What an eclectic mix of people. Walking around 4th and Mission there is a solid mix of the well do, homeless people that smell like urine and pot and snowflake college kids in the setting of high fashion shopping stores.

I'd find a park bench and observe if I wasn't concerned about getting accosted for money for a bus fare.

Not to worry. Sit down on a bench, piss in your pants, and you're good. Maybe even pick up some change for a bus ride.

Not to mention what you would catch from sitting on the park bench. I was born in Los Angeles and lived in California for 51 years. I never liked SF.

Nice people, though.

A coupe of years ago, my wife and I were in SF, and we were taking a bus from the Presidio to GG Park. People on the bus noticed we were looking at a map, trying to decide what stop we needed, and pretty soon, everybody in the front half of the bus was offering us advice on the best stop to take. It seemed like something out of a movie. My wife and I still laugh about it.

The Alcatraz tour is pretty cool. My wife was startled by the audio sounds, via the headphones. Sounded very real. We ate Very good food at several restaurants. Could not live there, but it was a good visit for a couple of days. Kind of like NYC in that respect.

Just spent 3 weeks in SF. Didn't have a whole lot of free time but one time we we went to Ghirardelli Square and watched a homeless guy laying on the sidewalk pull out his junk and start rubbing it. This was at 2:30 in the afternoon with tourists everywhere. It was interesting to watch the expressions to say the least. Other than that, it was a pretty good day all around.

Were you surprised to witness this? I've never been out there, but that is kind of all that I've ever heard about the place.

I was pleasantly surprised in my first visit there a few years back. I went to a SF Giants game, and figured the fans would be milquetoast. It started off honoring some ballplayer with AIDS and I thought "we're off to a good start on baseball libtard style." Boy was I wrong, they're absolutely nuts about the Giants and I had a great time. The stadium is really nice too.

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Originally posted by ugeesta:
What an eclectic mix of people. Walking around 4th and Mission there is a solid mix of the well do, homeless people that smell like urine and pot and snowflake college kids in the setting of high fashion shopping stores.

This sounds like every metropolitan city center I can imagine.

Having said that, however, I can say that though the city managers tried valiantly to gentrify Mission Street--even downtown--the homeless relentlessly and aggressively squat there.

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Originally posted by FishOn:
The Alcatraz tour is pretty cool. My wife was startled by the audio sounds, via the headphones. Sounded very real. We ate Very good food at several restaurants. Could not live there, but it was a good visit for a couple of days. Kind of like NYC in that respect.

I loved Alcatraz. We only went for a half day and regretted not having time for a full day.

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Originally posted by DaBigBR:

quote:

Originally posted by FishOn:
The Alcatraz tour is pretty cool. My wife was startled by the audio sounds, via the headphones. Sounded very real. We ate Very good food at several restaurants. Could not live there, but it was a good visit for a couple of days. Kind of like NYC in that respect.

I loved Alcatraz. We only went for a half day and regretted not having time for a full day.

I was there in May prior to tourist season so I didn't think the advice of book in advance applied to me. I was trying to time the weather and by the time I went to purchase they were sold out for the entire time I was in SF. I need to go back and this time I'll book several weeks early.

Ha! If you think that’s bad, take a look at a photo I took at 3rd and Mission sometime around 1970. If that dude saw me, I would have had to run for my life. The neighborhood has changed a little. The people you are complaining about could not have hung around there back in the day.

By the way, here is the same photo alongside a current photo of 3rd and Mission.

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Originally posted by ugeesta:
What an eclectic mix of people. Walking around 4th and Mission there is a solid mix of the well do, homeless people that smell like urine and pot and snowflake college kids in the setting of high fashion shopping stores.

I'd find a park bench and observe if I wasn't concerned about getting accosted for money for a bus fare.

4th and Mission...well, that is right near the center of the asshole.
Unfortunately, that intersection is the convergence of the touristy and upscale shopping Union Square-area, the Financial/Business-area and the shit-hole neighborhood called the Tenderloin. Where ever there's hotels, the misfit homeless, tweekers, oddballs and mentally ill converge and pray on the naive. Get away from the tourist areas like Union Square, Fisherman's Wharf, the Haight, parts of the Embarcadero and Mission, things clean-up. I get through there maybe four-times a year, I try to avoid it at all costs...traffic, bums, tweekers, construction, yup, it's all there.

If you don't like the number of homeless in San Francisco, stay far, far away from Berkeley.

Overall, I like San Francisco, but I wouldn't want to live there.

"Eclectic" means different. not so. SF is full of leftists strongly desiring to be supported by those who produce. Those who disagree are run out of town. Fuck the lying bastards in the City by the Bay.

If you want to people watch, go to fifth and market. That's the center of the "asshole" as someone used the term.

North east of that spot is the financial district and immediate north west is the tenderloin.

If you want to find a wide disparity of population, go to the Mission district where you'll see the lower economic class latino people who are in the middle of being pushed out by well to do "techies." I have a relative whose beat includes that area and the crime rate is so high from gang members relieving techies of their iphones and other valuables.

I was in the area, walked into a hole-in-the-wall place off of Mission. Spent over $80 for two dishes that would have cost me under $30 elsewhere. I asked for bread and it was $4. In the morning, went to a nearby breakfast place and spent over $60 for two people and I still had to pay extra for bread!

The first time I went to SF was in early 1970. I spent 1 1/2 months stationed at a small base in Petaluma, getting what was called "target area orientation". Nobody in my group pulled extra duty (like KP-since the draft was in effect, lower ranking enlisted guys had cleaning detail in the kitchens) so we would go into San Francisco for every weekend until shipping to South East Asia. My favorite activity was to just wander and watch people and look at the sites. One afternoon, two of us got talking with a cable car operator, and stayed on the car for the whole route a couple of times. Not everyone was unfriendly to the military at the time. The last time I was there was 4 or 5 years ago. My last night there, I checked out of my hotel, left my bag in the bag check, and wandered most of the night. Great way to save money, even if I was on an expense account at the time, and it wasn't my money. I've always enjoyed my stay, but I sure wouldn't want to live there.

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I was in the area, walked into a hole-in-the-wall place off of Mission. Spent over $80 for two dishes that would have cost me under $30 elsewhere. I asked for bread and it was $4. In the morning, went to a nearby breakfast place and spent over $60 for two people and I still had to pay extra for bread.

Boy, ain't that the truth. I stopped by an Indian restaurant off 4th and Marke for dinner and spent $62 before tip by myself. Thinking I didn't want rice as I got an appetizer, I ordered the rice when I saw how small the 10 appetizer was. The rice was another $4.25. Wow! The rice is free in Ohio. The meal was amazing though.

One of the best people watching cities in the world.

Mission Street