I hate SAN FRANCISCO.
Sep 26th, 2009 by Rusty Beach
My husband and I went to San Francisco over the weekend. What a joke! Could people be more sarcastic and arrogant? I couldn’t believe it! At first, I was in denial. Then, I realized that everyone was an asshole!
My first asshole encounter was with a tall, fedora hat-wearing hipster working at Primavera on Saturday at the Farmers Market (food is great, people suck). Honestly, Asshole, you can crack a smile! For someone who is in customer service, you should be more of a ‘people person’ and less of an asshole. Yes, I am well aware that I am a tourist, but as a CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE you should understand you are there for the CUSTOMER (including tourists) and not for your pompous image of an ‘individual.’ If you were such an individual, I wouldn’t be able to be a label on you as an ASSHOLE HIPSTER!
There were two other people I wanted to punch in the face while in San Fran (I read that the locals hate the term ‘San Fran’- Now, I love it!)- A bartender and waiter at the Tadich Grill (again, food is great, people suck). Honestly, do you really need to be sarcastic? What is really pissing you off? I understand I was there at 9:30 on a Saturday and you wanted to go home, but THIS IS YOUR JOB! You are paid to be there for the CUSTOMER!
Here are some classic lines from our two dashing Douchebags:
Act I:
My husband: “What do you have on tap?”
Bartender: “Beer.”
No shit, Dickhead!
Act II:
Bartender (to me, as he serves my husband a beer): “Do you always come second in his life?”
Act III:
Waiter: “What can I get you two to drink?”
My husband: “There is a beer coming from the bar for me.”
Waiter: “As your waiter, don’t you think I should know that?”
Dickhead, the bartender told us he would tell you, so settle down!
Act IV:
Me: “How is your bread pudding?”
Waiter: “It depends on where you are from?”
Me: “Michigan.”
Waiter: “Oh, then it will be good for you.”
Really, Asshole? Really? Some bald, HIPSTER asshole from San Francisco is suddenly the expert in bread pudding?
While I could go on and on about the Assholeness in San Francisco, the last asshole encounter I would like to mention is our douchebag tag wearin’ Concierge at the hotel. The hotel was great, but easy with the ‘quirky’ and ‘witty’ concierge service. You are here to help your guest, not make inappropriate comments and keep the ‘tourist’ in the ‘tourist spots’ of San Francisco. I’ve never been in a city that was so segregated and pretentious in my life!
If you are heading out to San Francisco, here is a helpful tip- it is only a day trip! Spend your time outside the city- as long as you can! We wanted to go Wine Country, but didn’t think we had time. On Day 2, we were ready to go to the airport and return to Detroit Metro! I must say, it is pretty sad that we would rather come back to Detroit, than stay in sunny California!
Honest Travel Tips about San Francisco:
Fisherman’s Wharf- Disgustingly commercialized! It is NOTHING like Chicago’s Navy Pier! The sea lions smell. Bad.
Ghirardelli Square-There are maybe 5 shops in the whole place. It is such a joke! Plus, you can buy Ghirardelli chocolates ANYWHERE!
Ferry Building Marketplace- Amazing! Honestly, the best thing about San Francisco, but only when the Farmer’s Market is there (T, TH, and Sat).
Cable Cars- The tourists are the only people that use these things and they are ‘stuffed’ in there like sardines. It is so ridiculous.
Homeless People- They are everywhere. It makes you feel so bad, but never fear, they are assholes, too. They make inappropriate comments to you that are either sexual or racist.
Golden Gate Bridge- It’s a bridge. End of story.
Union Square- There is no cool square with street vendors or performers. It is just a square with some little cafes and some landscaping. Outside of ‘the square’ there are shops, shops, and more shops.
Chinatown- That’s about it. Just like every other city. However, R & G Lounge is AMAZING!
Haight Ashbury-It is San Fran’s Fisherman’s Wharf by land. Too commercialized. The hippies are now drinking Starbucks and listening to Grateful Dead on their iPods.
The Food- YUM. YUM. YUM. If it wasn’t for the food, I would really hate San Francisco.
Love it and so true!! I’ve lived in this stupid, overrated, obnoxious, ignorant, pretentious “city” full of hipster douchebag clowns who just got off the bus from Iowa, for 7 years now. I am dying, DYING to move back home to New York.
And btw – it ain’t even sunny more than 2 weeks of the year here.
I completely agree! While I never considered “Frisco” anything special, not even its food, I really never realized what a disgusting overrated crap-hole that town was till I actually moved there. It’s a place with a severe identity crisis; it pathetically dwells in shocking hypocrisy and sad delusions of grandeur. The only good thing about SF is the view of it from Oakland, and other than that it’s nothing but a 3-day tourist trap that produces nothing of real value. Reading your post made me realize how happy I am to have left that execrable city of fog and idiots.
identity crisis is the prefect description! if you ever get a chance, look up south park’s ‘smug’ episode. more proof that san fran is full of assholes! glad you made it out!
Thank the stars! I thought I was the only person on the planet who hated San Francisco! Actually, the city is beautiful and there are plenty of interesting things to do-but the PEOPLE-eeewww. I’ve never been so utterly turned off to a location by the people who live there. I’m a liberal and the small mindedness of the people in the so-called “liberal mecca” of the US is disgusting. These people are only liberal if that means everyone has to think exactly like them. Take me home to Chicago where people may be “conservative” midwesterners but they don’t give a damn what you think as long as you leave them the hell alone.
Funny, I googled “I hate San Francisco” and stumbled upon this. I lived there for 2 years and grew to loathe that city. On paper it should be a great city: beautiful location, compact, attractive. But the weather and the pretentious, provincial people absolutely ruin it.
TOTALLY… I’ve moved here after 12 years in LA… and I have never met a bunch of arrogant lost souls in my life… people are dirty… narrow-minded… and down right rude…!!! I too was in denial… but my parter of 5 years are now talking about me relocating back to Los Angeles while he finishes grad school alone…. I left MY heart In LA!!!!!
Ya know, there really is no excuse for being rude to someone, so I don’t mean to try to brush these people’s behavior under the rug. But as long as we’re talking about what we “hate”, would you like to hear about one my pet little pet peeves?
TOURISTS! Pushy, rude, self-centered, inconsiderate tourists, who come to this city expecting everyone to bend over backwards for them and then get mad when we don’t snap to it. Let me tell you, it’s a lot to put up with. The sense of entitlement that folks carry with them on vacation is astonishing, as though the entire city (and all of us in it) are here solely to entertain them. I swear I’ve had complete strangers approach me on the street and complain that they can’t, for example, find a hotel with decent rates or get tickets to Alcatraz. As though this is somehow my responsibility.
Is the author of this blog one of those rude, obnoxious out-of-towners that I hate so much? I have no idea. Perhaps she’s a perfectly polite victim of circumstance who got a raw deal, and if so I am genuinely and dreadfully sorry. I don’t pretend this city is perfect and God knows I have my share of gripes about it. But I will tell you that when faced with the sort of discourteous behavior that people routinely evince when visiting the Bay, even the saintliest of us can start feeling downright nasty in return. Maybe your barista is genuinely an asshole, or maybe he’s just crabby because that couple from Long Island bit his head off because he didn’t know how to get to the Golden Gate Bridge from Bernal Heights.
The height (or nadir) of this phenomena has of course got to be those busloads of lookie-loos who drive through the Castro snapping photos of the locals like they’re animals on a safari. I’m amazed we went all summer without one of those twits getting punched in the face. I can’t imagine what people do with those photos, go home and show them off saying “Look, real homosexuals, just like it talked about in the Encyclopedia!” Do you know have gay people back home? Must you treat ours like a freak show?
Btw, you know what ruined Fisherman’s Wharf? Tourism! Sort of a Catch-22 thing I guess.
Yes this place is shit, and thats too bad cause we all want to say we are home here, but the truth is that the majority of these people are retarded nobodys, jaded by the likes of isolated fashions of the clothes they wear, and the brainless rags they are reading. Yeah I regret being ever coming here, and wish I was able to find a place to be that didnt reek of such a rat race. I even took a job driving a taxi to seperate myself from the miserable assholes but now I realize I have turned over a new rock where a whole new species of fucking arrogant greedy dirt bag society thrive, yeah dont ride taxis from the airport, your only stoking a fire ,much to my dismay.
I moved here from LA 5 years ago and cannot believe the mistake I’ve made…I never thought I would say this but I miss LA so frigin much…!
Everything already stated is absolutely true!…It’s an overrated hideous overpriced mess here!!! Idiotic freak show population with no social skills…I’m stuck here for work…But I’m moving very soon…I’ve traveled the world and have never been so disappointed by the population make up of a city like SF in every way…Disgusting!
people in SF hate tourists, there are so many of them they just wear on one. I also know that most restaurants cater to locals and regulars
That’s funny,…I’ve never been to SF but I hate Michigan for some of the same reasons. In the suburbs around Detroit, namely Sterling Heights, people are just total assholes.
I’ve lived in 8 different states, so i believe I have some perspective here.
It must be the cold weather and the economy because I have never been to place so full of heartless assholes.
Yeah, SF Sucks! No joke. Silicon Valley, as in Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties to the south of the City and County are alright places to live… but SF sucks for the following:
Weather! The biggest reason!
People suck! Rude, and many weird people too!
Over-priced! And for what?
Congested!
The dating scene is so bad! Good luck finding someone normal!
Muni–what a joke!
I have lived in SF for many years, but want to get out as soon as I am able. I hope that soon is sooner than later! But for now I am counting the days.
If you are reading this, take it to heart, and reconsider coming here, it might be the best thing you ever didn’t do. Let me paint an analogy… Vegas…. everyone knows that it’s nice to visit, right? But to live there? Come on! San Francisco is the same. Ok to visit, but you’d be a fool to think you could ever live here and be happy. I sure ain’t!
I Googled “SF sucks” just out of curiousity. It seems all the rejects come here to be with people like themselves then they inflate their importance and try so hard to be different because they have ZERO identity. When I tell them I am from Kansas many of them laugh. When I tell them I have traveled the world countless times and lived abroad they have no interest or just claim they can experience many cultures right here in SF without traveling. I hear so many whacked out things here like SF is like Paris and that some of the smartest people in the world are here. What nut cases. So many are so rude it is amazing When I first came here they would tell me it is because the people here are so “busy”. I have lived in worked in NYC briefly and they are normal not assholes like here. They actually aknowledge you. If you are not into “pot” or “tattoos” or some dumb nebulous literature you are conservative. This place is a complete joke of a city full of clowns, like some big circus. I mean, many of them actually look like clowns the way they carry themselves with their stupid looking clothes they call fashion. They say I am not well read even though I attended college for 6 years and have an engineering degree and minored in philosophy because I don’t read crap from some Cal Berkeley prof. Oh, and my engineering degree isn’t as valuable as one from Cal Berkeley even though I may perform just as well on a standardized engineering exam as they do. Too much pot loving, hippie culture, organic/earthy, pretentious BS for me. God forbid you queston homosexuality here. I personally don’t care either way, but here they are always talking about it. That and pot. I don’t care! Sick of hearing about it. Just live they way you want and shut up about it. Can’t wait to leave. I have traveled to Europe, Asia, South America, Australia many times and I have never come to a place that is such a mess like this. Too bad because the landscape is truly beautiful. What a waste.
Moved to SF from LA and could only take it for a year. Nice looking city, horrible weather, shitty people, smelly homeless people, and self righteous gay people. Ahhhhh, so glad I left that place!
I just returned from a visit to SF (I lived there for 6 years and moved to Boston about a year ago) and I realized how UNBELIEVABLY happy I am to have left disgusting San Francesspool! I was reminded of the terrible weather, the idiotic and insane people, and the lack of real dynamism in that city. I don’t care for NY or LA much, but I’d rather live in either than SF, at least there are always things to see and do in those places and there is REAL and SUBSTANTIAL cultural, economic, and political diversity to keep things interesting and alive. SF will never have that— it’s simply a facade of what it wishes it really was but definitely isn’t. I actually got into an argument with my friend who still lives there and refuted everything she highlighted that she thought makes SF so “special.” I really shut her up haha. I’m glad the rest of you here see the truth. I HATE SF!
I never write on anything like this often but this topic caught my eye. I have lived here all my life i am 26 now and can’t stand the way this city has become. HIPPSTER ASSCLOWNS! are the worst always got something rude or dumb to say it gets annoying. I can see why most of you hate it I hate and i am a native. Seems to me the more people move in the more assholes we get. All of the natives are almost gone replaced by people who are down right the most rude i ever came across. Can’t wait to finish my last semester and get out of this hell hole.
I HATE San Francisco which is too bad becaue for 30 years it was the promised land for me but after the mayor decided it was his right to tell his employees how to run their personal lives that was the cherry on the sundae. Forget about the destruction the unions headquartered there have done by destroying all manufacturing in the states, forget the jobs these same unions have driven in droves to foreign countries, forget about giving illegals valid driver’s licenses, forget about their disregard for the hard working immigrants who have worked long and hard for LEGAL naturalization, forget everything. When a single a-hole in power believes he can tell people how to live their lives and feels he can tell another separate state how to run itself when he’s responsible for making San Francisco the SHIT HOLE it has become I draw the line. California is BANKRUPT, their unemployment rate is at a historic high, their drug problem is so out of control they’re recourse rather than to control or correct it is to legalize it yet they feel they are qualified to tell another state how to run itself? Yeah, well, we know what will be left standing in the bay after another of 10 years and it won’t be pretty and it won’t be visited by anyone. That should boost the economy.
I recently stayed in San Francisco for a business meeting. It was horrible. The weather was tolerable but the congestion, the filth, the stench of the downtown area, and the RUDE, ARROGANT, IGNORANT, SELF RIGHTEOUS jerks really made my trip a nightmare. I’ve stayed in downtown LA which is bad. I’ve stayed in Baltimore; also bad. But if you were to combine Baltimore and LA at their very worse they would still be an infinity ahead of San Francisco. I don’t understand the draw. Overpriced, over populated, over smug and so over period. I hope that part of California really does fall off into the ocean.
San Francisco is the worst city in the country. It’s filled by such ridiculous, brainless pseudo-intellectual people. For what you get, the people who willingly pay those exorbitant prices to live there have to suffer some sort of mental deficiency. And the weather! Don’t get me started. Some people like seasons, others like sunshine, but SF has neither– just a cold, windy, depressing, annoying fog. People there also like to think that it’s some type of cultural mecca, and while that may be true compared to say, Omaha, it’s mostly just a sad regional attempt at being relevant and on the level of real cultural/artistic capitals. I know, I’m an artist.
Give me NY or LA any day, at least these places are interesting. I wasn’t impressed by SF when I was there, and all it did for me was to demonstrate how a city’s populace can really be its worst quality.
Moved to SF from LA and could only take it for a year. Nice looking city, horrible weather, shitty people, smelly homeless people, and self righteous gay people. Ahhhhh, so glad I left that place!
Thank God I’m not the only one who feels this way. I moved to SF from Florida 10 years ago, but in the last year I moved to Oakland…a HELL of a lot better than f***ing San Francisco. “The city” without people would be beautiful – but it’s the people that make is suck so bad. Self-righteous, pretentious, zero class, and STUPID. Who the hell do they think they are? They talk liberal, but are complete hypocrites. They are either rich because of their former dot.com glory days, or they STILL LIVE WITH THEIR PARENTS! I was on my own at nineteen…but I have never met so many ADULTS who still live with their parents! “To save money,” they say. Their mommies must still cut the crusts off of their sandwiches. Independence be damned…they are too busy living off of their parents. They are not even embarrassed to say this (I am excluding people who live with their parents for cultural, traditional, or caretaker reasons). I am talking about the 20-somethings (ubiquitous in this city) who are too shit scared to venture out on their own. I love my job too much to leave the Bay Area, but I have NO plans to retire here.
The author of this blog is from Detroit, and she’s bagging on San Francisco? hahahahaha. That’s funny. I’m actually from Michigan originally (outside of Detroit) and have been in SF for 5 years, after having lived in NYC for many years.
Sure, San Francisco is not perfect, and it is expensive, at times crowded and there are plenty of hipsters and poseurs here (no more so than NYC), but my god, it is shangri-la compared to fucking Detroit (and the rest of Michigan, for that matter – flat, boring, fly-over country.) We have our share of homeless people but doesn’t every big city? Last time I was in MI I ran a 10k through downtown Detroit and Detroit’s inner city looked like a post-apocalyptic war-zone, complete with homeless people and crack addicts hanging out in burned out vacant buildings. As far as her experiences with her rude waiter and hotel staff in SF, it’s unfortunate that you ran into some rude folks, but I wouldn’t judge an entire city by your interactions with a few people.
Have never suffered from homesickness before and have travelled the world…but there is something about this place, SF, that makes me want to pack my bags and run screaming for the airport every single morning when I wake up. It took me ages to put my finger on why, and I think it’s all been said above. This city actually makes me feel physically ill. When I leave, I will NEVER RETURN. NEVER!
I just moved here and still haven’t figured out the big ol’ hype about this place. You can’t park anywhere, you can’t drive anywhere, and everything’s twice as expensive as it would be across the bridge. It has terrible weather, and believe or not, EVERYTHING LOOKS THE SAME, including people.
I thought this place was supposed to be about diversity and uniqueness. Well, the only thing that is evident is that people are so into being unique, they’re all the same hipster lame-asses. It’s really funny actually- these women with their fancy, little outfits (in the cold, freezing wind), and these dudes with their ties and their iPods. What a complete set of conformists.
Gah! I have to live here for the next three years! God give me the strength I need to maintain sanity!
SF is the most overrated place on the planet. People are so smug and self assured and they’re all wanna be hipster douchebags that couldn’t cut it in new york. Never mind that its a totally racist, segregated, classist city that resembles Denver a lot more than some bohemian enclave. That place is a sad joke.
I’VE LIVED UP AND DOWN THE COAST OF CA FOR YEARS AND BASICALLY THE PEOPLE WHO COME TO CA HAVE EXPECTATIONS AND ARE RUNNING FROM EITHER CRUMMY WEATHER OR WANT A “NEW LIFE”.
WHEN I WAS LEAVING MY HOMETOWN FOR CA IN THE EARLY 80′S EVERYONE TOLD ME THAT CA IS THE “LAND OF THE FRUIT AND NUTS”.
THEY WERE RIGHT.
I googled “I hate san francisco pretenious” and came across this post. Spot on! There is an old psychological experiment where four people tell a fifth that a shorter line is actually the longer of two, and surprisingly many start thinking the shorter line is in fact longer, despite the evidence of their own eyes.
I lived in LA for three years and loved it (and I fully appreciate and respect some people might hate it – different strokes for different folks after all). I used to go up on the weekends sometimes to visit a friend and people would ask where I was from (I’m originally from Australia). I would say “LA” and without missing a beat they would *always* say “I’m so sorry”. What the f*ck? I recently moved to London and have meet a couple of people recently from SF (both in the IT industry – who else can afford to live there?), and they both said exactly the same thing. And what really annoys me is that they don’t stop at saying THEY don’t like LA, they get enraged that I might have a different opinion about MY feelings of the city I lived in for years. I put this down to some sort of deep insecurity. For these people simply living in SF makes them cool, no matter how shallow and commercial their own lives are.
Thank goodness this site exists! And the fact that people are still commenting still says a lot. I’ve lived in many places over the years, including Boston, New York, LA, and SF, and I’ve got to say that I hated SF the most out of all of them. I couldn’t wait to leave and it’s the one place I have NO desire to return to. Someone once said that SF is like someone standing on his head and telling the rest of the world that it’s upside-down, and I completely agree! It’s a city full of clueless hypocrites and crappy weather. San Franciscans talked crap about everything that didn’t conform to their opinion, which says a lot more about them that anything else. They can say whatever the hell they want to say, but the truth is that the city is the worst place on Earth. I pity those who live or are from there, I really do.
Ha! This is too funny. I was once robbed…in San Francisco. My car was vandalized in a park and a purse full of cash stolen (and man, did they hit the jackpot, $700) and I’m pretty sure some homeless person did it.
I’ve always thought there was something off about the people and I could never quite put my finger on it until I read through all of the comments. I suppose I expected them to be friendly and laid back in an L.A. sort of way but I was just telling a friend the other day that people in San Fran seem to have a snotty attitude. Never really felt people were warm, open, and friendly.
i was born and raised in New York City and moved to SF when i was 17. To be 100% completely honest, this city is exactly like LA and NYC but less exposed and more organic. I don’t understand the hate that these people are giving towards this city. Also those who complain about the “HIPSTERS” are basically hipsters themselves. There are not many hipster areas in this city so it doesn’t make sense when you all make this conclusion that EVERYONE who lives here is an asshole hipster (which must mean you hang out in these areas). There are many areas with good bars and food places where the people are great and super chill. Yeah, there are weird ass people in this city (some assholes and some super nice) but there are weird ass people everywhere (ESPECIALLY IN NYC AND LA).
REAL sf tips:
- If you can’t handle the lifestyle out here than move out, no one gives a shit.
- The weather is fine. It’s not always foggy but it’s not always sunny. Wear layers in this city people.
- Homeless people hate tourist more than the actual locals do, don’t expect everyone to hold your hand and walk you through the city with a smile.
- Pot is popular but you won’t be pressured or looked down upon if you don’t like the stuff.
- Some hipsters can be assholes but just learn to brush those ones off.
- Watch out for the Haight street kids, they can smell tourists from a mile away (seriously!).
I LOVE THIS CITY!!!!!!!!
enjoy.
@Keanu
“i was born and raised in New York City and moved to SF when i was 17.
I don’t understand the hate that these people are giving towards this city.”
You must not have absorbed very much about NYC in your 17 years then, because if did you’d see that SF is like a bad neighborhood of Queens no one would go to unless they had to. Or a bad party in Williamsburgh – 10 years culturally, everyone is white, and you can never leave it.
“There are not many hipster areas in this city”
That’s true. The parts of the city that aren’t populated by C list hipsters are either populated by smug ultra white euro elites ala the Marina, Asians who rarely mix with anyone, and the few hispanics that haven’t been priced out of the mission yet.
“REAL sf tips:
- If you can’t handle the lifestyle out here than move out, no one gives a shit.”
Yep, that’s about how people in SF are. They stiffen up any time you suggest that their provincial shithole isn’t all that great compared to real cities like NY and LA, and the conversation ends. If you ever did manage to get them to get past their sneers and/or macbook airs to actually have a conversation with you. And by ‘lifestyle’ in SF you mean drinking 5 dollar lattes on dad’s money in a coffee shop? Hating homeless? Swinging your dickie around at public parades and thinking its novel even though it’s been going on for 20 years? Running up your credit card bill in 3/4 empty lounges that close at 1?
“The weather is fine. It’s not always foggy but it’s not always sunny. Wear layers in this city people.”
No, it is not fine. Unless what you mean by fine is perpetually raining and cold and soggy. The good weather is across the bay. When I lived there it literally set a record for raining for a month in a row without stop.
“Homeless people hate tourist more than the actual locals do, don’t expect everyone to hold your hand and walk you through the city with a smile”
No one is bashing the homeless. They’re bashing the so called progressives that treat the homeless worse than any American Psycho yuppie character could, and the fake progressive bullshit that trust fund babies spout while they drive their volvos to yoga class.
“Pot is popular but you won’t be pressured or looked down upon if you don’t like the stuff”
Yeah but everyone in SF is surly and standoffish because they’re high all the time. No one will look down on you because they never look at you in the first place.
SF Blows. Just admit it. It’s ok.
“Sunny California”?
SF is not sunny. At all. That would be LA lady. Do your research first.
Oh, and I’m a SF resident, and one hell of an asshole to tourists. Especially the ones that walk super slow.
It certainly is comical when San Francisco fanboys (or girls, for that matter) pull up their ridiculous arguments to defend the place. However, that doesn’t change the fact that San Francisco is a bonafide shithole. A cesspool. One of, if not the worst, places in America for so many reasons, among which have already been described. It’s a city that wishes so hard to be something it’s not, and never will be. A legacy in its own mind. I don’t care how many wealthy yuppies, trust-fund hipsters, ugly freaks, and marauding homeless individuals exist in that 7×7 square of meh. It’s all crap and nothing else. Let these pseudo-intellectuals rot in their own blindness; perhaps the pestering fog is too thick for periods far longer than humans should endure. Ignorance is bliss, no? Just as long as the plague stays in the Bay Area, the world will be saved.
I once lived in San Francisco, but NEVER did I or will I call myself a San Franciscan. That would be the worst insult to my dignity.
So, hear ye pitiful fools who live and love that place: no matter what you say, do, or feel, San Francisco is NOT that glorious paradise you think it is. Defend it to the death if you want, but it pathetically falls short of its lofty aspirations. The bad absolutely offsets all of the good, and it will never, ever compare to the true cultural capitals in this country. To allude to words that dear Mr. Gavin Newsom once said: Whether you like it or not.
p.s. When the world thinks of California, it is not an image of you that comes to mind, S.F. And I know that drives you crazy.
You know, personally, I’ve never been to San Francisco, but I’ve heard enough about it from enough people to hate it, too. It seems like, as a city, San Francisco actually isn’t all that bad – but the people who live there just ruin the whole thing. It seems like they dedicate their entire lives to being more “modern” or “ahead of the curve” than everybody that lives anywhere else and then get so smug about it that they might as well just be smelling their own farts. I once swore to myself that I’d never step foot in that city, and I am and always will keep to that promise.
ps – Tam Lin, whoever you are, everything that you said and the way that you said it only did one thing – prove this article right. Also, I live in Michigan, I’ve lived here my whole life, and the people here are just as nice and polite than they are anywhere else. Except San Francisco, because the people who live there are nothing more than completely self – absorbed assholes. And we aren’t like that, now are we?
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So true! I grew up here and came back when my dad got ill, but am SO excited to be moving to New York in a few more months!
Thank you for posting this. I often refer back to this website after walking through the urine covering every sidewalk, through the dog sh** covering every inch of grass in the few parks in the cramped city, by the homeless people camped out in every unguarded doorway, by the transplant yuppies gushing on about how wonderful SF is here while they walk through the urine and dog sh**, by the completely useless and unavailable SFPD who yawn while cars regularly run through red lights nearly hitting pedestrians and wallets are stolen on the bus, by the insular gay and Asian communities who rarely mingle with others, by my coworkers who rave about the cultural amenities (where?) and the weather. Seriously? The weather? 61 degrees and windy and foggy every day ?? Are you serious ? Even North Dakota gets a proper summer.
Oh and so many weirdos. LA has lots of weirdos but the city is large so they are spread out. SF is tiny so the same weirdos are in your face everyday. I seriously do not know how people tolerate it. There is no civility here. Self righteous yuppies and hipsters (transplant and gay) walk right by the numerous weirdos, the awful smelling homeless urinating on the sidewalk, the Muni drivers 20 minutes behind schedule, the police doing absolutely nothing, the angry store and restaurant owners who treat everyone else like a weirdo or homeless person, etc. How many drugs do these people take to cope with this place ?
I used to live in SF and some of the nearby places on the easy bay. The whole bay area in general is way over-rated. It could be fun to live there temporarily, but the realities you’d be required to face if living there long term are not worth it. Over-priced, over-crowded, over-rated.
I once vistited SAN FRANCISCO but now i wouldnt set a foot in that blight on the west coast the whole place needs to fall into the pacific ocean and take those wretched bridges with it
I spent the entire decade of the 90′s in the Bay Area, one year of which in San Francisco. It’s a beautiful city, and while I did meet some decent people there, I made no lasting friendships that continue to this day. It’s never completely accurate to make generalizations, although the comments about the city being overrun with self-absorbed, pretentious hipsters and a pervasive condescending attitude does indeed have a factual, objective basis. Focusing on the positive, I enjoyed Sundays in Golden Gate Park, riding my bike through the Presidio and over the Golden Gate Bridge, the Filbert Gardens walk around Coit Tower, street musicians in Jack London Square, Sam Wo’s delicious food in Chinatown, and even the feel of the fog at Ocean Beach. I would not want to settle in San Francisco permanently, but as a temporary stop on the journey of life there’s much to enjoy here.
No thanks, Mark. Romanticism can’t mask the reality of San Francisco, permanent or temporary.
I’m San Francisco born ‘n raised, and I too am completely dismayed and disgusted with the airless, clueless, phony asylum that San Francisco has become. I’ve always been relaxed about other people’s attitudes about the place-that’s a lot to do with me being from the “red-headed stepchild” of SF neighborhoods, the formerly-maligned Sunset District. In the Olde Days, the Tales of the City days and back, it was actually a pleasant place to LIVE, as opposed to the noisy, dirty and hopelessly expensive “real” San Francisco. I loved the fog, nothing helped me sort out my head like a gloomy walk through a cypress grove on a thoroughly socked-in day..it was nearly all beachfront property, since Ocean Beach was within walking distance. There were all kinds of thriving family businesses & the entire neighborhood was well-covered by the Municipal Railway. You NEVER saw cars on the street, most people I knew then didn’t need them unless they went out of town. Of course in those days, people weren’t living with four generations of relatives to a house either (take that comment as you will, I don’t care).
Now, the rot from the rest of the city has oozed westward, the Sunset is now as grimy and overcrowded as the rest of the town.
Something awful started happening around the time the DiFi took the Mayor’s Office. I got out in the 80s, vowed never to return, and each trip across the Golden Shakedown Bridge reinforces my resolve. I have long since stopped defending the place, from my disappointed NYC friends in particular. They’re right-SF tries way too hard to be what it isn’t. Pity, because some of us liked it as it was, warts and all.
So..up your Macbook Air, San Francisco. Twice on Sunday (Thank you, Ernestine Tomlin) !
Before going to san fran I hadnt heard a bad word about it, everybody said it was the best city ever…soooo beautiful. i spent 4 days in this place and within the first 2 hours of being here could not wait to get out of here. people still dont understand why i hate it so much. i have never seen so many homeless people in my whole life.its so sad. and the town STINKS…i felt sooo unsafe in this place. and the cop cars are pretty much falling to bits. the only good things i liked about san fran was alcatraz and the beautiful building. other than that it is the worst place i have ever been. definitely one place in america that i would never ever visit again
WAAAAHHHHHH!!!!! I HATE SAN FRANCISCO!!!!! I’M SCARED!!!
OH GAYS, OH POT SMOKE and OHHH HOMELESS OH MY!!!!!
Anyone who posts on this forum sucks San Francisco’s BIG TRANNY DI*K and has a sore hole from being banged so hard by THE CITY!!
HOW DOES THE CITY TASTE????
WAHHHHHH
HE/SHE DIDN”T CALL YOU BACK AFTER YOU GOT CREAM FACED??
Pardon me peasant (tourist) I’m off to the homeless shelter!!!!
I don’t understand all the people saying they hate the weather. San Francisco is known for fog, clouds, wind, rain, and cold all year round. Why move here if you know that and don’t like the weather? And if you didn’t know that, move out of your mom’s basement from under a rock before you move to SF. I personally love that weather and have had no problem adapting to it coming from SoCal. If you are a fat tourist from the Mid West, then yes, we will not like you in the city. But no, not everyone has to be a hipster. Many of the young people from San Mateo County, San Jose, and the East Bay that dress like normal people move to the city and they, along with the normal people from LA, don’t associate with hipsters. I dislike the Haight, but love the Marina. Castro is a lot of fun and so is Divisadero Street with its wide array of local stores and restaurants. Compared to NYC the public transportation may be bad, but the MUNI is nothing to look down upon. Stay out of tourist areas and don’t look like a tourist and you’ll be fine. I’ve met some of the friendliest people in SF, specifically in the Sunset, Richmond, and Marina Districts. Drinks at bars are cheaper than in LA. Maybe my experience is different since I am Russian and have been able to befriend the large Russian community in the Richmond District, but everyone I go to school with loves it here…unless they hate the weather or gays or liberals…and they shouldn’t have moved here anyways.
I am glad I am not alone — my daughter was working in the San Francisco area for the summer, so my husband and I went out to see her. Everything above is true! I have never seen more arrogant, unfriendly people in my life. We went in July and it was freezing — so cold I had to buy a jacket. I will never visit there again.
I was happy when I moved here–young, vibrant, attractive. Three and a half years later, I am a shell of my former self and stay away from the bridges because my desire to jump (or push) is so strong. From the beginning, I wanted to love it, expected to love it. But I feel as if I have died and gone to Hell. Am I being punished for something? I occasionally find myself puzzled, trying to convince myself that surely it must be me, how could this beautiful place be such a hellhole? Well, make no mistake–it is. For so many reasons. Top 13 (’cause 10 just isn’t enough):
1. The weather–C’mon, how can anyone live like this? Everyday is like a personal assault by the city. It’s always, always, always windy. I need my long wool coat in June and July. I dream longingly of the summers I once knew. Even a Spring or a Fall would do. The Land of Perpetual Winter.
2. The people–Never have I experienced such UNMERITED arrogance and smug superiority. They are better than everyone else, but the crime is terrible. They are better than everyone else, but MUNI is a joke. And don’t get me started on the police. Or the homeless.
3. The expense–I pay an outrageous amount to live in an apartment that is practically a camping experience. So little protection from the elements that my hair curls in the morning from the dampness. And it’s like one big unhappy family, as (even on the top floor), I can hear every move my neighbor makes. Can’t remember the last time I got a full night’s sleep.
4. The drivers–God help us. These have to be the stupidest people on the planet. And I have driven in L.A.
5. The dating scene–yes, of course, I knew before I moved here that SF is a gay mecca, but honestly, I could be a stick of furniture, a plant for all the male attention I get here. Which brings me to number 6.
6. The people–they all look the same, especially the men and their dark-framed glasses, dark clothes (usually jeans and a t-shirt) and anemic bodies. Sleep with them? Hell, I want to feed them. Testosterone anyone?
7. The people–rude, unfriendly and contemptuous, and most importantly, NO sense of humor. They take themselves ever so seriously. There’s no banter, and if you have a dry sense of humor, forget it. They’ll take it all at face value. Yes, sarcasm, I think I miss you most of all.
8. The Thought Police/Hypocrisy Squad–Everything is their business–what you wear, what you read, what you think, what you buy, where you buy it. Never before have people made it their business whether I drive or take the bus to work. Maybe they really care about the environment, you might say. Check out the streets and the parks–unbelievably littered. And I haven’t noticed that San Franciscans really care about anyone–the political agenda is not fueled by compassion.
This one deserves a second paragraph, entitled, “I Have Nothing Better to Do With My Time Than Make Laws to Make Sure Other People Live Their Lives According to My Agenda.” Banning Happy Meals and Circumcision (you pesky Jews, we had no idea this was a religious issue. Really?) I recently heard someone arguing in favor of taxing Amazon customers so “local businesses” wouldn’t be at a disadvantage. This from the same people mourning the loss of a Borders at Union Square. Huge chain v. local business, you decide. Forget the benefits to consumers from a free market economy, especially in this economy.
9. Cyclists–Armed with a sense of superiority that comes from single-handedly saving the environment, you too can be immune from all traffic laws applicable to pedestrians or vehicles. It’s such an inconvenience to stop at traffic lights and stop signs. Most alarmingly, they have frequent near-misses with pedestrians, who are apparently invisible, crosswalks be damned.
10. There’s always a parade or festival going on somewhere. Forget trying to get anywhere. And a constant barrage of protests. That’s right, folks. It’s all about my rights, and you’d better not violate them, even a little. And don’t even THINK about trying to impose any restrictions on my conduct. I should be able to do what I want, when I want, to whomever I want. Remember, it’s all about me!
11. Remember when you could walk to and from your home, office, the store without the smell of marijuana wafting through the air?
12. If I never see a goddamned Prius again, it will be too soon.
13. Fuck, is it raining again?
DISCLAIMER: Okay, having said all this, I am occasionally surprised my a friendly, helpful stranger–almost always from somewhere else, by the way. And I know a number of good-hearted, giving people that I like very much. Even they, however, have drunk the kool-aid. It’s like talking to a benevolent life force from another planet. Sigh . . .
I was happy when I moved here. Three and a half years later, I am a shell of my former self and stay away from the bridges because my desire to jump (or push) is so strong. I wanted to love it, expected to love it. But I feel as if I have died and gone to Hell. Am I being punished for something? Surely it must be me, how could this beautiful place be such a hellhole? Well, make no mistake–it is. For so many reasons. Top 13 (10 just isn’t enough):
1. The weather–Everyday is like a personal assault by the city. It’s always, always, always windy. I need my long wool coat in June and July. I dream longingly of the summers I once knew. A Spring or a Fall would do. But dreaming (and complaining) are verboten.
2. The people–Never have I experienced such UNMERITED arrogance and smug superiority. They are better than everyone else, but the crime is terrible, MUNI is a joke, and don’t get me started on the police. Or the homeless.
3. The expense–I pay an outrageous amount to live in an apartment that is practically a camping experience. So little protection from the elements that my hair curls from the dampness. Even on the top floor I can hear my neighbor’s every move. Can’t remember the last time I had a full night’s sleep.
4. The drivers–God help us. These have to be the stupidest people on the planet. And I have driven in L.A.
5. The dating scene–yes, of course, I knew before I moved here that SF is a gay mecca, but honestly, I could be a stick of furniture, a plant for all the male attention I get here.
6. The people–all look the same, especially the men and their dark-framed glasses, dark clothes (jeans/t-shirt) and anemic bodies. Sleep with them? Hell, I want to feed them. Testosterone anyone?
7. The people–rude, unfriendly and contemptuous, and most importantly, NO sense of humor. Even the nice ones take themselves ever so seriously. There’s no banter, and if you have a dry sense of humor, forget it. They’ll take it all at face value. Yes, sarcasm, I think I miss you most of all.
8. The Thought Police/Hypocrisy Squad–Everything is their business–what you wear, what you read, what you think, what you buy, where you buy it. Never before have people made it their business whether I drive or take the bus to work. Maybe they really care about the environment, you might say. Check out the streets and the parks–unbelievably littered. And I haven’t noticed that San Franciscans really care about anyone–the political agenda is not fueled by compassion.
This one deserves a second paragraph, entitled, “I Have Nothing Better to Do With My Time Than Make Laws to Make Sure Other People Live Their Lives According to My Agenda.” Banning Happy Meals and Circumcision (you pesky Jews, we had no idea this was a religious issue. Really?)
9. Cyclists–Armed with a sense of superiority that comes from single-handedly saving the environment, you too can be immune from all traffic laws applicable to pedestrians or vehicles.
10. There’s always a parade or festival or protest going on somewhere. That’s right, folks. It’s all about my rights, and you’d better not violate them, even a little. And don’t even THINK about trying to impose any restrictions on my conduct. I should be able to do what I want, when I want, to whomever I want. Remember, it’s all about me!
11. Remember when you could walk to and from your home, office, the store without the smell of marijuana wafting through the air?
12. If I never see another goddamned Prius, it will be too soon.
13. Fuck, is it raining again?
DISCLAIMER: Okay, having said all this, I am occasionally surprised by a friendly, helpful stranger–almost always from somewhere else. And I know a number of good-hearted, giving people that I like very much. Even they, however, have drunk the kool-aid. It’s like talking to a benevolent life force from another planet. Sigh . . .
San Francisco is known for its fog, but not everyone knows that it is a huge part of summer. Most people go to SF thinking it will reflect the California image of sunny, warm weather. They get there and realize that 60 degrees in December and January may be okay, but in July and August, it actually sucks. It’s depressing and annoying. Telling people to move out of their mother’s basement, calling people fat Midwestern tourists, or saying other stupid vulgar comments about trannies will do absolutely nothing to serve your cause, and instead just solidifies everything that has been said here thus far about SF not being a nice place.
What I found was that so many people who lived there talked about how “great” the city was only to subconsciously justify the fact that they paid ridiculous prices for a broom closet in a murky, filthy, homeless-ridden city. And they truly believed in this “greatness” as though they underwent some sort of brainwashing and blinding. San Francisco lacks so much (including REAL diversity and a good transportation system among other things) for it be worth the prices. People there really live in an out-of-touch bubble like no place else. It’s sad.
i moved to sf 5 months ago expecting to love it. i still haven’t given up, but i lose hope daily.
don’t like fog, but i can deal….the dirt and the homeless people, i can handle. it’s the dryness of interactions i can’t take. i feel like i live in a city of robots….it’s much like #7 in the post above.
i’ve lived all over – felt this way about LA but, and i can’t believe i’m saying this, it might be worse here. at least people there are just sort of cold and aloof. here, they seem down right rude and sort of mean.
some parts are better – the sunset gets slammed a lot but the few little commercial areas there are ok…….slightly more diverse and fewer hipsters. i at least feel relaxed around there. downtownish is ok……….but the rest??
Let the whole place fall into the pacific ocean bridges and all
I went to San Francisco in 1997 and there was a news article on the TV about straight people being banned from entering a gay bar. The bar owner and patrons were saying they had the right to ban them because they had the right to associate only with people like them.
The other city in the world that is smug and obnoxious like SF is Toronto, Canada. They think they’re better than the entire US.
Ha, you all sound like miserable pretentious assholes…jokes on you!
Go back to wherever you came from and stop bitching about things you can’t change. haha
[...] the main reasons people are attracted to San Francisco is the unique attractions, but instead, one blogger explains her side of “unique-ness” to these [...]
It’s too bad all you did were the ultra touristy stuff. Maybe if you ventured off into the ‘real’ city you would have had a better time. I was born in raised in this city and only do the things you listed when someone from out of town wants to.
Thanks for the SF Haters Anon! I can’t stand this city and will never come back once I’m able to leave. SF has a massive inferiority complex, which is well deserved as it is inferior. Me thinks three groups are the most guilty of this.
1. The folks who havent ever lived outside of the Bay Area and dont know any better so they’re offended by people who hate the city. I personally hate that so many people deficate and urinate on the sidewalk that the odor wafting from the street waters the eye. “Oh, every big city deals with that. Its just city life…” No, its not. SF is probably the dirtiest city in the US. The Tenderloin/Civic Center is damn near third world. Have you been to any other big cities?
Some SF’ers think the city has a lot to do, which also makes me think they’ve not lived in the outer rings of their cold little planet. They have some nice museums, like most large cities. A cornucopia of bars that close at 2:00, like most large cities. Art galeries and music venues, like most big cities. You get the point. SF offers a lot to do if you’re from Juno, but if you’re from any of the large and medium sized cities in the US, “a lot” turns into an average amount.
2. The artists who couldn’t hack it anywhere else, including their mid-western hometown are here in spades. There are a handful of truely phenominal artists in SF, unfortunately the culture is mainly comprised of people who think if they live in a dilapidated building and dress like a hobo their talent will miraculously shine through a guitar or paintbrush. SF artists are talented by association (right?). Only they associate with talentless a$$clowns so do the math. Just a bunch of snooty punks (hipsters) that recieved ribbons for a mediocre youth.
3. The smart kids. I’m love/hate with these guys and gals. Sure Silicon Valley is the perennial powerhouse in IT, and the world is probably a better, if not more efficient, place for it. Kudos smarty pants, I appreciate you! However, these same Cal/Stanford/Cornell/Harvard grads worked a little too hard on C++ and not nearly enough on social skills. Half of the folks out here are idiot savants. They’re making good money developing programs that allow me to spill my bile on this screen, but can’t navigate the social world. They’re finally comfortable enough to go out and give social interaction the ol’ college try. Unfortunately, they act like pre-teens the first time mom let them go to the mall by themselves. I dont think they’re rude on purpose, they just don’t know how to interact with others. It doesn’t really matter though, beacause in the end, you have a city that is full of people who are extraordinarily difficult to relate/talk/interact with.
This was very therapeutic. I hope to leave soon, back to the clean streets and easy going citizens found in Anywhereelse, USA.
I will include the qualifier that the gay and lesbian community is an awesome light in an otherwise bleak city. They may be the only sane people here…
Maybe one day, San Franciscans will wake up from their foggy delusions so that they finally can see the fake, rude, provincial sh*thole they really live in. They can try to market the city to the world as this beautiful, progressive mecca, but give me LA, NY, or Boston any day over the disgusting, pathetic place SF is in reality.
I hate SF and I love when people get mad when I say it. Thanks!
I love this thread and I also hate San Francisco.
I really agree with poop deck on #2. having gone to an art school and heard/seen it all from the great to the pathetic, SF’s art scene is, at best, average. Below average is much closer to the truth.
I disklike SF. I have lived in several different cities, and I have hated each and every one of them.
I lived in Portland, Oregon for 7 years, and it was atrocious. After living in Portland for 7 years, moving to SF was like a dream come true. It was like SF was the real thing that Portland was trying to be, Portland being a fake miniature SF which should just really jump off of it’s own Burnside bridge for the sake of the rest of humanity.
Yet, I became quite miserable in San Francisco, coming to the realization that I was not a liberal in any sense of the word. San Francisco is indeed smelly and full of smelly homeless people. Yet, I found some of these same homeless people friendly. San Francisco is indeed cold but I am a person who is sensitive to hot weather, and thought that the cool weather was the best part of living in the city, never too hot or too cold, always fresh ocean wind with a little more oxygen due to sea. San Francisco is expensive, but I am the kind of person that can live so frugally that it would astonish most people.
The pot didn’t bother me, I smoke a little. Not too much as it will slow you way the hell down, even when you need to speed up. That wasn’t the problem.
I think that there are a couple of things which drive me crazy to this day. It is the realization that civilization is inherently evil, no matter if you run to the most extreme right, militant Islam, or you run to the extreme left, vegan anarchists at Food Not Bombs, or you try to hide in the middle, cowering in a dead end data entry job in Illinois, it is the feeling that civilization is an intentionally evil and destructive force. lt is the realization that everything is empty and dead. Being a former born again Christian, I was determined to find answers. Having searched so long, I found out that Jesus was dead, and that everything was touted as being food for the soul was instead poison.
I was damn glad to leave San Francisco at last. It was a horrible experience, overall.
After having lived in the cities that I have, and having lived the life that I have, which has been completely miserable, you cannot convince me that there is anything worthwhile whatsoever in any city on the face of the planet. I refuse to beleive the idea that there is a better art scene, or a better music scene here or there which could be fulfilling is just a rehashing of the lie that civilization has medicine for the soul, it does not.
Honestly, I don’t think a lot of people that tour San Francisco really see it for what it is. San Francisco is not the paradise that many people claim it to be, but it’s not the shithole that a lot of people are left with an impression of.
I grew up here in San Francisco, and in school, there were like three white kids in my class. I don’t really understand it when some people claim that San Francisco is all white. It IS in the US, but if the only kind of people you’re seeing is white people, you’ve definitely just haven’t seen most of it.
Don’t get me wrong. Just because I love my city doesn’t mean that I don’t recognize its flaws. I’m not going to get my panties tied up in a bunch because you prefer another city, but I AM going to be irritated if you come here and tell me that my home is a shithole without good reason.
But anyways, on the homeless and the rude waiters and the hipsters. For every rude homeless guy, there’s at least two others that look you in the eye and thank you for every bit of spare change you give them, and another who says “god bless you” and gives you a happy smile. For every rude waiter, there’s another who will bend over backwards to make sure you’re being taken care of, and for every hipster…
Well, those will grow up someday. We make fun of them, too.
I’m sorry that you’ve bumped into a few rude people, but like someone already said, a lot of tourists have made the reputation of always acting like they’re entitled to the treatment of gods, and so some people (wrongly) judge too quickly. It’s not right for people to be rude, but I’m sure you were just kind of unlucky.
Oh, and the bad drivers? I guess you’ve had the misfortune to bump into my mother on the road.
Scary, I know. It’s worse when you’re actually IN her car, haha.
I am loving the comments being made here! Thank God there are some HONEST and INTELLIGENT people in this country who speak the truth about the SHIT HOLE known as San Francisco. I live in the East Bay, right across the Bay Bridge… and let me tell you, I can NOT WAIT to move the hell away from here! People in San Francisco think they are better than those of us who live in the East Bay… for one… that is SUCH a joke! My apartment is bigger than most of their shitty over priced houses! ha ha ha ha!
When I move away from here in the next three years… let me tell you… San Francisco WILL NOT be missed. The people there are delusional assholes. Rude, arrogant, and unimaginative to say the least. It’s good to know that I’m not the only one who feels this way. The only thing I like about San Francisco, ironically enough, is the touristy areas like Fisherman’s Wharf and Chinatown. The rest of that city can fall into the Pacific for all I care. Good riddance!
Fuck off tourist. You know nothing about what this city is really about, you probably did not bother to journey west of Union Square and Pier 39.
Without these awesome posts I would feel so alone….and MLEIGH, wow, you have totally read my mind. When you said “I feel like I have died and gone to hell,” nothing could describe my feelings about living here more precisely. I am blessed/cursed with a strong spiritual intuition about places, and this place feels like death. No joy, no compassion, no warmth, and just an overall God-less-ness and aggression that does make me feel like I’m in hell. It’s in the air. And it suffocates me. Even living in a beautiful area of Oakland, I still feel that sense of death and darkness pervading – and now I know it’s not just me, because so many other people have sensed it. The girl who said this place makes her “physically ill,” also hit the nail on the head. WHATS WRONG HERE? I’ve come to the point where I can’t figure it out, I just want to get the (hell) out and go back to where I belong, which is sunny LA. Thank you God that SF is not reality, just a warped version of it.
It’s a geographically pretty place with lots of stuff to do. The people of SF make it unbearable. I’m an L.A. native, but I’ve lived in several big cities – I’ve travelled a lot, and have also lived abroad. SF has hands-down the worst population of people of anywhere I’ve ever been. The civic vibe is frigid, smug, sarcastic – and that’s just at hello. You will encounter some rudeness in most big cities, but for the most part, I’ve always found down-to-earth people to talk to and hang out with. In SF, even the people you’d expect to be cool – bartenders, artists, little old ladies – are all fucking assholes.
Reading the blogs here are great! I’m so happy to know it’s not just me. I’d never visited the city until I drove here to join my spouse who is here for work on a temporary basis and I have been slowly dying inside ever since. I now cry often because I’m trapped here in purgatory. The women look like men and the men…(I’m glad I’m married). I’ve never seen people work so hard at being unattractive. No make-up on the women, hair that hasn’t seen a brush since…..well ever, (for women and men)! Oh and the drivers!! Seriously, who issues licenses at the DMV? There can’t be testing for these things. Just driving 5 blocks can get you killed! Where are the cops to ticket these people?? Its like drivers have their eyes closed. There are hundreds of bars, but no place to dance. I was told the Marina was the nice area, ‘NOT!! A bunch of drunken people making an attempt at being posh, puh-leeze!! The girls can’t hold their liquor and their fashion looks like they were raised in trailer parks. I’ve never seen so many cheap shoes in all my days. They are one drink away from being hookers, (they are easy as pie). I understand that no one can control the weather, but it’s always fall, gloomy and cold here. Why are the homeless masses so close to the tourists? Dumbest thing ever! Even NYC and Chicago knew to move the homeless away from visitors. The filthy, human poop-covered tenderloin is what visitors see when they visit this place. Why come back? It’s not an ugly town, just boring. It’s a small town attempting to be a big city, but there are no big city attractions, so it’s confusing. No place to go if you’re all dressed up. We tried dressing up for a night on the town, but when we got to our destinations, of course some people were there in jeans, hoodies and tees. Grow up already. If I see one more hairy hippy I’ll just spit! Let’s move on, the 70′s have ended. Some people are friendly, usually they are gay, and that’s a plus, but everyone is pale and looks like they are stoned, (probably are since its ok to smoke pot anywhere here). Not a fan of substances, so blow your smoke elsewhere! I’m sure this town works for those who are not fun, fashion seekers looking for excitement, but for me, when this contract ends and I can get the hell out of this “Stepford Wives” movie, I’ll never come back-not for any amount of money!
To the person above who said the following:
“Fuck off tourist. You know nothing about what this city is really about, you probably did not bother to journey west of Union Square and Pier 39.”
Well, sadly, this is the area where my issues of San Francisco began. This is my first time in the city, having travelled over for the American Geophysical Union conference, housed in the very comforting and neutral environment of the downtown Moscone Center. A group of colleagues decided to rent an appartment in the Hayes Valley part of town, having been told about it being a nice area, not too far a walk etc…
What they failed to mention was the utter depravity one would be faced with whilst making the transition between Tourist Trap A (Haight/Ashbury area) and Tourist Trap B (Downtown). Never have I encountered so many homeless, junkies, whores and lunatics in such a confined space before – granted, the cities I’ve experienced are a lot smaller than most in the US, so I take note in the scale differences, but a walk down Market Street, from Van Ness to Fifth was an eye opening experience. So far, I’ve seen more homeless than I could possibly count, encountered many crazy people (shouting at trees; shouting to the sky; starting fights with trees, cars and random passers by; roaring on about the validity of their religious persuasion (and boy, do I mean roaring!)), smelled more Weed than any casual smoker could inhale in 2 lifetimes and additionally had my nasal passages assaulted by the frequent deposits of piss and shite (I’m not always convinced these are from dogs either).
Since being here, the weather has been one of the few saving graces – it’s been calm, sunny and warm without being hot with good frequency – also not a sign of fog creeping under the bridge yet either, which is nice. I also can’t quite berate the people yet, as other than the confines of the Convention Center, the odd restaurant and those I pass in the street, I’ve had very little interaction with many of the SF natives.
To some extent, I enjoyed the limited time I’ve spent in the somewhat touristy areas, but at the same time, couldn’t help but feel how false and commercialised it all felt. Haight Street tries to mascarade as it’s former gay/hippy mecca, but is the definition of pretense. I took a walk yesterday afternoon from the Moscone, down to AT&T, along the shore to the Golden Gate, before returning back into the city via China Town. I’d agree that part of my dislike of San Francisco is tourist oriented – too much catering going on, though if so many flock to this city, it stands to reason that folks will turn it into a commercial venture and milk every cent they can.
I thought China Town was pretty nice, but again, quite false – perhaps once-upon-a-time it was a good, genuine Asian community within San Francisco, but there were far too many tacky souveneir shops for the authenticity to be maintained. However, the smell walking through was superb and I was glad I popped in to one of the eateries to grab some lunch!
Overall, I’m definitely not a fan of the city, but some of the remarks on here seem a little over the top – I wouldn’t rush back to it, granted, but I’d say the same about most cities I’ve spent any time in the USA – they all have their areas which are good/bad, “real”/tourist oriented. The same is true of any of the big cities in the UK/Europe, and I’m sure the world over.
Looking forward to getting out in a car this weekend and heading up the Pacific Coast to Port Angeles and back down again, in what should be a great roadtrip with colleagues/friends. Until then, I count 2 more (hopefully not so sleepless) nights in San Francisco.
From the Ferry Building to Ocean Beach and the Marina to Crocker Amazon, San Francisco is a gross, pathetic little town full of people who are severely mentally ill. And it has really crappy weather.
Perhaps one day all our dreams will come true and it will just disappear.
Then please leave, there is enough tourists here anyway. Let us enjoy our beautiful city, if you do not understand the magic then the bay is just not the place for you. There is something deeper that perhaps you have to grow up with to understand.
OK, people I spent 2 days in SF, always wanted to live and return there. Unfortunately after the 2 day job interview I did not get the job, BUT I had a small opportuity to check the place out. I honestly cant belive what I am reading. OK, ok I have not lived there more than a week but please…you could say the same thing about every other city in the world. Maybe the problem is not SF, but rather people’s expectations which are way too high. Come on, what did you expect?? Lower your standarts a bit, get real, where do these homeless folks have to go?? Ask your self this question?? Hipsters? Who gives a shit? Get over it people, stop complaining so much.
London, Barcelona, Paris, Montreal, NY, LA – hell they are all the same.
Did you really expect people wearing flowers in their hair??? Get real the 60 and the 70 are finsihed and wont be coming anytime soon.
What a bunch of whiners!