Why I Hate San Francisco
My friend and San Francisco resident Ben Casnocha has challenged me to explain why I hate San Francisco, which he terms one of the world’s great cities.
Listen Ben, San Francisco is one of the world’s great cities. But that doesn’t mean I have to like it.
Many of the criticisms I will level against dear old SF apply to many other cities. Just because I hate San Francisco doesn’t mean I can’t equally hate New York, Beijing, Manila, and many other cities around the globe.
Hey, there’s plenty of hate to go around.
Top Reasons Why I Hate San Francisco:
1. NO LEFT TURNS
2. The lack of parking
3. The plentiful supply of homeless people
4. Hills, hills, hills–good for views, bad for safety
5. Frequent events/protests/parades/festivals that snarl up traffic for no good reason whatsoever
6. The atrociously cold weather
7. The nutball politicians who run the joint
8. The crappy public transportation system, which only seems functional in comparison to the even worse nightmares in other cities. Being the smartest retard ain’t something to be proud of.
9. Every miserable night on the town I’ve ever spent in SF, which seem to devolve into a Sisyphean quest to find “the” right bar or nightclub
10. The smug, self-satisfied attitude of residents who are convinced that they live the greatest city in the world. It’s the people who claim to love the environment, then commute to jobs in San Jose that really burn me up.
Flame away, SF residents!
UPDATE:
I finally found someone who hates San Francisco more than I. The “Why San Francisco Really Is That Bad” manifesto outlines in great detail why San Francisco is a terrible place for single ladies.
I sent this post to a friend who responded saying you’re homophobic (“Flame away SF residents”). I trust you were referencing the fire or something?
Once again, I reveal my age!
Back in the dark ages, shortly after we invented fire, but BG (before Google), there was something called “Usenet”. On “Usenet,” there were these things called “newsgroups” where primitive cave-dwellers could post messages to each other.
Many of these “newsgroups” came to be plagued by strident conflict, which the Australopithecines of the time termed “flamewars.” To flame someone was to attack them personally, or worst of all, compare them to Hitler.
When I directed SF residents to “flame away,” I was instructing them to “bring it on,” though hopefully not in the same way that Iraqi insurgents have done so to George W. Bush.
Gay or straight, it’s all the same to me, I’m still not going to visit that accursed city by the bay.
I knew what “flame” meant. Because I’m Gen-X. To Gen-Y, I guess “flame” is about as meaningful as “UHF” or “Side B.”
I must respond.
1. No left turns — Well, really you mean “No left turns off Geary, Market, and 19th Avenue.” Everything else is pretty open. You learn to appreciate the time you’re saving NOT sitting behind people waiting to turn left.
2. Agree.
3. Agree, although it’s declining.
4. Hills are great.
5. Again with the driving complaint? You hate SF because it has lots of street fairs and parades?
6. Best weather on earth for walking up hills.
7. Agree.
8. Agree, although BART runs well and the MUNI rail system is average. Buses blow.
9. You need new friends.
10. Yes, the same thing I hate about New York.
San Francisco is the most absurdly overrated and crappy city in the United States bar none. I made the mistake of going to grad school there for 2 years and couldn’t wait to leave. The best description of that city i’ve heard is “Denver by the bay”, although it might have been evern more aptly described by one person who called it a “club med for 30 something yuppies”.
That city blows. It’s racist (how many non-whites reside in the wealthy parts of the city), boring as hell (half empty restaurants, a general feeling of lethargy), impossible to meet anyone when you go out because nobody socializes–either they’re too stoned, have nothing to say, or both.
The thing that most gets me about it is the fake atmostphere of openness and tolerance about the place, underscored by brutal classism and segregation. revolution basically consists of smoking a bunch of weed, putting on a che guevara t shirt, and paying 150 a month for a yoga class that you drive your range rover too.
the other galling thing is that people there have the nerve to compare san francisco to NY. San Francisco is not even in the same league as New York, it would constitute maybe, say, a boring part of Queens like Fresh Meadows or Kew Gardens or something like that. People from San Fran look down on L.A. and N.Y. people, probably because people from those cities are open about their crass materialism while people from san fran fake like their a little bit above it. All from their 2000 a month digs, of course, but that’s different.
Also, people in NY are just as open about things like being gay, leftist politics, etc. etc., they just dont need to interject it in your face at all hours or make themselves into 24 hour a day walking billboards of themselves. they live their lives and its enough. I went to a dinner party once–a DINNER PARTY–and there were two lesbian women making out the whole time as if they were teens in a movie theatre. Except they were forty something.
viva la revolucion.
SF is a joke, sorry.
All good reasons to hate san francisco, but here are just a couple more:
-Have the idiots that comprise a good portion of the population never taken public transportation before? What else could possibly explain the number of dopes who hang out in the doorway of an uncrowded MUNI train…when their stop isn’t next? You have to squeeze past these lumps to whack your knee against the bar to open the dooors and navigate your way down the steps and they still don’t get it.
-another of my favorite MUNI scenarios is the person who is seated on the aisle with an empty window seat next to them and they won’t move over. no, climb over me, biatch, if you want that seat, i’m not moving my righteous ass.
What is wrong with people in this city? I cannot wait until my work contract is over in two months and i can get the hell out of this backwater piece of shit town.
I just googled “i hate san francisco”, I’m glad there are people who agree with me. Sometimes I feel so alone. “Why,” they ask, “do you hate San Francisco? It’s so much fun!!” Wha?? How?? Why??
Sometimes I think this place is a mean prank. You pay a ridiculous amount of your hard earned money just to live in a cramped apartment, plus paying for parking tickets, and expensive drinks and food. Any way you try to get around, it sucks: driving, you got traffic, assholes, and no left turns; MUNI, it takes forever, some bum always wants to chat, and what is that smell?; biking, if you don’t mind the hills, you’ll get hit by a taxi; all suck in equal measures here. Then if you’re lucky enough to find a parking space, your poor car gets bashed, dinged, bumped, and broken into.
I don’t get it. Why do I pay such a premium for all this aggravation?? It will be a happy day when I move away from this hellhole.
This post is the gift that keeps on giving. Down with the 415!
Just googled the words myself and lo and behold, this page! I actually live in SF and like my inexpensive, but somehow pretty nice small apartment, but I agree with 99.9% of the things people said–especially the complaints about selfish/oblivious MUNI riders. I am not originally from CA, so I am already harder to convince and as much as i loved my academic experience at Berkeley several years ago, the rest left much to be wanted. After a few years away, I’m back again, having dragged my feet a bit. Glad to know i am not totally crazy to have such feelings and to sort of wish I lived somewhere else!
I agree with all the points above. SF residents continually brag about living in the “most beautiful city.” Well, it is a nice looking city, but that is only one of the few positive attributes.
The people are cold and unattractive. A Southern Californian looks like Ken or Barbie compared to these goons.
Politics are way too liberal. They are too much of pansies to get rid of homelessness.
The city cares way too much about diversity. Instead of nominating another street for the Chinatown District, they could be cleaning up the streets.
It thinks it’s the best based on the fact that it’s better than L.A. (lol, sad)
damn, i’m addicted to these bb’s and blogs. i just moved to sf from florida, yes florida, and i’m ready to go back to that twilight zone hurricane-infested sweatbox swamp. thought i was insane for not falling in love with this place and tried to for the past couple months. sorry FRISCO (jesus, at least have an inkling of a sense of humor), it’s not me, it’s you.
city’s beautiful, no doubt. but the people? people are so cramped and insular. no substance behind the surface. smarmy and smug. i was sold a bill of goods to convince me to come out and i feel ripped off.
i can sense there was something magic here sometime ago, but i can also feel that something was extinguished with extreme prejudice at some point.
and i’m a lefty ex-skater web designer weed smoker. this is supposed to be IT, pardon the pun.
a lot of the complaints are dead-on. one thing that hasn’t been mentioned, though is these a-holes only honk their horns one way. loud long and obnoxious. no little wake up tap. no 2 second get that person’s attention. just full on noise pollution straight up your ass cuz the pizza guy is trying to do the job he’s paid to.
and for all the looking out for the little guy, minorities, weirdos. why can’t anyone be seen in a pair of jeans that cost under $200?
good luck all you self congratulatory hacks. i’m gonna do as recommended and get the hell out soon as this project dries up. it’s definitely “A City”, not “The City.”
Just Googled the words and here you are! Glad to hear I’m not the only one. I’ve been here 4 years and am counting down the days until I get to leave. I’m from Southern California and was on the verge of moving back when I met my husband, and stayed… the things you do for love.
People always ask me why I want to leave and my usual answer is because of the weather – the four seasons here are (1) just plain cold (2) cold and rainy (3) cold and foggy and (4) cold and windy. As a so-cal girl, this is HELL!!!! In four years I think I’ve been warm twice – the rest of the time I’m walking around in my overcoat with wool socks on and sleeping with a hot water bottle. Anyway, I guess my only real point is that I hate it here and just wanted to share in everyone’s misery 🙂
i had written under anonymous, ask for me to type in there word I did but didn’t post??
Hi!
You are far from being alone in your hate to San Francisco. One of the most hilarious postings about this subject that I have ever read is this one,
http://www.welikesheep.com/archives/2004/08/why_i_hate_san.html
See this excerpt,
“Norm Macdonald, on SNL, said it best in this 5/17/1997 Weekend Update: “In San Francisco last week, a birthday party for one of the area’s leading political figures, attended by the city’s Mayor, Sheriff, and members of the board of supervisors, culminated with a performance in which a dominatrix used a razor blade to carve a satanic star into the back of her male partner, then urinated on him, before finally sodomizing the man with a liquor bottle. After learning of the incident from press reports, San Franciscans expressed shock and outrage that the liquor bottle was not recycled.””
I also profess my disdain for such piece of crap (SF). I live happily to the South of it (silicon valley). In my almost 7 years here, I have only been to SF for mandatory stuff (business/bureaucratic reasons).
Every time that I have to go there is a hell of an experience.
I totally agree with you.
I have lived here almost 7 years now, and I am ready to move on. It is difficult to stand now. There are no old people here, no children and no families, and too many dogs (dog crap everywhere – no joke). And contrary to what so many people here think and say, this place is VERY segregated. The cost of living now is so completely unjustified. It’s stupid. Living here is treated as if it’s some kind of privilege. Privilege? WTF? And the people do very much suck here.
Yeah, I have my group of friends, and I do know some nice folks around the neighborhood, but in general, could the residents here be any more stuck up their own asses? I swear, it’s utterly pathetic. Everywhere you turn it’s a [passive] pissing contest to see who is hipper, who’s more successful, who’s moreso culturally experienced, who’s moreso informed and hooked-up, who’s more hardcore and urban, etc. Everyone “doesn’t have the time” to consider their attitudes and the space they share with their neighbors. This place is nothing but a big stupid camp / playground for “young”/”active” single people who have no responsibilities and no sense of mind to save their money and question the countless things that contribute to the grotesquely inflated cost of living here. Selfish, jaded and passive-aggressive; the people here suck.
Oh, and one more thing that totally kills me about this place? The god-awful mainstream gay element. I am gay. Sure. Great. Big deal. I don’t necessarily hide it, but I also don’t really give any thought to it either. But, Jesus f*ckin’ christ, how about a little class? Dore Alley? Folsom Street Fair? Castro Street Fair? Haloween? Fun is fun, sure, but the bad-taste and tacky, indecent behavior every time there is a party on the street? Show some respect for your neighbors. Jerks. No, not everyone wants to see you in assless chaps, or to see you pull out your boyfriend’s dick on the street to fondle it. Just because you are confident enough to behave like that on the public streets doesn’t mean that you should behave like that. And furthermore, behaving like that doesn’t make you mature or an “adult”.
Sorry San Francisco. Grow up and get a little class.
yeah-the fact that every public event quickly devolves into cliche exhibitionism (the crime is not that its outlandish but that its so trite and never original) really gets annoying. Its really childish, or better said, very adolescent. You’d think they’d get over that after a while.
Whoever made that point about MUNI is right too-I couldn’t believe how difficult it was for some people to use the public transportation system, like they couldn’t figure out that if you stand in the doorway other people can’t get on. People in that city have a unique way of having their heads up their asses. Not to mention the fact that the public trans. sucking is one of the major reasons why that city falls far short of its self proclaimed greatness. Its more of a suburb posing as a city.
Just have to say, I loved the weather in SF, and its the only thing I miss about the place…While I was there I have relatively inexpensive rent (though I admit I was living in the living room of a basement apartment) though the hundreds of parking tickets I got made me broke all the time…not to mention all the communists…San Jose is a much better city if you like the bayrea…
I’m not sure I get the ‘Denver-by-the-bay’ comparison…I used to live in SF and now in Denver, and other than all the CA transplants (most are from socal anyway) I don’t see it…
As some philosophers say, the opposite of love and hate is indifference…love and hate being the same. You all must like San Fran a bit, else you wouldn’t even be thinking about it, much less googling ‘I hate San Francisco’.
I just moved to San Francisco from Los angeles, and i must say i fucking hate living here. It’s small, cramped, and cold. There’s not much to do other than go to bars or shop, its very boring for a ‘city’, i mean i lived in the depths of suburbia beofre i came here and it was way more fun, go figure. There are somethings i like, but over all i regret moving here. I’m counting the days untill i get to move back to LA.
i’ve lived in both SF and LA, and i just have to say LA wins hands down. SF is a waste of money (whether you’re rich or not) with nothing to back up the reasons for its costs, whereas LA offers tons of energy, fun, nightlife, great weather, and entertainment for its relative cost (and is a truly international city). Flat out…SF is boring/expensive/filthy/rude, LA ain’t perfect, but it’s so much more alive/vibrant/alluring of a city to live in.
I love San Francisco! I’m sorry to see so many folks here down on it. Perhaps my expereince is unusual. I’ve lived in SF for 20 years (arriving straight out of college) and it still excites me to be here. I’ve made great, life-long friends. The weather suits me fine (not a super hot weather person). The food is great. The parks and views from all the hills are beautiful. I could go on and on… Sure, there are some downsides: The homeless problem that refuses to get solved, the abhorrent public transportation system, and (the one no one else has mentioned yet) the lame excuse for a music scene… But every city has its cons, right? True, the politics can be overly righteous (even misguided) at times, but I’d rather that than the stifling conservatism and provinciality I left behind… I would never claim San Francisco to be “the best city in the world” or whatever, but it’s served me real well. No regrets.
That makes sense….what other major cities have you lived in to compare it to. it's similar on east coast…Boston is a great city…unless you are from new york…then it doesnt offer that much.
San Francisco Super Sucks…I’ve been to nearly every state and every major city in the US, and for some reason…SF just ain’t right. Attitude is at the forefront of the bad…never have I seen such superficial, self rightous,critical, opinionated and arrogant an attitude by a general population than I had in SF. Weather sucks, spring, summer, fall and winter…parking sucks…all seasons too…cultural garbage…hippy wanna be’s…tree hugging pretenders…all natural tofu granola crunching yoga nuts…snobbish look at you funny cause you had the audacity to actually give someone a pleasnt greeting when crossing their path pretenders…yes the homeless are obnoxious…especially they younger 20 something ones who are actually just too f*#king lazy to work trust fund brats…next time you see one take them by the hand and walk them to one of the many shops that has a “Help Wanted” sign in the window…it’s really funny to watch them spontaneously burst into flames right there on the sidewalk…which also will give you about 3 seconds of actual warmth in the air…a rarity.
eww and you think San Jose is better? What a joke! San Jose is just as bad but the people are even more materialistic and fake.
hell yes.
even though this was posted a yr ago i’m glad to see that there are others. i hate the many homeless ppl of this place, how ppl in SF are so accepting of homelessness as a “cool” lifestyle choice, the false sense of inclusiveness when i see so much blatant classism, the lack of diversity (many asians and latinos but barely any black ppl), the in-your-face politicism, the general sense of unambitiousness, and the list goes on. i can’t wait until my lease is up so that i can leave!
I googled “I hate San Francisco” and came up with 2550 pages. Yours was at the top of the list. I love a few really great things about the area: the hills, the weather, and the outdoors – Lake Tahoe, mountain biking.
I also loved the city when I first moved here (because I was still a tourist), but it got worse over time, not better. I have lived in San Francisco for two years now, and I hate it more than I ever did. Don’t get me wrong – I love the city and the bay area, but the people really suck here. I have never met so many cold, distant, unfriendly, rude, selfish, stuck up people in one place! The east bay is a little better, but not much.
I have never felt more strongly about something in my life. San Francisco is extremely clicky. It could take 2 years to get on the inside of a click because people are so distant and self preserving and guarded. Everyone has their forcefield up and it is designed to keep you out, along with everyone else they don’t know. My advice would be not to bother. Just cut your losses and leave now before you get bitter about the people here.
Oh..and many people here are from bigger unfriendlier places, and thats why they like it. The rest of us have been here less than 2 years and will leave soon.
By the way, in case you didn’t already know – San Francisco is a more expensive place to live than New York City. The highest cost of living in the country.
I live in SF and admit to liking it. I don’t claim it to be the world’s greatest city, but it suits me very well for what I like in life. It is certainly not a city without problems.
First, this is why I like SF:
1.Fresh locally grown food all year round that is better than most areas of the world.
2.Abilty to do outdoor biking, kayaking, sports, etc. most almost all year round.
3. The best wine country in the USA within an hour’s drive away.
4. Great dining opportunities.
5. One of the best cities for technology based industry opportuniies, which is my line of work.
6. Healthy habits and lack of junk food chains in the good neighborhoods. High quality, but also at a higher cost, but not unreasonable costs at least for me.
7. Relatively fresh air blowing in from the Pacific creating alot of fresh air to breath relative to other big cities.
Now, there are lots of things that are not good about SF, but this is shared by many other big cities. This includes homeless people and depressed areas. No left turns are very annoying on Market street, but these no left turns are meant to be a safety precaution for the the pedestrian rich parts of town and is pretty limited to the touresty and financial areas, not the residential parts of the city.
It is also true that there are alot of young people around, but the technology industry is hiring mostly young, fresh out of college kids and paying very good money to them. Hence, the industry dictates the people moving in and the affluence of the city. It is a rich city, something that I understand people can hate.
The city has lots of hills that younger people like to climb, but which older people have a harder time with. But I do see older people around and they tend to be in good health and in great shape.
The hilly parts of the city would not be suitable for disabled people, but there are alot flat areas where older and disabled areas can live.
There does seem to be alot of all white neighborhoods, love it or hate it. These areas tend to be yuppy rich places filled with frat like bars. There are some areas that are sqeaky clean and perfect yuppies, and then there are the funky areas filled with people with tattoos and funky clothes, etc. However, you can find very ethnically mixed neighborhoods in the richmond district and in the Mission, where you find asian, european, indian, blacks, hispanic, etc. all livig together. I was greeted very nicely by an asian hairstylist here and treated me as an equal to the rest of the people there.
SF is historically one of the most active pro-equal rights cities in the USA. The gay scene is mostly concentrated in the Castro, which I never visit, not because I am homophobic, but because I am not gay. I here it is a great place to visit though.
As far as public transportation, I mostly don’t use it. But for when I do use it, it works for me, and you can pretty much transer to any bus for $1.50 and come back home on the same bus for this one time fee. Also, most buses are electric so they don’t make noise and do not pollute the air. Maybe I cannot complain because I live in an area where bus lines are plentyful (everyother block) and go to all the major parts of the city and run every 15 minutes, so I can’t complain.
As far as the passive aggresive nature of people, I don’t see it yet, but I have a couple of east coast friends who mentioned it. But then again, I try not to piss people off too much, so I did not have much opportunity to see this. Should I try to piss people off to test this? I have heard a couple of F.U.’s and seen waving arms when I made a couple of driving errors.
Anyway, my last point is that I have alot more good things to say about SF than bad things, but I will stop here, much which is not mentioned here.
None of your things u like about it are actually things a city provides …which somewhat verifies my opinion that everybody there is all into the weather and nature. Why not just live in Napa if that's the stuff u like…I have read the same type posts 1000 times. I see why people call it denver by the water…people into the same stuff….very different wants than somebody from NY chicago london paris etc…where things revolve around city and cultural life…not fresh produce and whatever happens to be in the area.
None of your things u like about it are actually things a city provides …which somewhat verifies my opinion that everybody there is all into the weather and nature. Why not just live in Napa if that's the stuff u like…I have read the same type posts 1000 times. I see why people call it denver by the water…people into the same stuff….very different wants than somebody from NY chicago london paris etc…where things revolve around city and cultural life…not fresh produce and whatever happens to be in the area.
I curse this city each day. Things that bother me:
* The weather just all around sucks. It’s either cold/foggy or warm with no breeze, and it can be both of those things in the same day, so forget about wearing shorts/sandals all day.
* Incompetence. From the District Attorney, Board of Supervisors, down to the person who makes your sandwich for lunch, I just notice way too much incompetence. It’s like people just don’t care how well of a job that they do, they just want the money.
* The People. I’ve never met more shallow, fake, selfish, boring, cold, insular, smug, flaky, passive-aggressive, not in my backyard people in my life. It is like they never learned how to socially interact with others, so they have all of these strange facades that they project to make people think that they are hip/cool/whatever. Additionally, everyone here acts like no one else exists so they have no empathy for others and just do what they want. People are also extremely nosy and judgmental in all groups (gay, straight, asian, white, etc.) I think that it is the cultural climate of the city that turns people to act this way. I know, since I’ve started to act that way myself to insulate me from the rest of the population.
* Skewed cost of living. I know the city is small, but the cost of living here is out of hand. That being said, I’d rather live here than live in London.
That being said, there are some things I like:
* Access to fresh locally grown food/wine. This results in some good dishes from restaurants as well as good ingredients for your own dishes.
* Good variety of climates. The SF weather is unique, but go to Walnut Creek and the weather climate is completely different (+30 degrees).
* Access to parks/outdoors easily. From the city to the great outdoor parks is very accessible.
I hate San Francisco. I can’t wait to leave.
I HATE GAYS AND SAN FRANCISCO AND ITS MAYOR TO ALLOWING EVERY THING TO THESE SAME SHITS….
The horrible crappy weather is making the reports from my mother that Jersey is hot and humid sort of alluring. Why do people here love foggy cold windy weather? I feel like nice days are so few and far between I make my toddler stay out out all day with me to soak it up while he can. I remember warm rainy days, thunderstorms, heatwaves, snowstorms, ice storms… and I am not fucking kidding, it makes me tear up! Boring weather makes for boring people and a boring life. That’s probably why I see people constantly fucking jogging, running and cycling by my house,a temporary high from exercise is probably what gets them through the day and a fucking simulated sun lamp.
ROFL. Down with the 415 Chris! There’s a lot to like about the City by the Bay but one just has to put up with so much crap that it’s easy to look past the good things.
#11 – a monumentally bad public school system coupled with an antiquated race policy that breaks down neighborhoods by busing kids all over the city.
#12 – Gavin Newsom, nuff said.
#13 – Willie Brown, at least he’s not as bad as Newsom.
#14 – an obsession with shitty dirty parts of town that are “cool and hip”. Exhibit A, the Mission.
#15 – million dollar condos on 6th street with barb wire protected parking lots!
#16 – If they were to remake the television series it would be called The Massively Pothole Ridden Streets of San Francisco
#17 – Local media personalities that believe their own crap, e.g. Ross McGowan.
#18 – The state’s worst urban crime closure rate and a District Attorney who is an embarrassment for letting cop killers and gangbangers off the hook for capital crimes.
#19 – The persistent efforts to obstruct any interesting architecture that did not originate in the late 19th century.
#20 – Nancy Pelosi
Don’t forget:
* Chris Daly
* The masses of aging single Gen X’ers that rank about 6-7 who are only willing to date 10’s
* The Stanford Mob
* SF: Where parking is a business model
* Zero above-average, good regular food restaurants. It’s either French Laundry or crappy chinese food
* China-town smells
* Evil trust-fund landlords
* Critical Mass
* Finding a decent seat at Stern’s Grove concerts
* GG Bridge Toll
* Any bridge traffic
* Incessant wind
* Bone-biting fog
* City Bureaucrats
* BART loses $100MM a year, taxpayer funded
* Caltrains and Bart aren’t linked
There’s lots to hate about SF unfortunately…
Too late to respond to this? This is the best article I’ve read in ages.
I live in SF and cannot wait to get out of here. My wife and I head down to San Jose at every opportunity … it’s nice to be in a friendly, safe, clean, and quality of life environment– even if for a few hours.
SF is a second-rate cesspool. And it gets worse by the day. I cannot imagine why any tourist visits a second time– do they?
Don’t have much to vent on the 415 but I hate Charlotte, NC! Too many frickin lawyers, bankers and accountants. I see that kind of deal lawyer density in a town and all I can think of is “where is the world’s biggest can of Raid?”
Now back to bashin’ on the Bay.
As a bay area NATIVE (most people who live here now apparently are from “Omaha” or some other shit), I am now proud to be from the Menlo Park/ Atherton area (south of SF). It is sunny and beautiful here, and yes it is somewhat homogenous, but it is kind of like living in a nice southern town.
The “City” of SF, however, is disgusting (parts are physically pretty, yes) and dirty. There are so many homeless crackheads because mayors like Giuliani sent them over here years ago. People are- well downright MEAN and cold and usually NOT from here!
If you are not from here, it does NOT give you the right to act like you own the place. I remember when it was MUCH cleaner, freer and had some good art, theatre and culture goin on. Now it is a cesspool of vagrants and FREAKS.
It is overpriced and not fun.
Oh yeah, I live in Chicago and New York now and while no city is perfect, at least these cities have culture, interesting people and clean streets.
Peace.
“I LOVE, TO HATE SAN FRANCISCO.”
This place should crumble into the Pacific…GRRRRR. Happy to see I’m not alone…
I went to college there (SF State) and was verbally attacked by radicals during my last month there. The funny thing is I am not Republican, I am just not a radical and obviously don’t like radical beliefs being shoved down my throat.
Once they caught wind of this they came down hard on everything about me. It was like going back to High School and having to deal with hundreds of bullies. I’m not perfect and I wasn’t a perfect student, but I didn’t deserve to be treated like a complete outcast and ripped apart verbally/passive aggressively. It showed me to a painful degree how groupthink works – seriously crazy.
I feel bad for these San Franciscans that hide their hatred and intolerance behind the guise of tolerance and love for everyone. It is a crock of shit, there is no euphemism for it. A lot of people move to San Francisco just to say they are better than everyone else. I would say the opposite, if you move to San Francisco it will probably make you smug and lacking in creativity, just like the majority of the people there.
After almost nine years in San Francisco, I am finally leaving. Because I finally found a job I like (and a nice person to share my life with…took nine years to find both the job and the guy) I am remaining in the Bay Area. So long to “the city” (you’d think it was the only city in the country) and hello to a place where I hope the people give a damn about other people.
Like others on this posting, I did manage to gain a small circle of friends. Miraculous considering most people in this town have their ears plugged into an iPod and their eyes glued to a Blackberry. Completely tuned out to the rest of the world, like they care.
I’d invite Gavin Newsom to take a break from supporting the lifestyle of his new trophy bride and actually walk the streets that don’t make up Pacific Heights. EVERY DAY I am panhandled. EVERY DAY I smell human piss and shit on my walk to work. EVERY DAY someone shakes a cup in my face. Remember the South Park episode? “Change? You got change?” Yeah, I get change from the building I go to everyday in order to make a living.
The worst “homeless” people here are the “professor” types who make a few yuppie friends (mostly in SOMA where you can live AND work, wowwww) in order to engage them in conversation about how unfair life is. If newspapers would replace the work “homeless” with “public urinators”, “drug abusers”, or (my personal experience) “crazed man who throws bottles at your head”, the self righteous advocates would disband and do something useful for a “change”. Instead they advocate homelessness but I seriously doubt any of them live where other people shit.
I can confirm that people here think they’re smarter than they are. They certainly aren’t grown-ups. Mum and daddums keep their trust fund filled so their little urban prodigy can search endlessly for the perfect career in “project management”, “fashion merchandising” or simply “contract” work and telecommute from ridiculously overpriced apartments (that Mum and daddums of course pay for). Thank you, assholes, for keeping the rents high.
Make no mistake, there is no middle-class here. Just the wealthy to keep restaurants like Aqua buzzing and the very poor to keep their water dishes and bread baskets filled.
I could say more, but why bother expending energy on a city that has bled me dry. I moved out here on my own and have nothing to show for it at the end. This city hates you if you’re just normal. It is not liberal. The liberals I know have three cars and second homes. The liberals I know serve you coffee with major attitude. The liberals I know talk endlessly about the real estate market. The liberals I know turn everything affordable into nothing attainable. The most self-righteous either moved here 20 years ago and forget that they were able to “get in” the market (real estate or rental) or reaped the ridiculous benefits of having been the CEO of Kozmo.com and getting out before it went belly up.
If you are even thinking about moving here, check out this website first. You’ll be fairly, and realistically warned.
Here’s an idea.
If you don’t like it….leave. Go to L.A. Lord knows you’ll fit right in. (I mean really…to criticize an entire city for being smug….BY BEING SMUG and overly-righteous? Are you serious?)
TA-DA!
Problem solved, you’re where you want to be…we’re where we want to be, and we don’t have a slew of whiners mussing up the views.
I love San Fran. .i love all the small mom and pop stores, the cozy neighborhoods, the mix of people, the urban vibe mixed with the easy access to huge wide open spaces, the variety in climate (cool and foggy by the beach, hot and sunny inland), the bike friendliness, crissy field, golden gate park, delores park, ocean beach, baker beach, golden gate bridge. all the bars, the architecture, The F-line, the cable cars. The list goes on and on. Sure it’s not perfect (homeless, MUNI issues), but if you like a vibrant city mixed with endless outdoor options, San Fran is where it’s at. And the rest of the Bay Area has some great aspects too.
San Francisco sucks … crappy weather , nasty people , bad areas for homes , homeless people , smelly and dirty environment , crazy , radical politics , overprotection of ” minorities ” to the point of obssession and glued to ” diversity ” when these are one of the worst scumbads I have ever seen ( where’s the morality ? Absolutism ? Integrity ? Honesty ? Work ? Truth ? Loyalty ? Compassion ? ) … families are long gone ( and for good reason ) and so are the elderly … only the hedonistic youth is there ( and for your information I am a young female myself but then again I’m a Christian and a virgin so go figure … ) … too much talk about homosexuals that I throw up … for heaven’s sake they are only 1 % to 2 % of the worldwide population and per country ( and to add that I am conservative but not the ultra orthodox … just the traditional conservative … it simply pisses me off to no end their talk of them are if they are God or something … sheesh ) … then there is the ” race ” mantra … I myself am mixed and was born of a black father and a latin/white mother but shut up … I’m tired of ” race , race , race ” … stop being so ” controversial ” and actually do something with your life … actually stop dwelling on race and start seeing people as human beings as you say … afterwards another minority which are immigrants or foreigners ( I’m foreign but thank goodness that I am only staying here for one more year ) … I dislike the yoga , hippie and vegetarian/vegan … restaurants don’t do it for me … few activities to produce or do … not enough games or entertainment … then all those atheist , agnostic or deist whackjobs and their hatred of religion … ” Religion is evil ! ” … for Pete’s sake religion is not going to bite your butt off … San Francisco sucks and that’s a fact … I’m going to live in another country which is not the USA but seriously if I was to live here then either Houston , New York or Los Angeles … San Francisco is overrated
” Ben Casnocha said…
I sent this post to a friend who responded saying you’re homophobic (“Flame away SF residents”). I trust you were referencing the fire or something? “
And what’s the problem??? There is good reason for people to be homophobic in San Francisco (I wear the “homophobic” badge with pride ^_^ honeys!)…homosexuals in San Francisco(and worldwide!!!)are “in your face” AAALLLLL of the time!!!They LOVE to parade and display their pervesion!!! And they whine endlessly like little children with their “victim” mentality!!! And their twisted “gay rights” !!!
More like “gay dominance”…
Scratch that “HOMOSEXUAL dominance”!!!
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
Narcissists I tell you!!!
Overall I personally think that ALL San Francisco residents are insane!(whether homosexual,bissexual or heterosexual since they are all very perveted!) but that “homophobia” is quite good ( :
Healthy and natural
And people should not be ashamed!!!
After all homosexuals don’t know much morality!!!
Well they know SOME(like the homosexuals I have met)but are in SERIOUS delusions!!!
Examples of their “rule”:LOOK AT ARMSTEDAM,SWEDEN and SAN FRANCISCO!
Oh and if you are a very religious person then you should know that homosexuals tried to do a “Gay Parade” in JERUSALEM!!!
O_0
Where more than 85 % are very RELIGIOUS!!!!
Last but not least
FLAME WAY SF RESIDENTS!!!!
I hate San Francisco
Funny how akk you homophones who are “not ashamed” are “Anonymous” cowards.
I’m gay, live (and was raised in) LA. My last visit until last week was in 1997. SF sucks as badly a I remembered…had a fat guy tell me a minute into meeting me how much better SF was than LA…yawn. Had a table of guys tell me the same thing in ’97. Why are San Franciscans so hell bent on telling people from LA how much it sucks and how great SF is? It’s pretty to look at but a pain in the ass to navigate and filled with smug, unattractive (and fat) people…and it’s tiny…oh yeah and the weather sucks. If it hadn’t been for an obligatory visit to my next dr. neighbor (whose primary residence is in SF) I could have easily never returned after my last trip 12 years ago…
” Funny how akk you homophones who are “not ashamed” are “Anonymous” cowards. “
Well well well …
Aren’t you a contradiction in terms ?
You are Anonymous too !
The reason some here are Anonymous is because they don’t have accounts ( duh ! ) … think clearly before you start cheering ” homophobia ” lol … which is another thing which I hate about San Francisco among food , weater , transportation and of course people … you guys treat gays as if they are God or something … lol
Weather , food , transportion and people in San Francisco all suck … I hate them all ! Fall of a ditch or something lol
Wow, its fun to see the San Francisco envy around here. There is a reason San Francisco always ends up on the “the most beautiful cities” lists and LA is never to be found. But, I suppose the bile spewed by the LA crowd around here prefers the superficial, pretty, peroxide blond bois you’ll find in LA to an area with character and depth. Personally, I’d rather meet a real San Francisco man than the shallow LA bois that are around this thread.
I find it amazing how many idiots automatically look to LA as the alternative to SF, as if there is NOWHERE else to live on Earth. God I hate it here! I’ve lived all over the country and in a few foreign ones… this place is awful! Can’t wait to leave. I don’t regret anything in my life more than moving here.
In response to many people’s comments (especially that person who said what they said about Charlotte). I live in North Carolina and I hate this place with a passion. I can’t wait to move to L.A. North Carolina is so much like San Fran (although extremely snotty with uppity, mental case fucktards roaming around everywhere). San Fran is too much like Chapel Hell, N(auseating) C(owards) (a college town out of hell). If you don’t fit in down here, you are lucky. I couldn’t imagine why some freak would want to befriend a PUTRID CAROLINA FUCK!
I have been to San Fran. IMO, it’s an okay place to visit, but to live in I would pass (for all the reasons you’ve mentioned). Not only that, but compared to L.A. it sucks ass. Northern Californians have an attitude very similar to these EAST COAST FUCKS. Also, a bunch of Cali fools LOVE moving to NC, and the ones who come here are assholes. After going to L.A., I was completely blown away. I don’t understand why those lame No Cal morons hate So Cal so much. I actually thought So Cal (except San Fuckdiego) was actually pretty cool. In fact, California was about the only state on the west coast I thought was all that. Fuck Washington (especially those nauseating old farts in Seattle who can choke to death on their Starbucks) and those fucktards in Oregon. What a weird name for a state. Oregon almost sounds like ”oregano” LOL! Those Oregon fools are only one of two states (next to New Jersey) where you can’t pump your own fuel, and I think that’s fucking rediculous. Those Oregonian fucks think that’s the shit, but I DISAGREE. Just my opinions. I hope someone takes offense on this 🙂
North Carolina… Don’t move here. This place (like the entire South it’s in) is (like) a 3rd world cesspool. These SOUTHERN STATE MOTHERFUCKERS actually think this place is great. I can’t believe just how STUPID these CAROLINA FUCKS really are 🙂 Later!
I from NYC but go to college in San Fran and I agree it is a shithole. Homeless people taking a shit in the middle of the street, people prefer to be smug and passive as opposed to putting it out there but think you are rude if you are straight talker like east coast people, i have lived everywhere and came here thinking it would be a liberal haven but honestly one of the most racist classist places I have lived, everyone is very shallow and clicky, things here it seem were designed not to make any sense, all the one way roads, the bart which is slow as fuck and only stops in the main parts of neighborhoods so u are left to use the shitty and unreliable muni buses to try and get to your destination, everything closes down early and there are walgreens and starbucks everywhere but only 1 out of 50 with a 3 block radius will be open past 5 pm, the tenderloin is like Tiajuana definitely 3rd world people blowing crack smoke in ur face if you walk through there at night, people dont know how to walk down the street and get out of your way if they see u coming, people dont move on the bart so u can sit down or they will stand in the worst possible place like in front of the door or in the main neck of the aisle, people will straight up just stare at u like you are a sculpture, the bart has seats that face each other very close so u can be forced to sit across from a complete stranger like you are having dinner with the person, theres so many gays and the problem is that like it becomes like you cant say faggot or gay at all or people look at you like you just killed someone, very fake and ridiculous here I cant wait to graduate and move out of this place.
I once vitsited SAN FRANSICO but never ever again its a blight on america where its black pig citzens are celebration a dead cop killer the whole place needs to be boycotted and i mean ever its sport teams hit them where it hurts the bank accounts and their rourists trade
San Francisco ain’t a nice place for a heterosexual woman to date ( or man since so many heterosexual women here try to be butch and not take care of their appearances and be psychotic bitches with no femininity … many here are gender feminists ) … much less a feminine one like me
I hate the fact that San Francisco is so freaking gay centered ( particulary gay male centered ) … it’s so hard for a heterosexual woman like me to break through especially with them gay people spread around all over the freaking city ( all of the gays I have ever met in my lifetime were all in San Francisco ) and those numerous ” mixed bars ” ( I mean how can I know if a man is gay or heterosexual ????? ) and stupid stupid ” gay nights “
All that crappy left wing politics piss me off as hell
I want to find a good , nice and loving man here but the ” diversity ” here is starting to seriously put me out
It’s all about those freaking gays … what about us heterosexual women ? Nobody cares about us
It’s official I hate San Francisco
– I hate the gay centerism and ” diversity ” focus
– I hate the fact that nobody highlights on heterosexual women ( I feel like we are in the minority here )
– I hate the fact that they put down feminine women
– I hate the fact that gay males are given so much attention and that lesbians or bissexuals are left out
– I hate ” mixed ” bars ( not a good place to find a man )
– I hate gay nights
– I hate the fact that so many heterosexual males here are metrosexual … I HATE metrosexual males … I love masculine men … it’s hard to find them here
I’m moving to Europe ( or any other place that isn’t USA … San Francisco has a 20 % LGBT … how sad … I’ve noticed that in South America , Asia , Africa , Europe and Russia heterosexuals are 95 % … which is quite nice and great ) … most likely the Meditteranean ( I’m looking at the apartments in various countries there and trying to pick a country too … Spain , Italy or Greece ? ) and since there are a lot of masculine men there I will feel at home … and it’s not so hideously gay centered and I can be in love
Signed the frustated heterosexual woman
I have lived here for over 5 years and I’ve spent the last 4 years trying to figure out how to get back to the East coast.
I miss the seasons so much. I miss thundershowers, warm rain in the summer, seeing snow fall out my window, walking around at night in shorts, the beautiful colors of autumn and the riot of colors of spring.
I spent my first 4th of July in SF on my roof deck. I was wearing my ski jacket, ski gloves, and a hat trying to watch the fireworks through the fog. I looked at my neighbor and said this is not 4th of July weather.
The thing that makes me want to leave the most is the unusually high number of homeless and crazy people. One cannot throw a stick and not hit one in this city. I’ve lived in NY and DC and didn’t experience this many down and out people. Why isn’t the city doing something about them?
My last thought is that if the city doesn’t do something about these problems, people will be leaving to other places where they feel they get more value for their money.
Oh wow!
Ok… where do I start!
First, I want to thank everybody for sharing their views. I’m sorry for those that have had bad experiences here that led to their hating SF, but I can relate.
My mom (God bless her) dragged me here from Denver when I was 9. Looking back on it, I knew I hated this place the first time I set foot in it (please be aware that at that point in my life I was a very unusual 9 year old because I was dragged around the freakin world–in other words, at 9 I traveled to more places world/nationwide than most adults–and the feeling I got when I first set foot in Frisco was a bad one–one that I never felt anywhere else–not even close). Anyway, the years past, and as I grew older, I began to understand–or intellectualize–the “gut feelings” I had when I first arrived.
The obvious, obvious, obvious–OBVIOUS BS:
Dirty, decrepit, urine filled, stinky, potholed, dog shitted streets. Numero UNO! Frisco is dirty and disgusting.
I have been to third world countries where the streets were much worse–however! I did see a stark difference in attitudes: the people in these third world countries actually cared about their streets. That is, people swept what they could, took care of their properties, or helped their neighbors in tending to theirs–oh, and don’t think that they don’t petition their officials with out of hand riots to fix their streets… but people in Frisco, I’m sorry, don’t care.
Ever try driving in Frisco? OMFG! How many potholes can you have? Does anyone care? Seems like they are oblivious to it! I hate it every time just as much as the first. I remember when I was in San Diego and the citizens there were in an uproar over three–that is: 3! AS IN 3!!! sprinklers that kept on after–a very rare–light rain fell on and off throughout the day (it was barely anything). SO MUCH SO! That the shit was on the news! Moreover, the problem was addressed that day, and the city vowed to vigilantly monitor sprinklers, and took a holocaust like approach of: “never again….” I was like “WOW!” And who could blame me!?!
I am from Frisco, where people don’t care about their streets enough to really do shit about it (where people literally shit on the street, or let their dogs do it without cleaning it up). On top of that, there’s no sense of community. My mom (poor mom) lives in a building where after 12 years her neighbors are… well… strangers. This might sound hard to understand, but for this reason I actually liked living on W. / 24th St. in West Oakland (have you ever seen that block? If you ever get curious go there in the day with an OPD escort—I’m dead serious! It is NOT safe). Anyway, despite the gunshots I always heard at night, people there were, ironically, more real! They had a better sense of community then the shitty avenues, where I once lived. I remember on memorial day people invited me to their back yards for BBQ, and some, I found out later, didn’t even know I lived down the block.
And that brings me to the people in SF… here’s where I truly can go on forever–and ever–and ever–and ever. Yet, it really boils down to this: rude.
People in SF are so rude. And I hate to say it, but if you have been to Frisco and have experienced the kind of behavior I have, and you have the gull to look me straight in the face and tell me people here are nice—or even not bad! (I’ve heard that a lot–I never get it), you must not be human. There’s a part of the human brain, known as the reptilian brain, a very primitive and primordial part which consist of the brain stem (a part of the brain we share with most other social animals), that reacts to this kind of behavior automatically with aggression, disdain, and dislike. In other words, it is preprogrammed in our brains to react to what we commonly know as rude in this way. Seriously, something must be wrong with all the people who live/gone/go there and say the place is nice, especially the people. I can’t stand that! Again: people there—that is, most people there are NOT nice (there are cool people there, I won’t say that all the people there are bad/rude).
No one says hi. And if you say hi to them, they don’t say hi back. People flake… etc. etc. I’ll stop with the people for now.
But for everything else.
The weather is awful. Studies have been done which have demonstrated that damn near 95% of people are negatively affected, emotionally, of course, by bad weather (the study is an old on commissioned by the City of Seattle, but there have been other notable ones since).
Open-closed-mindedness! Only in Frisco can you have this kind of nonsensical shit! It doesn’t make any sense… you act like you’re open, but only to views and opinions that align to your own. Anything else you’re closed off to! For a city that claims to be so smart—actually, smarter than most of the nation—it is pretty stupid.
The people are rude… oh yeah! I already talked about that. Sorry; moving on.
Parking—‘nuff said.
Then there’s pubic transportation. Ok, rude people come back in the picture on this one, but it’s only the half. Muni is so bad, it’s run on a whim. Bus drivers have been cool with me, and I’ve even come to becoming cool with a few, but for the rest, they’re especially rude. How can you close the door on people—usually one person—trying to get on your bus? I thought the driver was, theoretically, getting paid to pick that guy up and drop him off at whatever stop?
I could go on, but I’ll end on this as my last: women! And/or dating.
Don’t get me wrong. I love women. I’ve had so many great experiences with them through friendship, and otherwise—however, these women were from elsewhere. Women in Frisco though, and dating altogether for that matter Sucks! I don’t know what else to say other than women in Frisco are emotionally unstable. Like they got issues or something (of course not all). I don’t know, I would have thought that with the huge number of gays that I would be a rare commodity. Yeah, but the dating scene there is very perverse. Which is why I have to go. Sorry. I could live with everything that’s wrong with this shitty city, but I need to mingle… like I said, I love women!
Oh yeah I forgot, on top of being rude, people in Frisco are: WEIRD!!!
Nuff said!!!
I grew up in central L.A. When i moved to San Francisco in the early ’80s I would have said I like both cities equally. S.F. has changed greatly in the 28 years I’ve lived here. The city has become totally dominated by a smug, liberal professional/ managerial class, much of it based on the high-tech sector. The city has become a suburb for Silicon Valley where so many work. I say smug because the city’s “liberalism” is fake. It is blind to the rampant class and race bias. This is why I found it really quite funny when someone says they like Silicon Valley better. I’ve lived there, too. It’s incredibly traffic choked and just as race and class biased. And a lot uglier and with less to do, and far worse public transit. I’ve gotten to the point I’m finally planning on leaving.
As to Chris’ points:
1. 2. 5. You’re looking at things from the point of view of someone who can only imagine navigating the world thru a windshield. One of the things I’ve always most liked about S.F. is its pedestrian orientation. I get around by walking and taking the bus just fine. My car has a dead battery because I nver use it. Given global warming rushing down at us, the driver solipsism needs to go.
3. Homeless people exist in vast quantifies in L.A. too but they’re piled up in Skid Row so people on the tony Westside never have to be reminded of poverty.
4. The hills are also one of the things I most like about S.F. It’s especially good from the point of view of a form of exercise I can do very readily, and even fit in with my daily life without having to drive somewhere.
6. Totally agree with you here. I hate the weather. One of the things I like about living in the Mission District is it has the city’s warmest weather.
7. The city’s politics take some learning because they’re a bit different than other places. The corporate elite here rule through the Democratic Party and smarmy liberals like Gavin Newsom (who I can’t stand). On the other hand, there is an independent social-democratic brand of politics that is rooted in the city’s working class communities. This is one of the city’s better features, actually.
8. Muni has a gigantic ridership to deal with. On a per capita basis, there is more use of public transit here than any city in the USA other than New York. And they do it with mainly a bus system. But transit agencies everywhere tend to be dominated by bloated bureaucracies. The New York and LA MTAs have their severe problems…
10. I think I’ve already addressed smugness. I agree with you on this, but I think you also have to consider that the city is very class-divided and the attitudes among the professional/managerial class and the working class here are not the same.
I also dislike the fact that the city has come to be overwhelmingly a city of young adults. it doesn’t have a balanced population. The city’s been losing children for years and has the lowest proportion of children of any large city. But this has also been driven by the city’s gentrification…it’s increasing domination by young adults who mainly work in management and professions.
“It’s all about those freaking gays … what about us heterosexual women ? Nobody cares about us”
Yeah, you’ve only got the rest of the universe hun.
I grew up in the South Bay and have developed over the last 25 years what I thought was a unique hatred for San Francisco. I’m so happy to be wrong! It’s a vindication to hear so many of the things I find wrong with the place aren’t just in my imagination.
I also want to add:
-2am last call? Yeah. No wonder nightlife sucks in SF.
-Why did they build the city on a grid? Running the streets straight up the hillsides isn’t convenient for anyone. One street grid wasn’t enough though, and so you have Market Street that just makes me think WTF every time I see a map. Physically the city is just wrong, and I hate the Victorians.
Even the bizarre homophobic comments are interesting because they show how fake San Francisco’s famous “tolerance” is. Nobody really likes each other; the tolerance is just them being too fake/passive/apathetic to express their nastiness.
I happily moved away and am busy loving NY, but for family reasons I can’t avoid going back to SF every so often. Absence has not made my heart grow any fonder of the place.
P.S. To the anonymous heterosexual woman who hates gay men: dating is hard for everyone princess, get over it and post an ad on the Casual Encounters section of Craigslist. You sound like you really need to get laid.
“Heterosexual woman”, you silly uneducated bitch, there is no way on hell anywhere on this earth is “95% heterosexual”. There is no such thing.
Where did you get that from?
There are a lot of gays in Russia, Africa, Middle East, etc but of course they are closeted and will date you and have sex with other men on the side and hopefully pass you a disease and put your vile hating self out of misery.
Anyway, I don’t really like San Francisco either but I just had to reply to your absurd posts.
–signed, another heterosexual woman.
RE: Anonymous said…
Here’s an idea.
If you don’t like it….leave. Go to L.A. Lord knows you’ll fit right in. (I mean really…to criticize an entire city for being smug….BY BEING SMUG and overly-righteous? Are you serious?)
TA-DA!
Problem solved, you’re where you want to be…we’re where we want to be, and we don’t have a slew of whiners mussing up the views.
4:25 PM
By saying San Franciscans don’t want “whiners mussing up the views” kind of proves what everyone that doesn’t like the place is saying about the way people tend to think there.
P.S. A lot of the people I met in SF WERE FROM L.A.!
I have lived in SF for far too long, and yes, like many of you, I am looking to bail the first chance I get.
Here’s why:
1) Although I have met, and befriended some cool people, most others I’ve met seem shallow, narrow minded (politically), and yes: cliquish (can be rude too).
2) Decrepit, dirty, smelly, and disgusting. Where else can you find so much shit (literally feces) in the street? Sometimes you have to remind yourself that this place is actually on American soil, and is part of America.
3) Dating. Women do not take care of themselves, are not all that attractive, but, by and large, are stuck-up bitches who demand people, who in others places would be out of their league. Dating seen sucks horribly.
4) Too many weirdoes. Strange, bizarre people can make a dull place come alive, but too many tend to make a place… well, abnormal. Not a good thing.
5) Too congested. It does share with NYC the quality of being too densely populated (as though that were good); however, NYC does not have nearly as many cars. Reason being, the city planners there were forward thinking in that they built the subway system. SF’s public transportation system is horribly broken.
6) Weather is usually overcast, gloomy, and on the cold side. Very depressing!
7) City politics are backwards. They do institute some good things for the city, and it ain’t all bad, yet, the city is mostly run on a whim, by people who are fairly incompetent.
8) The DPT. Parking tickets are issued for the most asinine, and cockamamie things.
9) Beaches suck. Ocean Beach = concrete, decrepit (there’s that word again), cold, crappy, full of park police ready to harass you at a moments notice, and filled with winos, and homeless.
10) … aw fuck it, SF just sucks.
San Jose is better? Are you freaking serious?
I don't know what kind of ignorant person think San Jose is better than SF even with all its flaws.
to me it seems like your primary gripes all relate to *driving*. San francisco really is not a city to be in if you want to drive around everywhere… you would probably be much happier in the shit-hole i live in known as san jose. i cannot stand this place and love it every single time i am in sf.
trade places with me? lol xD
* WOW * !! I can't believe they're so many others that can't stand SF…All of the problems of a big city with few of the advantages of a place like NY.
You're basically not allowed to hold an opinion that varies from the EXTREMELY narrow-minded gay-liberal-radical-hysterical PC Nazis. If you want a cool, quirky, live-and-let-live non-stuck-up place, try PORTLAND…it rocks. OH, I have to add this: Chinese Landlord Syndrome…They either don't rent to non-Chinese, or if they do, they don't spend a dime on fixing the place…it's TRUE, baby!
One reason they try to rent to Chinese only is because they buy a building and then illegally chop it up into smaller units, and they know Chinese renters won't tell the city…sometimes they even sell these illegal units! But hey! SF is a SANCTUARY city! They don't prosecute criminals, They welcome them! That's why they flood here from all over the USA, even the world…yes, many "mafias" from Latin America and Asia have relocated here thanks to Gavin the wanker…I'm outta heeeeerrrrre!!!
I stumbled upon these comments, and could have sworn everyone was talking about Vancouver.
Ahhh Vancouver. A typical Marylin Monroe city. Pretty on the outside, shallow and soulless on the inside.
Hey ALLLL (:
I just dropped in because of some * ahem * programmned kneew jerking idiots here ^____^
I'm here to defened the attacked '' frustated heterosexual woman '' … I feel her pain ):
First of all MOST men are STRAIGHT
SF has a LOT of gay men
95 % the are straight
Here is a GREAT article by Mark Simpson http://www.marksimpson.com/blog/2006/08/25/sexual-outlaws-gay-for-pay-paratroopers-given-a-dressing-down-by-gay-novelist/
(hey I'm straight girl that has had a few encounters with women so why not straight men? Why the double standard huh? A lot of women fool around with other women only to become heterosexual like me… I seen this happen to a lot of European, Latin and Asian men too)
Oh my goodness right now homophobic!!!!!!!!!!I am a bigot!
Somebody slap me please! You are all a bunch of buffons
It's a FACT that SF as a LOT of gay men … go on … bring on the insults
Homophobic
Racist
Bigoted
Bitch
Discrimination!
homophobia!
Oh the horror!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh shut up
Btw I'm an American ex pat living in Japan
Good riddance SF!
* Gives you the finger *
Every man in San Francisco is gay
Maybe that's why women in SF are out of their minds
Every man in SF is gay
Maybe that's why I lost my mind too
Every man in SF is gay
That's why I moved out
Every man in SF is gay
Nope I don't hate gays
Every man in SF is gay
Just a fact … no hatred here
Every man in SF is gay
That's why the women are all insane in SF
No straight man in sight
They are all desperate for men
Since they can't find them they lost their minds
They are all now bitchy , introverted , unclassy , smelly , feminist and insane because all of the men in SF is gay
I love gays but all of the men in SF is gay
I love L.A.
I have found and am getting married to the love of my life here after 11 years of being single in SF
Every man in SF is gay
No hatred
Just being factual
How can anyone bash SF? Is it out of frustration, and not able to achieve what you set out to do which prompts you to this website? In my experience, it never fails that people who claim to despise certain qualities in people, such as being arrogant, or superficial, are usually that way themselves. Ahhh, isn't self hate the ultimate love!! My question is, why invest so much time in a city, then move? I have read posts from people who invested 10+ fruitless years, only to move out of SF, bitter and broke. Its what you make of it people. You have the ability to turn a bad environment, as you claim, into a great situation, its power of mind. Remember, you cant escape yourself. I am sure with most of you, its just a matter of time before you write another negative post about the next place you live. You ever think the real problem could be with yourself? Why not move to Alaska, that's perfect for people trying to escape themselves.
I hate SF too, for totally superficial reasons like that my lying cheating eX went there to party it up and stuff but it just sucks, i think its place for people who dont really know what a city is supposed to offer its denizens. i mean you can be gay anywhere, why do you have to do it in the ONE place that it is expected…its like looking for a toilet to piss in when your surrounded by trees
All of you idiots who posted about San Francisco being cold… Did you not google San Francisco before you moved there???
This is my biggest annoyance with SoCal transplants in SF. They complain about the "cold". Guess what, orange people… We love it. We moved here BECAUSE it's not hot. If you like heat do us all a favor and never leave your tanorexic horror show smog sprawling suburb of L.A.. THANKS!
God! Get off the heterosexual / gay thing already! You don't make sense, and no one cares. The subject was "why I hate SF." Really, get off it already!!!
I remember when a buddy of mine got punched in the back and hit in the crotch while wearing his Army uniform at a gas station back in 2000. And yes, it was when he was passing through San Francisco. And guess where my 3 "Support the Troops" ribbons were stolen from my car… That's right! In San Francisco.
LOL! I started reading this about two hours ago and I just can't stop. I Moved to San Francisco nearly two years ago and after learning the truth about "Diversity" in the city I am heading back to one of the countries biggest "Red" states. I love the city, just not the people residing in it.
I much prefer people that tell you they don't like in your face along with the reason's why, rather than the disgusting, passive – aggressive, elitist "Ice Kings and Queens" of SF.
And as for the the "GLBTQ Community" in SF, they are among the worst of the bunch, probably more so then the heterosexual residents. I identify as gay and I was appalled at how "Exclusive" the community is.
People are so dim in the city they would stop and hold their pets and children when I was walking on the same side of the street as they were. LIBERAL! HA!
From the midwest, lived in LA for four years and then moved to SF. Spent a year there and wanted to effin jump off the GG Bridge, most depressing city ever. People are lifeless, weather is cold and gray with a constant wind in your face. According to the natives, if you don't like 'the city' you are totally misguided and just don't get it, haha, YOU don't get it! Leaving that awful city was the best choice I've ever made. Oh yeah, heavy coats and stocking hats on the 4th of July, ahhhh, no thank you!
Hm. I've been living in SF for about 6 years now. I moved here from the central valley to go to college at State. I'll admit it, I like it here… a lot. At the same time I can see some validity in people's complaints.
I never knew that people thought SF residents were so cold and stuffy. I have a good group of friends here, and I meet new people regularly. The one thing that truly sucks about the people here is the dating scene. Everyone is single and wants to date, but they never do… weird.
Okay, some reasons I like this city:
1.) The variety of food
2.) Each neighborhood is different with it's own unique culture, population, history, etc.
3.) Cool hole in the wall coffee shops and bookstores (like The Green Apple)
4.) The parks are beautiful, lush, and abundant
5.) MUNI is cheap and efficient in most places. Although, I didn't hear anyone mention the game that I like to call 'The scavenger hunt for that urine smell' Ew, ew, ew…
6.) There's lots of free stuff to do practically everyday if you look for it. Such as, gallery openings (free booze and cheese), dance lessons, poetry nights, and free days at the museums and other venues
7.) Warmer weather is just around the corner (but, I do enjoy cool, foggy days)
8.) Great thrift store shopping, the ones that the locals go to, not the tourists
9.) There's lots of hospitals… I'm accident prone…
10.) It's relatively easy to eat healthy and stay in shape being here
I may or may not be alone in my opinions, but I do enjoy living here. If I find another city that has all of those qualities and more, then I'll consider moving.
San Francisco is an overrated second rate city that can not be placed anywhere near the category containing New York City and Los Angeles, among others. Sure, it's nice looking. Sure, the sun shines nearly 24/7 – and so does the wind blows. Sure, those cable cars are sometimes not irritating at all to pedestrians and drivers alike, who are not tourists. Those so called 'world class universities'? Please, I believe there are a dozen in the east coast. There are nice people, but it's becoming more and more overrun by smug yoga crazed – yet non fit – yuppies who actually believe that they've scored the best place to live because it resembles the boring pages of Dwell magazine. I have been here over six years and have been counting the days until I can leave since the middle of year two. Fortunately for both me and this overhyped, no substance city, it will happen very very soon.
i live in san fran and hate it!!!! the people are rude as hell. on top of it they are stupid too. they protest everything if they don't get their way. most are so ugly they look retarded. too many fucking asains and hispanics here… what san francisco needs is a massive earthquake to kill all these damn freeks off..
The person who said its racist. LOl u never been to hunters point, sunnydale, fillmore, lakeview, Chinatown, or the mission obviously
I know i'm late in the game, but i just moved here a year ago. like others have said THANK GOD i found this blog because, up until now, i thought i was the only one who hated this place. i won't be able to add anything to this that hasn't already been said….but i will add this – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GL2RFaiqRs
even the pop singers are getting in on it!
– published anonymously because i don't have an account!
I visited San Fran & I saw alot of very tall, beautiful, women when I was there. I'm 6-4 & I love tall women & thought San Fran Women were very beautiful! I also LOVED that I could smoke weed anywhere. Being from the deep south, that was fucking outstanding. But I gotta agree with the dude that talked about Ipods in all those beautiful womens ears. They would blow right on past your ass like you weren't shit…Yea, the homeless were some agressive fuckers. Those dread locked, metal shit in their face, pit-bull, beggars, in the Haight were demanding. The asian people seemed to know that it is their town & fuck all you white people. The Gay people were the most friendly out of everybody. Well just some obsevations from a cracker that spent a week in san fran….Oh yea….no Swag at all….all damn good heady!
Let me preface this by stating that I am a Bay Area native although I've only lived in The City for 12 years. By and large I love San Francisco and would not consider living anywhere else. Many of the problems cited by other posters are common to other cities and in large part result from the huge influx of people transplanted from Back East, the Midwest, etc. In regard to difficulty parking, the solution is easy: don't drive. With some exceptions, taking public transit is cheap and relatively easy. Take a book, leave extra time, and bundle up and you will be fine. Truthfully I do not understand why so many people who move here insist on trying to live a suburban lifestyle. No there isn't a parking lot in front of every place you want to go-the city was not designed for your lifestyle. 99 percent of the rest of this nation is geared toward cars: go there and be happy. Second, regarding the homeless. Yes, the problem is bad but for the most part these people are not from SF and come here because it is one of a handful of cities that tries to take responsibility for taking care of the down and out. This is a national problem and it requires a national solution but so far few other places seem to try to help. That said, laws against vagrancy, public urination, etc. should be enforced and transplanted bums ought to be sent home so we don't have to take care of the nation's down and out. Third: cliquely, fake, stuck-up people. I've never found this to be a problem. Yes, there are a lot of entitled yuppie douchebags and annoying social-climbing hipsters but they're all from someplace else and I don't usually choose to hang out with them. I have my own friends – mostly other locals – who I hang with. Finally: the weather. I love the cool breezes and even the fog. Who wants to live in a sweatbox? If I want to be warm it is easy to get to a warm place a few miles south, north, or east of The City? But seriously, why waste time defending San Francisco against a bunch of suburban transplants. If you think SF sucks, fine, don't come here, or better yet, go home if you live here already. Trust me, you won't be missed.
I wish I could put a 10 megaton nuke at the top of the transmission tower on Sutro hill and blow this miserable hellhole off the map.
I'm so glad to read that so many other people hate this place.
Wow! Like the city or not, there are a lot of angry people out there in SF. Never lived there, but have visited twice and I liked it. Granted, I usually only stay for the day, I have family in Alameda, but lots to do and see in SF.
Y'all really need to chill. And yes I am from the south. The southeast of the U.S that is. (Don't want you confusing me for someone from L.A.)
Everyone stop your fucking whining
Arrogant, Sarcastic Assholes…that basically sums up San Francisco natives. At first, I was in denial. Then, I realized that everyone was an asshole.
People who post comments about "great" food, looks like have not been anywhere else… S.F. sucks so badly compare to other "bigger" metro areas in US in this category.
Tell me, where would you go after 10pm on the weekday in san francisco? Of course you can come up with a name or a two, but if you actually live in the city, you wouldn't go to same place every time you want to get something other then pizza/asian crap delivery on the weekday, right?
SF is boring as f$ck, bunch of fake people running around trying to make themselfs look too important. Oh, and did I mention all those asian chicks? what a joke….
Glad to be out of that shithole for good.
I'm a native San Franciscan. I've lived here all my life except two misspent years in L.A. in the early '90s. I've traveled to just about every major city in the country and have spent many extended periods in New York.
Over the years, I've seen A LOT of people blow in and out of San Francisco, and I've developed a knack for identifying the people who are going to stay and the people who are going to leave.
Ever since the Gold Rush of 1849, people have been coming here for all the wrong reasons, getting frustrated and resentful, and leaving. There are so many myths about San Francisco (and California in general) being a place where you can reinvent yourself, make a better life, escape the past, strike it rich, etc. Somehow these myths about San Francisco persist through the decades in every place except San Francisco.
For the people who come here and hate it, the top reasons that usually bring them here are:
1) A job/business opportunity
2) School
3) A relationship/significant other
These people didn't decide they wanted to live in San Francisco and then find a job/school/mate here. They came here expecting to have a fabulous career, get rich, get a rewarding and prestigious education, have a fairy-tale romance, etc. During the dot-com bubble of the late '90s, you could throw a rock and hit 100 people like this.
Naturally, most of these fantasies don't work out. As a result, these people feel lost and alienated here, and without fail, they wind up bitching about the same things over and over again:
1) homeless
2) Muni
3) liberal politics, smugness, hypocrisy, etc.
4) local government
5) hills
6) fog/cold
7) parking/traffic
8) cost of living/housing
9) gay male to straight female ratio
10) provincialism
Typically, these people come here to take something–money, education, love, etc.–and they give nothing back to the city while they're here. They whine incessantly about the problems and do nothing to change them, just counting the days until they can leave.
If you hate the homeless and Muni now, you would have really hated them in the '80s. These problems have actually slowly gotten better since then, although they're still problems. They might have improved faster if thousands of temporary residents had done something about them except complain.
If this sounds a little familiar, maybe you should reexamine the reasons that brought you here. Did you choose to live in San Francisco because you wanted to live in San Francisco? If not, maybe you made the wrong choice.
I moved here from Chicago, so excited to escape the brutal winter and live in one of the world's "greatest" cities.
I hate it here. Never did I think that moving to the most liberal city in America would turn this liberal back towards the center. The class divide here is worse than Chicago, and that is saying something. The public transportation sucks. And if that's not enough, hopefully you can get attacked by a schizophrenic while you are waiting to use it.
The apartments are overpriced shoeboxes. God forbid you should have a pet. You will never, ever find a place to live.
I haven't met one person who isn't from the east coast or the midwest that isn't totally batshit crazy.
I HATE IT HERE. I can't wait to go back to Chicago and freeze my ass off in the winter, with the people I love, in the 2000 sq. ft loft that I pay $1600 a month to live in.
This city is a joke.
The last reason was the greatest of them all. If we choose not to like San Francisco, why don't San Franciscians just accept that?
Excellent post.
I absolutely HATE San Francisco. I'm a resident of LA, former NYC resident who grew up in one of the European capitals and who tried to move to SF Bay area… well a year wasted. It's a depressing city without any decent night life, without art scene (sorry, I'm back to LA), full of smug yuppies, people who can't dress and have backwoods unsophisticated mindset. On top of that horrible cold weather and traffic problems in the city (I like to drive and have my own car, I don't enjoy sitting on a subway being stared at, I much prefer the privacy of my own vehicle). Plus, the city isn't green, it looks like someone dropped a nuclear bomb on it.
"Denver by the Bay"? lol, thank you, it can't be said better. Everything that poster said is right on: fakeness, including absolutely fake open-mindedness, class-ism, etc.. Well Lack of Creativity and absence of energy and creative juices is another way to describe this yuppie trap. This city is soo depressing… Yes, I laugh too when SF residents dare to compare it to LA (or NYC)… SF is a small provincial quiet boring little city… good for grandmas I guess..
O_O "Homosexual dominance" complaints?… u want to know my rates, honey?
Seriously, some female posters here complain about lack of masculine males due to SF being predominantly gay. I don't understand this… to me, SF males are way too masculine, that's one of the reasons why I went back to LA because it's impossible to meet hot femmy boys where who know how to dress, everyone is masculine, mainstream-looking, straight-acting *puke* sorry–I'm back to LA and West Hollywood klubs that are full of femmy boy hotties! SF is a wasteland. Everyone looks like a farmboy or a soldier, Nobody can Dance here, males here can't dance at all! meh.
I agree that San Francisco is a beautiful city. Too bad it is stained by the political nutballs that run the city. Not to mention some of its citizens who DO act smug just because they like to think they have a very open mind. The fact is, they are close minded and only listen to other whack jobs such as themselves. BTW, I was born in San Francisco, but now reside in beautiful sunny San Diego. A place where the American Dream still lives.
I am a SF native as is my husband and his family. If you hate SF so much GO AWAY AND LEAVE SAN FRANCISCO! No one is making you stay I assume. People who hate SF are welcome to leave just as we welcomed you in the first place. I bet most of the people you had the unfortunate experiences with were not native but misplaced here like yourself. I for one, as I am sure many many other San Franciscians will agree, love SF and am raising my kids here and hopefully they will too. Again, not everyone in SF is as bad as you think or say. many of us are great people. Maybe you are just too young and stupid to realize that> See, we can have a sense of humor. LOL
I can not believe I am responding to something so hateful and atrrogant.I was born in this GREAT city ande if you do not loike it LEAVE it is to damn crowded anyway.The politics are what they are and if you do not like it you know where the freeway is you ignorant homophobic HATER.I suppose by now you are assuming that I am gay,I am STRAIGHT BUT I DON'T HATE.I am a service connected Veteran that does feel SF is not as patriotic as I want it to be,but I still love it.I fell ill and ende up on the streets.The city no doubt has a problem with all the sevices being in the TL,crack headquarters.Oh yes San Francisco has its problems like any other dense urban setting,but when the FOG rolls in on a hot day and your frying your brain in the valley.I see all you valley dwellers sneak in for the NATURAL air conditioning.The people love to hate the city so much they just flock here by the thousands.So the next time you come rolling across that bridge ADMIT IT the city just has that MYSTERY and DRAMA .Yeah sometimews it is like driving by an accident and you just HAVE TO LOOK.When I was OUTSIDE I don't even like the behavior in the streets but most of the crimes are being committed by kids coming from other areas LIKE THE VALLEY and THE EAST BAY.They come HERE TO COMMIT CRIMES.Read the statistic,Ido!!I do agree with you on the bad prosecution rate of violent offenses only.The government WASTES to much money prosecuting drug cases.The rule should be if there is a victim prosecute,no victim no crime.How much money needs to be wasted before we change a failed policy.Check out the tally on DRUGSENSE.COM.They have an up to the second tally on what the government spends prosecuting drug cases.Time to TAX TAX TAX cannabis and bring it out of the closet and where it belongs OTC.Hold the cannabis dispenarys accountable,and assure they contribute to social programs .This will help erase the stigma.Time to think out of the box.There are good ideas from the left and the right,equally.Be sure not to leave anyone out in your hating,you don't want to be acussed of being exclusive,nyuk nyuk!!!I tend to try and not hate conservative as much as they hate US.I understand the fear of CRIME,really.Then like I said already,look at the crime stats.The biggest injustice is the statistic that very few of the violent crimes on the street are commited by people actually living there,yet the NEWS paints a different picture.The news like to make a big deal out of nothing much.Read the Unknown Homeless Man on BLOGGER and then you can hate a homeless vet directly,or one of the other poor souls I write about.The Unknown Homeless Man will not rest until the scandal and farce of CARE not CASH is exposed.The city subsidizes crackheads and ignores vets I know you will agree, after all I do have my conservative side also.Read about it. BE SAFE, GOD HELP US
everyone is either gay or asian.. I hate it too. I regret moving here.
oh San Francisco! (petting it ever so gently), I will never forget the Filipinos and Asians callin me and everyone else "nigga", that is until a black person stepped into the scenario and all of a sudden you recoiled in fear of getting your ass beat. I now live in DC, try talking like that out here and see how far you'd get into the conversation. Now coming from LA it was also really crazy when these SF kids would call you "blood" when you weren't bangin a blood set or even remotely affiliated (and SF people love to call Angelenoes pretentious??). So non-chalantly throwing these culturally sensitive phrases around like confetti. I also loathe the in your face righteousness they boast up there and the hippy classism. It really contradicts your purpose which is precisely the fakeness you all love to hate LA for!
– Too many gay men ( and so called '' bissexual '' men tend to be gay gay gay ) and not enough straight men
– White men and Asian women pairings are very popular and that's okay but don't go overboard about it
– Bad transportation
– Too political
– Too cold and foggy
– Too many homeless people
– Too many illegals
– Too much of the same 'variety' of food ( same thing , same old Chinese delivery )
– Too many ugly people
Blessed be the name of the Mayor
Over here on our side of the Bay, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom recently came to his senses about the high felony rate among illegal immigrants in the sanctuary city. He is now openly opposed to the Board of Supervisors' recent ordinance forbidding the police to report "youthful offenders" who are here illegally to ICE until they have been convicted of a felony. Mere multiple arrests on multiple felony charges are not enough to satisfy the Supes. On the other hand, Newsom doesn't have a care in the world on gay marriage opponents, After denouncing the Supes on illegal immigration, he immediately followed up in his state of the city speech with a warning to anyone who would dare oppose gay marriage. No city contracts, no funding for any organization which has executives who oppose gay marriage. No jobs in city government for opponents or support for any entity which has expressed negative views on gay marriage or has members who gave money to the pro-Prop 8 movement. The mayor giveth, and the mayor taketh away, blessed be the name of the mayor.
I'm glad to see that 4 years on, and this post is still rocking. What a fucking putrid self-obsessed passive-aggressive lonely shit hole this excuse for a town is.
At some point the sheer rumblings from smug Prius drivers, premature ejaculation by Apple fanboys every time Steve Jobs appears at the Moscone Center, and attempts to legalize pot over dealing with the homeless problem will trigger the long-deserved earthquake and wipe these lazy hipsters off the map.
Good riddance. I fucking hate Frisco!
I have been a reader of your blog for a few years now and this has only increased my respect for you.
Also, this is another example of context being so important before judging ones intent. As an old school Usenet guru, I too understood what you meant when you said "Flame away SF residents".
SanFransFinest wrote:
"The person who said its racist. LOl u never been to hunters point, sunnydale, fillmore, lakeview, Chinatown, or the mission obviously"
Da. I never been to the ghettos. Nice segregated neighborhoods for the other people. How liberal!
I like LA.
My rant on SF's no left turns
I love San Francisco since I was born there, but don't like the residents who tell me that by living in a suburb I am ruining the planet. Guess what, I work at home and drive about 5 miles a day. My husband rides his bike to work. He works with people from San Francisco who drive 45 miles each way to work. Yeah, they are saving the planet, not!
Lol, so funny that so many people found this page by googling "I hate SF"! Solidarity, fellow SF haters!!
I moved there thinking it was the be-all end-all of cool cities. There are good things about it, and plenty of hip and trendy (shallow and douchy) things to do, if you have tons of expendable income. I live in Kansas City now and honestly, the same artists play here, there are clubs that are just as much fun, and I don't have to spend $200 a night to experience them. SF is so full of itself for no reason.
It's expensive, crowded, and people are rude and grumpy all the time. I was depressed every day I lived there.
I really related to the posts talking about the classism and segregation. SF wants to pretend that it's so down with diversity. Yeah, so where are all the black people? Seriously! There's a Dave Chappelle skit from a performance in SF where he says that people in SF get along better than any other big city, and everyone applauds and cheers. Then he says, "I figured out how you did it too. You sent all the black people to the other side of that bridge." And everybody laughs. But the sad thing is, it's absolutely true and nobody will admit it. I have a more diverse group of friends living here in red-state Kansas than I ever did in SF (yes, that includes openly gay people – SF isn't the only place they find tolerance). And honestly, I think people like it that way. SF is a great destination for sheltered white kids who want a big-city experience without having to get out of their racial comfort zone. Sorry to be so blunt about it, but that's what I experienced and that's how I feel.
I met a lot of good people in SF, and I didn't hate everything about the city. I look forward to visiting SF and seeing my old friends. But I hated the class differences, the lack of a middle class, the pretentiousness, the snobby Pac Heights women, and the segregation. SF is a cool city, but it's time for them to own up to what they are. And if they don't like it, change it.
Four years later, you're still getting comments!
After six years in the Bay Area, I was infinitely relieved to get away. It wasn't JUST San Francisco, though that was the worst of it. The entire Bay Area pretty much sucks, with the worst conceivable traffic, a cesspool of a city (Oakland) that the rest of the region wants to forget exists, and the overly wealthy assh***s of "the peninsula" and Marin County making it impossible to move south or north.
Berkeley is a pit of a city filled with residents who spend their days "fighting city hall" to enforce their rights to live like hippies.
If you're just an average guy with average tastes, there's nowhere to go in the Bay Area — not within a decent commute to the city. You're going to wind up surrounded by crazy people, wealthier-than-God people (who love to rub this fact in your face) or, worse, crazy AND wealthier-than-God people.
The Whites took over any area within a reasonable distance from San Francisco, meaning there's no racial or socio-economic diversity, and all of the Hispanics or Asians are pushed into pockets of outlying cities.
San Francisco is NOT that pretty. There are a few pockets of real beauty, but mostly it's filled with poorly maintained "Victorian" houses, ugly '60s-era apartment buildings, and a LOT of trash and homeless people. A few views will take your breath away, but Paris it ain't. It's just really not attractive.
Parking is non-existent, and some fools try to exist without a car, which means they're as parochial as they come, preferring their "neighborhood" to any other. That gets extraordinarily obnoxious really fast.
There's so much written about SF being a "food city" … sure, if you typically spend $120 for two on dinner. If you're trying to make it on a normal salary, the options are severely limited.
No one's said it yet, but "Beach Blanket Babylon" is the DUMBEST stage show ever created. It's juvenile and unfunny. When San Franciscans brag about THIS, there's something seriously wrong.
To top it all off, try to have a political discussion in San Francisco. Try to say something like, "Well, perhaps we should try to understand why Sarah Palin appeals to so many people," or, "You know, there's been huge progress in gay rights, and we have to accept that not everyone is ready for gay marriage." Or, worse, "Maybe Obama is just another politician."
There's no such thing as temperance in San Francisco. Tolerance and diversity are laughably non-existent. This is the most politically uptight, closed-off, unfriendly city I've EVER lived in, and I've lived in the Deep South. There, the genuine attitude of most people who disagreed with you was, "Live and let live." No such thing in San Francisco if you're not a flaming liberal.
Didn't mention the weather yet, which goes without saying. Or the awful bridges, which are literally falling apart. Or the cost of living, which is staggeringly high. Or that urine smell that pervades, the ridiculous cost and lack of parking, the homeless, the Tenderloin and Mission districts (which the city seems proud to have).
Now that I've moved away at last, I honestly hope I never, ever have to go back to San Francisco. I'd like to say it's a nice place to visit … but frankly, it isn't even that.
SanfransFINEST said…
The person who said its racist. LOl u never been to hunters point, sunnydale, fillmore, lakeview, Chinatown, or the mission obviously
1:39 AM
_____________________
Thats the point you stunod. This city relative to other major cities has very poor diversity. Unless your white, then it is perfectly diverse, mostly affluent white and asians with just enough of a spattering of black and hispanic to make you feel proud to live in the same city with them but not enough to lower the value of your home. SF residents are the most regiocentric people i have ever met many if not all have never lived anywhere else or come from podunk towns where any city is better than where they came from.
Thank you Chris for this post. You are not alone.
Janae Hale said…
Hm. I've been living in SF for about 6 years now. I moved here from the central valley to go to college at State. I'll admit it, I like it here… a lot. At the same time I can see some validity in people's complaints.
I never knew that people thought SF residents were so cold and stuffy. I have a good group of friends here, and I meet new people regularly. The one thing that truly sucks about the people here is the dating scene. Everyone is single and wants to date, but they never do… weird.
Okay, some reasons I like this city:
1.) The variety of food
2.) Each neighborhood is different with it's own unique culture, population, history, etc.
3.) Cool hole in the wall coffee shops and bookstores (like The Green Apple)
4.) The parks are beautiful, lush, and abundant
5.) MUNI is cheap and efficient in most places. Although, I didn't hear anyone mention the game that I like to call 'The scavenger hunt for that urine smell' Ew, ew, ew…
6.) There's lots of free stuff to do practically everyday if you look for it. Such as, gallery openings (free booze and cheese), dance lessons, poetry nights, and free days at the museums and other venues
7.) Warmer weather is just around the corner (but, I do enjoy cool, foggy days)
8.) Great thrift store shopping, the ones that the locals go to, not the tourists
9.) There's lots of hospitals… I'm accident prone…
10.) It's relatively easy to eat healthy and stay in shape being here
I may or may not be alone in my opinions, but I do enjoy living here. If I find another city that has all of those qualities and more, then I'll consider moving.
_______________________
PRime example of what i just mentioned. NEVER lived out of state but claims SF is the best city. how can you claim this if you have never lived in anther city before. Arrgghhh Californians are soo stupid!!!!
BTW to answer your points All othe major cities have what you claim to be unique to SF, try leving your bankrupt state before making ignorant statements. Better cities include Seattle, Chicago, New York, Boston, Austin, and DC.
To: what skendall said… about the weather in SF… dude, SF is cold as shit! Yeah, it ain't hot, but it ain't warm either… do you really like wearing jackets. Fucking hate this place!.. exactly because it is so fucking cold!
Just moved here from the East Coast. I read and re-read this post (and the comments) a zillion times before moving. And I still did it – no regrets, it was for a cool job.
I dismissed the post before, I find it quite truthful now. Unfortunately.
Seamus, I must disagree. I was born in 1990 (Gen Y) and I know what those are. I grew up in cassettes, and my sister and I have an antenna television in my room. I agree that most born after 1992 would have no idea what those are. But please, don't say some of us don't know what those are.
If you dislike it so much, why don't you leave? It would give more room for the people who want to live here!
Grow up and get over it!
Marilyn Dalton
Just came back from labor day weekend 2010 and this is what I googled. I will NEVER be back. I know I keep saying it.
I saw more people smoking here than anywhere in LA. I saw more blatant disregard for human life – the homeless are mentally ill and cold – fix this!!!
I felt horrible for the people in this city. The food was crap unless you spent TONS of cash. I even went to the Stinking Rose in North Beach because we have one in LA and we got sick there.
The waitstaff is insanely empty to their patrons. The weather sucked balls – I got an earache. In summer.
The place is smelly, dirty, ugly, expensive and gross. I will NEVER EVER EVER be back.
I love you LA. I fucking love you.
I have been in SF for 10 years and I am ready to move on, I think NYC would be more to my liking if I can pursuade my wife! I still quite like the Mission as it has cool bars, but the haight which seems like it should be a cool area is full of panhandling scumbags.
I am tired of being cold all the time! And something resembling seasons would be nice! A lot of the people here are cold and clicky, don't count on after works drinks with your work colleagues.
At first I liked being close to Tahoe for the winter sports but expect to spend a good amount of time in the car stuck in horrendous traffic for the privilege.
I did go to Burning Man a few times and that was really amazing but it seems like a lot of the artisty types devote all their energy to this one week a year in the desert, what about the rest of the year people.
Overall – San Fran seems like this place for 20-30 somethings to play around and boast of hiking and biking activities while sitting in there north face jackets. Where are the old people? people of color? kids?
I'm bored of it now and ready for a real world class city like NYC
Oh Yeah, SF does SUCK! Big time.
It used to be a half-way decent place to live, before white Yuppie scum ruined the city, starting in the late 80s/early 90s.
These Yuppies, have driven out the poor, minorities, the working class, and artist/bohemians, by their gentrification of poor neighborhoods. In turn, the Yuppie gentrification orgy, has driven rents in SF, sky-high. So now, nobody who makes less than $80K a year, can afford to live there.
People in SF, are mainly soulless, lifeless, smug, passive-agressive lumps. They never reveal their true feelings to your face. They smile in your face, while they have razor-sharp knives aimed at your back.
And don't get me started, on how incompetent the business community is in SF! Employers there are greedy, heartless robber barons. And they just LOVE to terminate their employees, at the drop of a hat! I'd never experienced losing job after job, until I lived in SF.
No way is SF liberal now. Even the gay community there, is racist. Blacks gays are not welcome, in many places in the Castro. Speaking of blacks, they are regarded as being lower than dogshit in SF. But because SF people are so phony, they'll never admit their racism to your face.
Old SF hippies like Jerry Garcia, Janis Joplin, and others, would be turning in their graves, if they could see what a racist and classist hell-hole, that SF has become!
Good grief, you lot are tiresome….
People in SF unfriendly? You must be social inept. Sorry. I've been here for years and I find it very easy to meet new people. A bit flakey? Sure. But it's not hard to meet them.
Horrible nightlife? Yeah, okay. Rrrright. No places to eat in SF, right? Nope. None. Bars? Can't be found anywhere. Heaven forbid it's you or the company you keep that prevents you from enjoying yourself. And do you really need to be drinking past 2 in the morning to enjoy yourself? Maybe that's the problem.
It's funny. You lot bitch and moan about SF's pretentiousness and arrogance yet it's you lot who can't get your head around the possible reality that YOU are the problem, not San Francisco. That, in my mind, is true arrogance.
Meanwhile, I don't like Fairfield. Let's be useless and write a blog about it.
I definitely hate San Francisco and perhaps the whole of the Bay Area. The cost of living here is quite unrealistic. I'm 27 years old and realize that if I want to live anywhere fairly decent that even with modest $80,000/yr salary I'm still not going to be able to muster an affordable house (or rather something that isn't falling apart). SF and most if not all of the Bay Area boasts some of the the most cliquish and sycophantic people I have ever met. I grew up in the Southern Central Valley of California and perhaps I seek more of a bucolic lifestyle. If only there were more tech related jobs in the Central Valley then I'd be there instead of here. I have engaged in the commutes around here, but nothing compared to the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex traffic or the traffic seen in the Twin cities in Minnesota or drastically even close seen in the 24 hour level traffic of Los Angeles. I would tend to agree that driving in SF sucks donkey balls and that the public transportation could be better. For the amount of tax dollars spent it could be 24 hours. (That could certainly create more jobs in the area..perhaps another topic by itself). I don't care much for the weather here, and sad to say but there isn't as much "world-class" or "avant-garde" dining here. Actually I can't even find decent diner style or hole in the wall digs. Food here is also quite segregated by districts. Considering the dating scene, forget it, the women are fugly.
to the "Anon" asshole who said that SF is "too many fucking asians and hispanics here…", where the f-ck have you been living these past 5 years. The minorities have been driven out of SF due to gentrification. All I see in downtown SF are a bunch of white yuppies and hipsters and a few asians and south asians sprinkled in the viscinity. The hispanics are only hired to be the janitors and maids for all the a-holes like you. sorry but ignorance and intolerance really "flames" me.
San Francisco is barely even a city, let alone one of the 'world's great' ones. That's just a name. The city itself is puny and pretty mundane, + full of beggars in the small area it's made up of.
No truer words could've been spoken about San Francisco. I could visit the city over and over again, but living there is so out of the question, and 99.9% of the people on this board have already explained it all. Not to mention that it's a concrete jungle SATURATED with the North Carolina fan club (a bunch of idiots who love and/or obsess with NC in so many different ways.) A lot of the city even looks like it hasn't been upgraded in 100 years. The place is a retarded, more up to date version than fucking Dublin, Ireland. Go figure!
I'm from the suburbs of Chicago. I was a liberal kid surrounded by the most conservative people I've ever met, and I really, really, really miss it there. SAN FRANCISCO SUCKS ASS. Yes. It does. I've lived in South Florida, rural Iowa, and the inland Empire. Recently,I've lived all over the Bay area from Marin county to the east bay to San Francisco to the Peninsula. Right now, I'm in Mill Valley, which is tolerable due to the wilderness here. I'm stuck here due to school, work, and I fell in love with a girl from here. Still, I'm so glad to see these posts and to know I'm not alone.
There is racial and sexual identity diversity here, but as far as social diversity is concerned, forget it. I've heard so many times, "there's something for everyone here!" Give me a break. What they mean is that you can fit into any of these archetypes, including: hipster, flamboyantly gay, angry gay, urban hip-hopper, "cutting edge!" jock, gutter-punk, living-in-an-imaginary-throw-back-world hippy, godess worshipping feminist, or, of course, homeless. Move too far aoutside of these heavily ruled groups, and you're bound to get ostracized. The most fake people I've ever met live here (more so than LA by far), the most uptight people I've met live here (don't say hello to people you pass unless you like dirty looks), the most judgemental people are here (more than the conservatives I grew up with), of course the most smug, and the most bland. In fact, the weather, the food, and the people are bland.
I think one of my friends who came to visit from Chicago said it best when we went to Berkeley: "What's wrong with these people? Did they insert the stick up their ass backward today?"
Oh, and why can't anyone make the outside of their house look nice. Maybe, they could just clean it off once every few years. I must have a strange idea of what beauty is if these homes, homeless people, degrading roads, and unkempt parks full of gutter-punks constitutes beauty.
I have a love/hate for this city. Love the parks and recreational areas. I love the fact the bay is a 20 minute walk from my apartment. I love the green trees in the wooded areas. Now the hate. I hate bums and junkies. I hate the smug self satisfied look on many of the peoples faces. Now im from LA we have a good share of a-holes. But sense I got here I find myself just keeping to myself. No one says hello, you smile at someone they look at you as if your a pest. My experience in NY was very different. People seemed nicer more open even more so then LA. I moved here for one reason School. I got 2 years and I'm out. SF great place for a weekend but not for living.
Damn. Now I hate San Francisco and I haven't even been there.
I have good friends in SF, so I visit often. But I dislike the place. Why?
1) SF "feels" like NYC, but culturally it "offers" Austin, TX. Nothing against Austin, but at least it doesn't pretend to be NYC. 2) People in SF are the rudest I've met. Even when they try to be nice, they give off a whiff of asshole. 3) Shitty weather. The "ideal" SF day is 70 degrees and breezy – that's 30 days a year, tops. The rest of the time it's cold, overcast, and moldy. 4) Too expensive. Average salary doesn't = cost of living. Recipe for misery. 5) Overcrowded. Even the little things – laundry, groceries, the movies, – feel like a hassle. 6) Provincial. Even Daly City feels "exotic." Not good in the Ozarks, not good in SF. 7) Dirty. For all the trouble and expense, it should be clean. I saw the largest human turd I've ever seen on Sansome Street, just steaming there. Enough said.
I spend a lot of time in SF because my sister lives there. SF is very beautiful geographically, and it offers a lot culturally. It's a nice, 2nd-tier city on par with Austin, TX, Boston, MA, or Seattle, WA. It's a nice place to visit for a couple of days.
The main reason I dislike SF is because of the people there. I find them frosty and snobbish. I do realize they are mostly from other parts of the country.
I think the constant interfacing with the homeless, drug-addicted, and drifter populations forces SFers into mental bubbles. That, combined with the local tech industry, has made them the most socially retarded population I've ever seen.
The bars and clubs are filled with people who just stare into the air. Everywhere, people stand in line silently facing forward like robots. For such a storied city, the local color is zilch. See those people laughing and having a good time? They are probably out-of-towners who are just visiting.
The prevailing attitude is sarcastic / ironic – sorry, not my cup of tea – just give it to me straight. You will hear bitchy, wry, and cold-hearted comments
everywhere.
Any attempt at real talk is reduced to left-wing clap-trap. The problem isn't "left vs. right", it's closed-minded vs. open-minded. I'm a progressive person, but I find SFers to be extremely closed-minded on just about every topic. I don't know where they get their opinions from.
All that, and it's too fucking expensive. Nice place to visit, but I wouldn't wanna live there. Many, many better places to live all over the U.S.
The "LA vs SF" debate is a San Francisco civic delusion. Most San Franciscans spew bile about L.A. any chance they get – and become quite heated about it. Absolutely no one else cares. People from L.A. don't even think about SF unless they are making a list of possible week-end getaways. Angelenos have no idea about the supposed rivalry, and will express surprise when they learn of it. People outside California will say "WTF, these aren't the only 2 cities in the world." Even MORE ridiculous is "SF vs. NYC", but let's not even go there. It's shallow, snobbish group-think typical of the SF mindset.
I, too, am a Southern California transplant, and what I honestly regret so much is that I ever listened to all those haters back when I lived there who would eventually become the smug, self-important haters who live up here.
Yes, Orange County is horrifically republican, and if you were to talk to many people on the street they'd be very down on gay rights or gay anything, and I can see why you might want to get away from those kinds of attitudes, BUT going north doesn't solve the greater problems of a place, just like moving to Canada doesn't make our country better. Not that most people care about making a place better. But you don't have to throw out the baby with the bathwater every time, right?
I just can't stand that people will say that socal is fake and turn right around and say that the north of the state is somehow "better". Do you mean non-materialistic?? Because that is a joke.
I would so much rather live as who I really am in a place where there are fun, real things to do, where people are genuine and will listen to you and care, than try to live as some hipper-than-thou island unto myself in a place where people dislike and ostracize you once they find out you prefer to be genuine and good-willed. I hate this fucking place and all its heady superiority.
And thank you so much to everyone for letting me know I'm not alone!!
Oh, and the only good thing about the bay: the food! I will miss thai curries 🙂
these comments are so great. i love you true bloods who hate this place so honestly.
i want to touch on this woman thing. i want to touch on a woman. but there are no women here. they have all neutered themselves in the name of gender equality.
that feminine sweet life-giving thing that a woman bears makes her unequal from man. a man is an aching writhing lowly being of synthesis, and a woman is the beautiful earthen hallowed creature that can save a man from oblivion. there is no equality in the sexes. that is why we mate. your language is so dead, and all your daughters have cropped their hair and killed their feminine for nothing.
this and only this can fill me with hatred. but it is a symptom of the child-like mindplace that everyone in this region exists in. you are all infants. you are worthless.
your comments about southern california, SF residents, come from a deeply seated inferiority complex. you have no idea what you are talking about when you mention los angeles.
what a horror it must be to really think SF is a true place, to be one of those people preparing some pathetic whimper of 'i really love SF, its the best city and you just dont understand'. what an infantile terrifying state of being.
there is goodness out east and down south, our nation is a good place. i have never felt so wrong and cold as i have in this bay area desecration.
these comments are so great.
i want to touch on this woman thing. i want to touch on a woman. but there are no women here. they have all neutered themselves in the name of gender equality.
that feminine sweet life-giving thing that a woman bears makes her unequal from man. a man is an aching writhing lowly being of synthesis, and a woman is the beautiful earthen hallowed creature that can save a man from oblivion. there is no equality in the sexes. that is why we mate. your language is so dead, and all your daughters have cropped their hair and killed their feminine for nothing.
this and only this can fill me with hatred. but it is a symptom of the child-like mindplace that everyone in this region exists in. you are all infants. you are worthless.
your comments about southern california, SF residents, come from a deeply seated inferiority complex. you have no idea what you are talking about when you mention los angeles.
what a horror it must be to really think SF is a true place, to be one of those people preparing some pathetic whimper of 'i really love SF, its the best city and you just dont understand'. what an infantile terrifying state of being.
there is goodness out east and down south, our nation is a good place. i have never felt so wrong and cold as i have in this bay area desecration.
I am so happy and relieved to have found this blog. I've lived in many places and was very excited about moving to San Fran as i'm an avid cyclist and skier. But I can't believe the poor quality of life and parochial, self-focused-ness of the people here. This far outshadows the opportunities for potentially great outdoor sporting experiences.
As for that aspect of life here, the cycling on the Peninsula and Marin is as good as it gets. But the skiing is a joke. If you're planning a weekend in Lake Tahoe and it's snowed that week, make sure to budget 15 hrs of driving time – if it's snowing or a popular weekend, budget more. My record was 20 hours one way. I now fly to Denver or Salt Lake City to ski – it's faster.
On a deeper note, I also thought I'd find what i thought i would find progressiveness, intellectual curiousity and intelligence among the silicon valley crowd. Again, i was sorely dissappointed. What I found was an obsession with money, as it must be when the cost of living and raising a family is ridiculously high.
Finally, for the first time ever, I learned that people can be liberal and extraordinarily closed minded and intolerant. I've lived all over the world and, as such, welcome and enjoy diversity in viewpoint. i thought i would feel at home on that point but what i feel is anything but.
I love my job – that is why i'm still here – but will take the first opportunity, when presented, to move to place where i can build a life and meaningful relationships.
I love all you SF haters. Sign me up!!!!!
ALSO… stop comparing SF to NYC. They aren't even close to being on the same level. Sure NYC will have shitty people, but it has everything. I'm from Boston and I know people like to compare Boston to NYC and that's silly too. SF is a secondhand city so deal with it. Wow you have gay people, every city has gay people so stop talking about it. SF is like a REALLY pretty girl with fake tits and no brain. Nice to look at but moronic and ugly deep down(not even that deep down).
It's funny how San Francisco people complain about people coming from other cities (namely LA) and making it a worse place. LA is probably the #1 destination for douchebags from other parts of the country (people who come to become actors, basically). Cry me a river.
That's the point SanfransFINEST. Those areas you named are minuscule compared to ethnic neighborhoods in real cities like Los Angeles, New York and Chicago. Perhaps YOU should come to Inglewood and actually see what a diverse city looks like.
I also think its hilarious too that they call it "The City" when its not even the biggest city in the Gay Area.
I hate this fucking city…nasty, rude and disgraceful… I'm gay but cant stand this people anymore
So there I was selling weed for on the side and working a crappy job in Alabama and I decide to retire from the drug war and just chill. What better place than mecca right? Wrong.
This is the most racist place I've ever been and this is coming from someone who lived in the land of Dixie his entire life outside of a journey here and there. You know who I worked beside in Alabama? Black people. You won't find that here. Don't even bother with Chinatown they have nothing to say to whitey.
Everything is overpriced for no reason. It smells like piss. People are shitting on the streets in broad day light and walking down the street member swinging in the breeze taking a piss. There is a guy who walks around my block all day every day wearing the same clothes talking to himself. There is a guy who without fail is at the same place at the same time having a conversation with a parking meter. There is a lady who walks around talking to her binoculars ranting and raving about them being mentally ill. All of this and I'm on nob freaking hill. GOD HELP YOU if you wander down to Leavenworth and Market.
It's cold every single day and there is a constant 40mph wind. I've been here for 6 months and only seen fog twice. I actually quite enjoy the fog because it means the wind has @#%^ing stopped.
Want a job? Good luck! I found one but it wasn't without extreme effort and it was without a doubt the hardest thing I've ever done. My hands are bleeding as I type this and for my troubles I clear $200 a month after paying for my cramped studio with no kitchen. Ironically I stopped smoking weed when I got here because I can't afford it.
Smoke tobacco what a tool. Don't smoke tobacco what a tool. Can't afford $300 jeans? What a tool. Wear $300 jeans? what a tool. From LA? what a tool. Not from LA? what a tool. Drive? what a tool. Don't drive? what a tool. Listen to indie music? what a tool. Don't listen to indie music? what a tool.
Every now and then I'll make the mistake of having a conversation. I'm a Buddhist and a Vegan and have been for many years but there's no way in hell some one like me could ever exist in Alabama so they just roll their eyes and give me the "ya right" look. I know it blows these smug peoples minds but there are people in the southeast like me. I didn't just take this lifestyle up "to fit in when I got here" ffs it's why I came here to start with!
God what a wretched place! I can not wait to return to my shoes melting to the pavement in 105* heat, being beaten by the cops and running from robbers with guns. It's heaven compared to this place!
Hallelujah! You know, the more I look the more I find like-minded people who realize that this place is a piece of shit. Seriously, I lived here for 5 years and when I left I felt like I had been freed from a mental ward. Am I insane? How could I not love going to the FERRY BUILDING? Or to SOUTH OF MARKET? My goodness, what a beautiful, diverse city. Bullshit!!!! This place is boring. Boring as hell. The people suck. No quirkiness, no fun. If you want an urban retirement, this place is for you. I live in LA now, and I'm happy as a clam. As a complete outsider who moved to California from the East Coast — I gotta say….San Francisco, you are a joke. If I'm going to put up with bad weather, it will be in New York, thank you.
Ouch…..such hatred.
For those of you not living here, there are healthier ways to combat the boredom of wherever you happen to live.
For the rest, I grant you freedom. Freedom to leave. Freedom to be happy elsewhere. Find a place that you love. Please. Please go and take your hate with you. You will, hopefully, be better off (try wearing some flowers in your hair). And we will certainly be better off with you gone, i.e. one less thing to hate about San Francisco.
The entire place needs to fall into the pacific ocean and take those wretched bridges with it the place is ripe with crime,vice and graff Its would make the west coast a better place if SAN FRANCISCO fell into the ocean
Don't forgot the issue with women. You can find more attractive women at any rest stop on the freeway than you can in SF. For some reason, there is a very shallow gene pool there. I can easily go 2 months without seeing a pretty girl. Strange.
I love the comments from people complaining about san francisco being snotty, passive aggressive, shallow, etc. Then the next sentence they say they moved here thinking how it was a trendy/cool city until they actually lived here a while. Then they say they've been here 4 or 10 or 20 years.
Project your own issues much?
If you hate it so much then why not go back to Los Angeles, or Omaha, or San Antonio, or Tampa (or wherever)? And do it now instead of being passive aggressive and whining in some anonymous post instead of actually taking any action.
I'll agree that San Francisco has its problems, but if you don't like it, then find someplace you like if you can manage some action instead of just whining, San Francisco transplant-style.
In my opinion, one of the things that is the worst about the place is all the transplants who move here to be cool and then get bitter when their ultra hip life doesn't materialize just because they're in a different location.
Ps. The city gets much more liveable every year during burning man. Just saying.
I am living in Berlin and I also hate San Francisco. I lived there for almost a year and what really annoyed me was that there seem to be almost no good-looking tall people there. Some people there seem to think that Doc Martens are still the hype. When you go to a party you can immediately spot the Europeans in the crowd as they have some sense of style. The weather sucks. It basically rains buckets on you all winter and then people tell you that this is an exceptionally wet year. I hear this whenever I go there for work.
Ridiculous is also that you need to wear a winter coat in the summer. No warm summer nights. Night-life is terrible, getting a cab is a gamble, no parking, horrible rents for crappy places, dirty drugstores, bad fashion shopping, men and women do not seem to relate in a normal way there, lots of homeless people (Can this place not take care of its people?!)
I am so glad I am out of there!
I can't stand it here. I don't vibe with anybody here. I been here for over 365 days and have literally had about 10 good days since I've been here. It's the worst year of my life. I came here expecting open minded, enjoyable people but was only met with smug arrogance. The women seem to want to get to know new people but they are scared which means you have to get to know them online (which I hate) or through other people. People are extremely closed into there little bubble. I'm going to school here and I'm sure I'd get along with the school mates if I wasn't 10 years older then them. I finally found someone I enjoyed hanging out with and he was from Boston, all his friends that were from sf were horrible. Not the way they treated me but how they acted to others. Don't get me wrong I'm from LA and am use to shallow people and assholes but these people brought to a whole new level. They made fun of a taxi cab driver for being buddhist. One of the guys constantly gossiped about people and all of it was negative. I like the mixed crowds here people seem to be a little more friendly when there is some variation at the club for some reason. I feel like I'm going crazy I'm socially deprived and tired of how dense this place is with removed antisocial people. I really can't take this.
I wouldnt say I hate SF as a city but I do hate the fucking fake disgraceful people that live over here, and fucking gays
and I do also hate Eric marlin
I've lived here my whole life and I can't imagine living here another 5 years. As a training pilot and a very outdoorsy person, I can't stand the weather. The people here are very transient and exclusionary. If your not exactly like them in race, background, etc…they'll block you from getting in their clique. It's the mecca of liberalism in America, which goes to show how wrong you get when you go that far to the left. I wish I wasn't born or raised here…I was much happier as a child when I went on vacations elsewhere in this great great country of ours. I don't mind hating on this crap hole…keep it going…haha
SF has horrible weather ? Compared to where exactly ? You could be sweating your ass off in Houston or freezing it off in Boston. Google San Francisco, click on Wikipedia, scroll down to climate. You'll see it has more sunshine hours than any city outside the southwest or socal.
Lived in San Francisco for a few years. Originally from Google city. It was the darkest most miserable time in my life. I will list my personal reasons for hating it.
1) The weather. Agree with all of the above. Cold. Rainy. Windy. Foggy. Breezy. And we're talking about June here. lol. I was at my palest, lightest skin tone I've ever been and I gained 10 pounds from not wanting to get out of my bed 24/7.
2) The people. Just a different vibe, hippie, trying to be urbanites but not quite cool enough for that. And the majority, not so attractive. Nothing compared to any other city, 25 miles in each direction!
3) The density and overall crowdedness. SF is the #1 most densely populated city in America.
4) The transportation system. But I don't really have a valid basis for comparison as this was the first bus/transit system I've ever been on. Just couldn't get used to the smell, the delays, the rudeness, everyone pretending like they're ignoring each other.
5) Segregation!! The Sunset. The Mission. Tenderloin. Pac Heights. The Marina. You all know which races are associated with those areas, the moment you hear them.
Fantastic Blog. Just spent 30 mins reading the entire chain and feel compelled to add.
These comments are coming from someone with credibility btw. In the last 10 years I've lived in Boston, North Carolina, and most recently Chicago.
1) Nightlife is AWFUL. Have you people visited other parts of the country recently and made a proper comparison? Bars, clubs, general nightlife, runs laps around what's available in SF. Only in SF does nightlife stay static. I'm permanently living here now, but am still going to the lame places I was introduced to as a visitor 5 years ago. And the Mission? It's filthy down there folks! I'd like to summarize SF nightlife in one phrase, "lights on at 1:30, good luck finding a cab home"
2) Weather – This really culminated for me at the Outside Lands "summer" Music Festival. I mean who doesn't enjoy drinking cold beers in the freezing rain…???
3) Crowded – try to find parking after 4pm
4) Lunatics EVERYWHERE – self explanatory
5) Insular People – Thought maybe I wasn't trying hard enough to make friends. My roommate and supposedly BEST FRIEND from college did NOT send an invite my way to his annual labor day party with local/high school friends. Inexplicable to me…
6) Dirty – trash, shit, piss in every corner of this place
7) Cost of living – Does any place in the universe cost so much to rent a small, dirty, Victorian apartment with a floor plan designed by midgets. Why are there no apartment complexes with doormen?
Other comments…
– It seems to me that females, more so than males, are enamored by this city…anyone else agree? not trying to start a gender riot here, just curious…Do women just generally feel an attraction to "California"? is the appeal liberalism?
– In my opinion, the only reason to move here is for quick access to other parts of the bay area, ie. Wine Country, Tahoe, Beaches, etc. If you don't have a hobby that fits into one of those buckets check yourself outta here soon.
– Finally, ask yourselves what relevance does San Francisco have to the rest of the country…the short and clear answer is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!!
Fantastic Blog. Just spent 30 mins reading the entire chain and feel compelled to add.
These comments are coming from someone with credibility btw. In the last 10 years I've lived in Boston, North Carolina, and most recently Chicago.
1) Nightlife is AWFUL. Have you people visited other parts of the country recently and made a proper comparison? Bars, clubs, general nightlife, runs laps around what's available in SF. Only in SF does nightlife stay static. I'm permanently living here now, but am still going to the lame places I was introduced to as a visitor 5 years ago. And the Mission? It's filthy down there folks! I'd like to summarize SF nightlife in one phrase, "lights on at 1:30, good luck finding a cab home"
2) Weather – This really culminated for me at the Outside Lands "summer" Music Festival. I mean who doesn't enjoy drinking cold beers in the freezing rain…???
3) Crowded – try to find parking after 4pm
4) Lunatics EVERYWHERE – self explanatory
5) Insular People – Thought maybe I wasn't trying hard enough to make friends. My roommate and supposedly BEST FRIEND from college did NOT send an invite my way to his annual labor day party with local/high school friends. Inexplicable to me…
6) Dirty – trash, shit, piss in every corner of this place
7) Cost of living – Does any place in the universe cost so much to rent a small, dirty, Victorian apartment with a floor plan designed by midgets. Why are there no apartment complexes with doormen?
Other comments…
– It seems to me that females, more so than males, are enamored by this city…anyone else agree? not trying to start a gender riot here, just curious…Do women just generally feel an attraction to "California"? is the appeal liberalism?
– In my opinion, the only reason to move here is for quick access to other parts of the bay area, ie. Wine Country, Tahoe, Beaches, etc. If you don't have a hobby that fits into one of those buckets check yourself outta here soon.
– Finally, ask yourselves what relevance does San Francisco have to the rest of the country…the short and clear answer is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!!
This blog is hilarious.
I am one of the few born and still living in SF and I have to admit that there are many moments where I hate San Francisco
Good things about SF?
-city by the bay
-great views
-historic
-restaurants of all sorts
-access to local fresh produce
-Yosemite 4 hrs away
-Tahoe 3
-Napa 1.5
-The Coast
But honestly if you are broke or moved here solo, it’s a shit fest
-I read how people love SF, yea sure when you have the wealth you can enjoy any cities luxuries. But if don’t have cash, don’t live here.
-that being said, if you don’t have monay honay then SF is any plain ol city where you work, buy groceries, raise your family and go home tired.
Why I hate SF
-no cash for meter or parking garage? take public transportation where the bus comes late, breaks down or gets stalled by a bicyclist on it’s right side.
-Organic fresh produce? Whole foods can kiss my ass. Or if I am not studying or working then I have to hop on MUNI and journey to the outskirts of the city: Alemany, Mission, Sunset or Chinatown districts to get reasonable prices.
-Downtown? Crowded, no place to eat where a college student can afford besides the crappy pre-frozen pizza joints on Geary. Or Blondies..
-North Beach? Italians making a bad reputation out of themselves. Tried most café’s and restaurants…concluded most cafes have crappy pasta and crappier coffee.
-hipster mob along 18th Street/Mission Dolores Park. Don’t get me started on their ego trip. When I go for a run and catch the conversations of these raggedy-pity-party-princesses, ruins my reason for going out and getting fresh air.
-Love the gay community, but sometimes gay men and WOMEN are too aggressive. When I say no, does not mean grab my hand. RESPECT THE PERSONAL SPACE.
-Nightlife? Love to dance and go to bars/clubs on the wkend. But if it is not an Asian girl throwing up in corner with her panties popping out, then it’s some guy who wants to grind his goodies on your junk. Hyphy-get-stupid-scene Not having that…
-SF is friendly? Only if you carry yourself in an innocently sweet know it all way. If not, SECUURRITY.
-How you are not treated as a next door neighbor but “you are guilty until proven innocent” look. O_O
-Hopeful for pleasant/interesting conversation? Usually have to call up my international friends for that.
Years back San Francisco was not likes this. But the name and hipster reputation has attracted individuals from around the country that created a new type of “The City”.
Why do I still live in SF? I have family and friends from around the bay area so I know how to get around these downfalls. But again for someone new to these parts. Good luck.
If you don't like where you are living, then find someplace that you do. It's as simple as that.
I'm an Oregonian and have visited SF a few times and it is definitely over rated and for the most part SUCKS!!
First, the cost of living is ridiculous. When I go down thee and tell people that you can get in city apartments for 600$ where I lived they're amazed. When I tell people there they're crazy for paying exurbanite amounts of money on rent they say it's worth it because they love their city. It's like the mystic of the 60's movement in the city has clouded their brains. Other than the architecture the city is a complete dump, I got a ticket for being parked in a street during "street cleaning hours", where a heroin addict bum was sleeping and trash was all over. STREET CLEANING MY ASS!
Secondly, the manufactured poverty in a city that has the most billionaires in America is shameful. There are more than enough financial resources for that city to have an exceptional Department of Human services and should have care for the homeless. Not one person in that city should be homeless, without rehabilitation or unemployed with the amount of cash being thrown around like nothing in that shitty.
Third, a lot of people their are assholes. In fact the majority of people in California in general are smug, uncaring, fake, and rude. Where I live you can walk down the street with your head up smiling and every one will do the same, there the people are confrontational and surly, and are uninterested in anything but themselves.
Fourthly, it's supposed to be so liberal, but I didn't see one liberal thing there except the Medical Marijuana program. As I mentioned above the poverty rate is very apparent, and unnecessary. There is nothing special about their social services compared to any where else, and probably has worse programs than some.
Fifthly, everyone there is a shitty driver with the "move it or lose it" mentality, which means move or lose your life because I'm 5 minutes late. Illegal turns, riding peoples asses, not stopping for pedestrians- every asshole move they can make they do , every day. This isn't a game SF tardo's you can kill and be killed with your car!
In conclusion, FUCK SF!
This was one of the funniest statements I read on here, " I was greeted very nicely by an asian hairstylist here and treated me as an equal to the rest of the people there". This seemed like the person everyone has complaining about. LOL!
In response to the original post Chris made.
1. Lame point.
2. Yes, parking can be a drag depending on where you live. I believe, seems outer sunset and outer richmond have plenty of parking.
3. Had one homeless person leave me a feacal gift at my doorstep.
4. Don't mind the hills gives the city some character and views.
5. Never understood all the cool and different day festivals (sometimes hedonistic) accompanied with a non-existent or tamed night life.
6. Its not that cold, just annoying for California. My Midwest and African experiences probably have something to do with this.
7. I agree with this, "… there is an independent social-democratic brand of politics that is rooted in the city's working class communities. This is one of the city's better features, actually."
8. The transportation system could be improved.
9. Lame night life definitely makes it harder to decide what to do?
10. I have found it hard to connect with people here unlike other bigger cities I have inhabited. Strangely, never lived in LA but have more friends there than SF(used LA since it is being mentioned a lot in comparison).
Over the past 3 years, I have quickly grown into SF and out of it.
Lived in SF 25 yrs. Was totally in love with it. But it began to change. To become bullying, insecure, absurdly expensive, arogant, filled with pretentious pricks. A great place for a straight guy, i have to say, for obvious reasons. But it has become so neurotic, and after spending some time in NH and England, i came back to realize that the city is full of rude emotionally stupid immature people. Not all, obviously. But far too many. A terrible shame. So i moved to Portsmouth NH. Bloody awful winters, but lovely in almost every other way, including the society.
if you reader are stll in time: don t come here ….for any reason. this city is the worst and most overrated i have ever lived ….. i lived in cities from every continent. Life quality here is below zero. Get informed begore moving…hope this can save someone ….. don t trust holliwood movies….
There are the racists, who oftentimes refer to themselves as socialist, progressives, and liberals. There are the people who stew in their own anger owing to the high costs of living, and then the fact that the quality of life is so poor for the residents, with people stealing bicycles, people breaking into vehicles, people wandering the streets insane, people pissing and crapping in the street and on the sidewalk, girls pissing between parked cars in the club districts, people feeling bitter about their life circumstance and trying to get satisfaction out of bringing other people down where and when they are able. And women whom you would not touch with a ten foot pole who are deluded into imagining that they have to beat men off with a ten foot stick. A lot of people really just sick, bitter, competitive, and dysfunctional, when they are not feeling jealous and envious. San Francisco is low, mundane, dysfunctional. Did anyone fail to mention there is a major drug problem in San Francisco?