Having lived in London, I personally find San Francisco to have a lot of the downsides of being a "big city", without actually being a big city and so not having enough of the upsides (just to take one example, MUNI/BART is a joke compared to London's tube system).
I love Palo Alto and Mountain View though, and would live in either town again in a heartbeat.
You can live well here but not deeply.
But then I moved back to NYC from San Francisco and realized that art, music and literature is dying out everywhere in the USA. In New York, there's a lot more stuff like ping-pong clubs and designer boutiques and bike paths... but there certainly aren't as many interesting art, literary or music things happening as there were in the 1990s.
San Francisco was never really an artistic or intellectual center, it's always just been kind of a weird place.
I might be the only person on this forum who moved to SF to go skateboarding, rather than start a tech startup.
If you move to SF hoping it will be a cultural mecca you will be disappointed. But if you go with the flow, you might find something you like.I don't like burning man, either. But there's other stuff to do. I have never been happier than when I was skating or riding my bike around the city, or just goofing off. Why do you think there are so many bums there? Why do you think the beats moved there? It's a great city in which to "bum around." It's kind of bad for almost anything else. I view my time spent there as an extended vacation.
S.F. is a great city to just hang out in. Amazing food, great weather, and a generally laid back attitude make it very pleasant in many ways. I think the .com boom did a lot of damage to the city's culture by driving out everybody that couldn't afford to keep up with the rent increases. I spent a summer here in '92 and it seemed a lot more alive.
I think one of the problems is that you've forsaken the people who like to "run around naked and high in the desert"; all the creative types I know love Burning Man. Sure, you're not going to find the tea & crumpets type of art scene in SF, but there's definitely plenty of passionately creative people. There's also a tendency amongst tech people to just socialize with tech people, but I don't really get a kick out of it. You should definitely branch out to non-tech social circles and get out of the Rails/Django/Clojure echo chamber.
From your description of the playa it sounds like you've never been out there... you should really try it. No, it's not all "naked and high" people, btw.
I don't have enough hours in the day to go to all the film festivals, concerts, author readings, dance performances, gallery openings, and other similar events that are occurring all the time in SF.
If you're looking for people who are interested in things outside of tech, you should start going to some of these events, and meeting people. Join the SF Film Society, for a start! Maybe I'll see you around...
The number of homeless/crazy people on the streets surprises me when I'm in SF. I know many are probably harmless, but crazy people jumping around, shouting abuse, or acting weird just doesn't make things inviting. Not to mention the beggars at the stop signs.
Is there a system in the US for looking after mentally unstable people? eg would they be put into care if they don't have medical insurance?
SF, like most large US cities, has lots of unused shelter and facilities. However, they're voluntary and many people won't volunteer.
http://helpinghomeless.wordpress.com/2009/04/09/mental-illne...
I'll take my "high in the desert" people over your "high in Williamsburg, Brooklyn" people any day. I agree that a lot of Burners are deeply annoying, but the core people who actually make it all happen (or the larger installations and camps) are often incredibly interesting, intellectually broad people, doing it all on a shoestring. If you think you're doing a lot with your life being in a startup you're probably not doing half of what they do in an average week.
Compared to that the whole art-car, techno, cyberpunkish thing in S.F. just seems so provincial and quaint. I don't doubt that people put a lot of work into it but it just doesn't compel me at all.
I've only visited SF for days, and stayed in a hotel there for a few days, but never really found my feet there. Like you say, it seemed like it has a lot of bad bits without the good bits being obviously there. Maybe they're hidden away :/
I'm much more at home strolling down University Ave or Castro st though. Relaxed, safe atmosphere with plenty to do.
I lived in SF for 3.5 years, and I miss it. A lot more fun in general. There is never a boring moment.
Is that a bad thing, if it has most of what you need?
>> "if you have a family it is a good place. If you are single guy, you'd want to steer clear of them."
Definitely agree. I'm a family guy though. Perhaps I'm just getting old ;)
