!

This kind of apartment is common for the area and reminds me of others in Chicago and Philadelphia, but add in the neighborhood, and this place is like no other. 

Just a couple miles from the Pacific Ocean, near two enormous city parks, and in a mixed-purpose neighborhood with all types of shops and restaurants-- a cafe just a few yards from our door! There are also dozens of Asian markets a few blocks over where we can buy our canned jack fruit. 

Average rent in San Francisco is $3000 for a one-bedroom  and $4500 for a two-bedroom apartment. There are a lot of interesting and successful people in the area along with businesses and services to match. Instead of finding restaurant coupons in our

mailbox welcome package, we found deals offering gourmet meals delivered in 15 minutes, on-demand laundry, in-home doctor's visits, home cleaning, personal shoppers, and other services for people that actually make more money staying a couple extra hours at their IT jobs and letting other

people run their errands.

We've already been to San Francisco a couple times, so we've gotten most of the touristy stuff out of the way. Our plan is to enjoy the local neighborhood and stay out of our car. The city is only seven miles across, but with stop-signs and lights every block, it takes a long time to drive just a couple miles. It's often much quicker to bike or ride, so we'll be looking to buy some bikes (we left ours in Denver!) and get some transit passes. Plus, do you see the garages in the picture!? If you think

Good-bye Roseburg / Hello San Francisco!

Our apartment in San Fran

Next city, San Fran!

Last year, we chose to live in Fresno just to be near San Francisco and it was the closest we could get at the time. Now, we're actually going to live there!

I'm pretty excited. I think it will be really interesting. We've already been told that two of the three other tenants in our building are IT professionals and none of them have a car. We're looking forward to finding a couple decent bikes and living in the Richmond neighborhood, just a couple miles from the beach, the Presidio, and Golden Gate Park.

It's an interesting time to live in San Francisco. As housing continues to rise, there are a lot of protests against the very IT professionals the Bay Area is known for. It's a microcosm of the future war that's been predicted to eventually happen between AI advocates and future luddites, and, more importantly, a debate that will continue to occur as the wealth gap increases. In San Francisco, discontent has surfaced as public protests against the private Google and Facebook commuter buses that workers take from San Fran to their jobs in Palo Alto. Airbnb was recently in the press being blamed for increased housing costs by filling apartments with short-term tourists instead of long-term tenants. 

I'll be researching why diverse housing is such a big issue while we're there. Obviously, diversity is beneficial, but what is the argument for tampering with capitalism? Why aren't people who can't afford housing just expected to move to an area they can afford? Will the economy collapse if there aren't any minimum wage workers? I'm entirely ignorant on the issue...

Ever since we found out we were going to San Fran next, anything related to the city has been catching my eye. We watched the Disney move Inside Out last night and noticed all the San Frannery in the background. We experienced an unsettling earthquake in Anchorage and aren't too keen on the idea of a repeat, so we'll skip watching San Andreas. I did some research into earthquake prediction and the 1908 and 1989 earthquakes -- "Duck and cover!"

We leave tomorrow and are going to stop along the way to check out Sacramento. I'll write more when we actually get there. Here are a couple articles of interest:

The $600-a-month shipping container village for young professionals getting creative to avoid staggering rents in San Francisco

Tenderloin Photos

Finally, a clip from Inside Out of the family moving to San Fran. I was able to guess where they were moving to, and where they were moving from just by seeing the three transition clips. We experienced something similar along our travels through South Dakota, Colorado, and Utah.