Scared of San Fransisco and New York!

[musclebutt2]

A very weird thing about the City of San Francisco, is that it has almost no nightlife after Midnight. There are bars, dance, and horny Sex clubs going on until 2AM, but, after that, very few places to finish something off or get a meal other than a few Doughnut shops with weak coffee, with fat Cops looking at you as a perpetrator. It's strange that way.

This wasn't always the case. San Francisco had a vibrant nightlife about ten years ago that went all night. There were always speakeasies, aferhours clubs, or renegade illegal parties somewhere as long as you were informed. What changed the scene was mayor Willie Brown and his misled urban politics of gentrification. SOMA and South Beach used to be the warehouse district and contained most of the club scene; however, permits got approved and lofts got build... lots of them. In the case of South Beach the new ballpark got built and all the warehouses around it got demolished for the construction of apartment buildings. People started to move-in and then make noise complaints about the bar or club that was next to them; subsequently resulting in places shutting down. New liquor and cabaret licenses were hard to come by from City Hall so nothing replaced the old venues that closed up shop. Changing economics also played another role. During the heady days of the boom there was money everywhere and The City saw a HUGE influx of 20 & 30 y.o.'s moving here. With that came a bigger demand for nightlife; however, once the bust happened and people left in droves, the result was a gutted scene with empty lofts and overpriced apartments.


And if you party in The City, but, you live in the East Bay, when you miss that last BART train, you are fucked... big time!... and your only choices are a $40 cab ride across a bridge or waiting it out for the bus, involving 3 transfers to get home. Even then, your food choices will be 7-11, Dunkin' Donuts or Taco Bell.

I don't know what the status of the Transbay bus is anymore. There used to be one leaving every hour for Oakland after midnight. Service might have been supended due to lack of ridership. That is incorrect Onan, there are plenty of late night restaurants here. There are about three taquerias in The Mission that are open until 3am, and another one near 24th Street BART that is open until about 5am. Orphan Andy's, Baghdad Cafe, and Sparky's Diner in the Castro are open 24 hours seven days a week. Towards the weekend Top's Diner near Market & Octavia is open all night but closes around lunch. Around Union Square there are three locations of Lori's Diner that are open all night. Towards Chinatown and North Beach at Pacific and Broadway there is a Vietnamese Restaurant and several Chinese Restaurants that are open until 4am or all night long. There is also Mr. Pizza that delivers almost anywhere in the city all hours of the night. Beyond that, we have several Safeway locations that are open 24 hours with cold deli food & groceries.


SNIP

San Francisco has fog, damp bone aching chills and it is everywhere, you can only wait and hope for the sun or wind to drive it away. You are closer to clean beaches, mountains and wilderness than most places.

Again, this is inaccurate. San Francisco has loads of microclimates and if you pick the right neighborhood you won't see much fog. I receive clear skies and full sun 10 months out of the year minus the standard two months for our winter's rainy season.

SNIP

San Francisco is for people who already have a course in mind. And it's usually "coarse" people... as you can see from this thread.

Go for the gold... in NYC!

Onan

Who are you calling "coarse?" There's a saying that San Francisco is at the edge of the western world; you can't run any farther than here. Maybe that's why we have so many people jump off the Golden Gate Bridge; if you can't or don't fit in here there aren't many options left in this country. San Franciscans are wacky and strange, we like it that way. My day isn't complete until I get a daily dose of random acts of weirdness, whether it be seeing a streetcar named Desire roll past, seeing drag (there's always someone in costume), a clown on a unicycle from the circus college, or two men kissing in public... you might call it "coarse," but to me it's vive la difference!

 

[B_NineInchCock_160IQ]

And for the love of god and all things holy, please do not EVER call the state "Cali." No one does this. LL Cool J needs to shut the fuck up.

:biggrin1: you're obviously from Cali. Only they get so damn uppity about people calling California Cali or Hollywood Los Angeles, like anyone else gives a crap.

Cali cali cali cali cali.

 

[Eva]

I don't care if you call LA "Hollywood" or Hollywood Los Angeles. That whole general area is a wasteland of vapid, plastic shells that are all trying to fuck themselves up the ladder. It's a veritable venereal buffet.

But it's not like we call Nevada "Nevy" or New York "Yorkiepoo." GAH.

It's just annoying.

Not as annoying as most of the inhabitants of California*, mind you. But still, generally irritating.


*present company excluded... (well, most of you anyway. hee)

 

[BIGBULL29]

No, very dangerous to live in if you are white (and I was assuming Chrissy Snow is white I might be wrong), decent food and dirty. There is no friendly place in the entire Bay Area.

Crissy, you will find that people are less friendly here than in Houston. They think they're friendly, but just smile at someone in a store, the look you get back is quite something other than friendly.

People who live in San Francisco try to claim that they aren't part of the "Bay Area" and that everywhere else is "fucked up" by comparison. It's part of that snobbery I was telling you about a few posts up.

Also, people want to claim that race doesn't matter here in Oakland, San Francisco or anywhere else in the Bay Area. As a matter of fact it does. People won't yell things at you for being different, but you sure get treated differently if you are in a neighborhood where they feel you don't belong.

And don't let them fool you San Francisco is actually dangerous.

Here are some useful snippets of information you might like to see. Keep in mind that San Francisco is a city of only 750,000 people.

Also notice that for 2005 San Francisco had just as many murders as Oakland that year. That's one of those statistics they use to slam Oakland.

San Francisco California Crime Reports, Crime News, and Crime Statistics (Data for 2006 is only through September)

http://www.sfgov.org/site/uploadedfiles/police/information/compstat%20monthly%202005.pdf

http://www.sfgov.org/site/uploadedfiles/police/information/compstat monthly 2006 jantosept.pdf (Not the complete year 2006 only Jan through Sept)

San Francisco Crime Map

San Francisco Crime Statistics and Crime Data (San Francisco, CA)

So, also, I'm sure that any big city has the same issues. The problem with SFO is that the people there think they're safe, when, in fact, they aren't.

Spot-on post!

Not only is it dangerous, it's filthy for its size. It's got to be one of the dirtiest cities in the country. Ironically, San Francisco is ranked for being a very clean city because it's water is safer than other big cities. What that has do with the actual cleanliness of the city such as amount of litter and dirty needles on the streets, intensity of foul smells, etc, I do not know.

Also, this idea that the West Coast is more laid-back is bullshit. In West Coast cities, they are just as uptight as they are in East Coast cities. That's a laughable statement.

If you want my opinion, the Southeast has some of the friendliest and most polite people in the country; that is, on the surface...:biggrin1:

Nightlife sucks in SF. No place to dance all night long to tribal house music

 

[Shelby]

If you ask me the best antidote to Houston is just around the corner.

Austin.
​

 

[earllogjam]

:biggrin1: you're obviously from Cali. Only they get so damn uppity about people calling California Cali or Hollywood Los Angeles, like anyone else gives a crap.

Cali cali cali cali cali.

Ha. It's not so much that Californians are uppity, it is just we don't really care about the rest of the country or for that matter what they think of us. Hell, we have the Terminator, a Republican Governor married to a Kennedy, who set up a tent on the state capitol lawn to conduct business so he can smoke his cigars at work in the most anti-tobacco state in the union. And no one gives it a second thought - par for the course.

If someone asked my if I was from "Cali", I wouldn't know what the hell they where talking about. I, like most Californians would think it was a town in Mexico. San Franciscans would probably think it was an LA slang term. That 100 square mile collection of suburbs down there. I won't get into that NorCal / SoCal rivalry here.

 

[Eva]

If you ask me the best antidote to Houston is just around the corner.

Austin.
​

See, I find Austin to be an ersatz Berkeley.
And I find Berkeley to be derisory.

That said, I'm actually driving to Austin this weekend to see a friend of mine. I can handle the city for about 3 days, tops. Then I want to kick all the dirty college kids trying to sell their hemp shit for spare change while their parents are paying out the ass for them to go to school. Take a shower, emo fuck!

 

[SpeedoGuy]

I won't get into that NorCal / SoCal rivalry here.

Ha. There is no rivalry.

Southern California (scrubby deserts, scantly forested mountains and a few thin beaches) is geographically and figuratively beneath northern California.

 

[quercusone]

well like I said before money isn't an issue.

Then take me with you. I'll be your Cabana Boy! Dallas is better than Houston....but not by much!

 

[Eva]

Ha. There is no rivalry.

Southern California (scrubby deserts, scantly forested mountains and a few thin beaches) is geographically and figuratively beneath northern California.

And yet, it's their votes that command the entire state. Hmmmm.....

 

[musclebutt2]

And yet, it's their votes that command the entire state. Hmmmm.....

They just have more population and money. SoCal'ers breed more than NorCal'ers.

 

[Eva]

They just have more population and money. SoCal'ers breed more than NorCal'ers.

Well, it's hard to get aroused through the stank of patchouli.

 

[musclebutt2]

Well, it's hard to get aroused through the stank of patchouli.

Eh, patchouli... money; it all stinks the same.

 

[Not_Punny]

Why's everybody picking on California?!

I love San Francisco!!! The trolleys! The restaurants! I love Big Sur and the amazing coastline!!

Mid-coast: Surfing and castles! (ain't no castle like Hearst Castle!)(and I was raised in ENgland)

And let's hear if for L.A.!!! Let's hear it for our scrubby deserts and our amazing, year-round gardens! Let's hear it for our diverse population and culture!! Let's hear it for Hollyweird!!

And the BEST part of California???

Let's hear it for the world's biggest collection of comedy clubs, theater groups, museums, colleges and universities!!

 

[D_Fluoridia Bidet]

I have been taking everyone's advice highly and yet I still can't make a decision. But I am aiming for SF. I like the way it looks in pictures and I never been to California. I might head to LA afterwards but not anytime soon when I get there. New York maybe in the near future but then again it's home of NYFA best damn film school in the nation. Expensive too.

 

[ActionBuddy]

... you might call it "coarse," but to me it's vive la difference!

I was just playing with words, Musclebutt, no offense intended! Your posts were excellent... Good to know there are more late night dining options in The City now.

 

[musclebutt2]

I have been taking everyone's advice highly and yet I still can't make a decision. But I am aiming for SF. I like the way it looks in pictures and I never been to California. I might head to LA afterwards but not anytime soon when I get there. New York maybe in the near future but then again it's home of NYFA best damn film school in the nation. Expensive too.

UCLA film school ain't too shabby either, and uh... Hollywood is closer.

 

[D_Iskepee_Longwoodee]

I have been living in NYC for several years. I visited San Francisco a number of months back and loved it! I highly recommed you check out both cities.

 

[ActionBuddy]

Crissy, I assumed that you had been to both cities. At least visit them both before you move... Keeping in mind what season it is, as weather may be a decisive matter.

Onan

 

[musclebutt2]

Crissy, I assumed that you had been to both cities. At least visit them both before you move... Keeping in mind what season it is, as weather may be a decisive matter.

Onan

It's not that terrible, you are never stuck in a place because it is always possible to leave; as long as you are mentally prepared to take the leap. Let's put it this way, finding housing in LA will be easy compared to SF; NYC is probably marginally harder to find housing than SF, but not by much. Infrastructure wise, you WILL need a car in LA, but not in SF nor NYC. Clothing wise, pack light for LA and SF, but you will need serious winter gear for NYC. As for establishing a new circle of friends, I would rank in increasing order of difficulty: SF, LA, NYC. Initially, LA will seem friendlier than SF, but it's hard making real friends there because of flakiness and double booking; Los Angelinos are slippery fishies. It's tinseltown baby... schmooze but don't dig too deep. What else, setting up house and the basics of life are easiest in LA, it's the 'burbs, people are homeowners/nesters there and it's reflected by how easy it is to get things done (i.e. furniture, telephone service, laundry, groceries, etc.). Getting furniture in SF is a pain in the ass, and I assume it's the same way with NYC. If you have nobody to couchsurf with then hire a relocation specialist in SF. Pay someone (i.e. leasing agents, realtors, etc.) to look for a livable apartment in whichever neighborhood you choose, but ONLY sign a 6 month lease maximum. Use that time to find a place you really like, or just to re-evaluate whether this is The City for you. Avoid long stays in hotels or single occupancy type places; it'll wear you down and make you bitter. Since you already have a job lined up no worries there, just be sure to do it well and not let the stress of settling in derail you. BTW, don't drink too much to offset your loneliness, it'll get you fired and result in a downward spiral -- especially in winter.