Posted on 08/23/2011 8:51:25 AM PDT by SmithL
I ran into a man I'd known for years at a supermarket the other day. He's an old San Francisco guy, so I was surprised at what he said.
"I'm moving out of the city," he said. "San Francisco is not the city I grew up in anymore. I'm through with it.
"Yep," he said, "I'm gonna sell my house and move to Novato. You know what? The sun shines there in the summer. I mean they have sun - that big yellow thing - sun in July and August. I'm tired of the fog - fog every night and every morning. We don't have to live like that.
"You know what else they have in Novato? Quiet. You ought to try my street. Traffic all the time, sirens. The other night, some guy in a big motorcycle turned around in my driveway at 2 a.m. Revved up the engine. Two in the damned morning. I couldn't go back to sleep. That's it, I said to myself. See ya, San Francisco."
What else? "The bums, the dirty streets. It's not worth it anymore," he said.
The other night at the baseball park, I heard the same thing. An usher, all decked out in Giants gear, a big "San Francisco" all over his warm-up jacket, was talking to a fan, one of his friends.
"I lived in San Francisco all my life," he was saying. "I love the city. But I moved to Burlingame last year. It's quieter, it's better. You get off late from work and don't have to park in the garage, you can park right on the street. You don't have to worry about some guy you've never seen before coming up the block in your direction late at night.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
In my almost 50 years experience here it is the out-of-staters that ruined The City and the state, less so the natives. Invariably, when you talk to the loons, you find out that they or their parents are from other states.
Now, as the state crashes and burns, many of these same people are heading to your state in order to ruin it.
The Gold Rush. The decadent Barbary Coast came from all of the people and money pouring in.
By the way a lot of good comments on the Sfgate website about the article.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article/comments/view?f=/c/a/2011/08/20/MN641KON8S.DTL
For a while we enjoyed going to The City but after the hippy movement took over we went less and less. Now about the only thing I miss are the great views and good sour dough bread.
Was a route driver in SF three times a week. The other two days was in Fremont and Oakland. This was during the late 80’s. The things I saw from my truck can’t be posted here. Can’t imagine how things may have gotten even worse there since those days.
It’s really a shame because the city used to be a fine place to visit during the 60’s and 70’s. For a martial arts junkie, Chinatown was the best.
Moved out of California during the early 90’s and haven’t looked back.
You mean it’s not a liberal utopia?
I visited San Francisco just under twenty years ago. I really loved that town. Such a shame its fallen on hard times.
Took the wife there with me on business a couple years ago. The Embarcadero, business district and tourist areas were nice. Full of hot chicks in heels and other nice scenery. I also always like to see the non tourist areas when I hit a place. They were a disaster area. The Tenderloin was like an open sewer. Human debris everywhere. Stank of urine and was what the people in the story describe.
I would rather walk around Harlem then that area again. I am pretty street wise and even I was worried around there.
I plan to go back in the next year to visit the Missile Site SF-88 Museum, but I'm staying in Sausalito.
A liberal utopia is exactly what it is.
My wife is a native of the area, we used to visit a lot up until the 90’s.
I met a lot of nice natives in the city. but almost unformly, they prided themselves on not being judgmental and they went out of their way to let the loons come in and take over their city, then felt somehow proud that they had such diversity.
My wife wants to move back. After the fires from the riots quit burning, we may look for a small place to retire.
“Like California overall, but more so,” SF attracts takers and repels (and excretes) makers.
We can always squeeze in a few more. Follow I-70 east and get off in Terre Haute.
The bread is available online. ;-)
Going down to the Wharf in two weeks for dinner at Alioto’s. Staying on the Embarcadero hotels and maybe take in a ballgame at ATT Park.
I’ve been in downtown, don’t want to go back. I’ll go shopping in Vacaville or Roseville.
It’s the perfect symbol of liberalism. It’s what they want to do with the rest of the country. This is utopia for them. They live in squalor and want everyone else to live that way too.
It’s starting to be that even the liberal roaches can’t stand the mess they made. Too late to wake up now libs, you made the bed now you sleep in it. They will just do the same thing to any city they move to. It will follow them like a plague.
I know and have it sent via UPS about every other month. It is an addiction, gotta have it.
When I was a kid in the early Sixties and my family visited friends in San Francisco, it was a beautiful city. I remember people all dressed well, especially the women, and it was beautiful, cultured and clean. Lots of wonderful restaurants.
That’s all gone now. I really think the death knell was the conjunction of the start of Haight-Ashbury hippiedom and the growing homosexual ghetto in the Castro. Basically, over time the freaks drove all the respectable people out of the City.
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