Discussion Topic |
|
This thread has been locked |
Patrick Sawyer
climber
Originally California now Ireland
|
|
|
Topic Author's Original Post - Oct 25, 2013 - 07:39pm PT
|
Some months back Ron started a thread about SF. Okay being born and raised in the East Bay, so not a native of The City, I still worked there and played football there.
My Irish partner Jennie, who has worked and travelled in a number of countries, like I have, we think that over Paris, London, Singapore, Cape Town, Rio, Buenos Aires, Sydney, New York, Chicago, Munich, Moscow... you name it...
San Francisco is the best.
Seattle and Paris come a close second.
But this is all subjective. Boston, New Orleans, Tokyo, Kobe, Hong Kong, Perth (both Australia and Scotland, oops on the latter), Auckland, Santiago, Mexico City (hmmm, not sure about that one), but Guadalajara (prettiest city in Mexico IMO), Atlanta (not too bad), Barcelona (okay, up there with Seattle and Paris), Madrid, gosh the list is endless of great cities.
But The City By The Bay, Baghdad by the Bay as Herb Caen put it, it's tops in my eyes.
Just no good crags around SF.
At least Dalkey Quarry is a good place, 20 minutes from Dublin city centre by train. But now I am in the Sunny Southeast (yeah, and pull the other leg while you are at it).
Now I have to find out what the rock at Rocklands, Wexford town is like. Short, but let's hope it is sweet.
|
|
g-tech
Trad climber
Oakland!
|
|
|
Oct 25, 2013 - 07:52pm PT
|
I loved SF 15 years ago when I first moved there. It's turned into one big yuppie filled Marina district since then. Oakland is the place
To be these days!
|
|
Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
|
|
|
Oct 25, 2013 - 09:56pm PT
|
SFO is ok but I prefer Quebec City, Chicago, or Boston on this side of the Pond. It doesn't hold a candle to Paris, Prague, London, or Venice. Buenos Aires is a crime-ridden arm pit
these days. I also give high marks to Stockholm.
|
|
Dr.Sprock
Boulder climber
I'm James Brown, Bi-atch!
|
|
|
Oct 25, 2013 - 10:58pm PT
|
all the cool people moved out by 67, Winterland turned into condos, Bay Bridge series turned into a nightmare, Salvadorian gangs took over the Mish,
however, Giants won the series and the new ballpark is a hit,
carol doda retired, tower records is gone, Jerry Garcia passed, Bill Graham is toast, financial district is 24 hour gridlock, crab cocktails on wharf cost a fortune,
however, Planet Granite SF is awesome,
sutro towers turned into an AIDS factory, south of market is a death trap, muni drivers are full of hate, golden gate costs 5 bucks, irish drinkers in north beach are buried in shallow graves,
however, Bimbos 361 Club is still open,
kerouac, cassidy, ginsberg are dead, mayor moscone gunned down by a mutant, X took the place of owsley LSD, no more drunken new years eve concerts at the cow palace, just the exotic erotic freak show,
however, the Ampex sign along 101 is still there,
|
|
kenny morrell
Trad climber
danville,ca
|
|
|
Oct 25, 2013 - 11:32pm PT
|
First of all Hi patty. Being a bay area boy I always loved going into the city for either music (winterland) or just to party. I remember the first time I heard "lights" by Journey I was standing up on highway 80 in Rock Springs Wyoming hitch-hiking home. This girl stopped to give me a ride so I jumped in and asked where are you going she said san francisco. great! ,we took off and she put on the radio thats when I heard lights. It made me kind of home sick. She was super nice and it was a great ride. Wyoming to walnut creek ca. one ride yeah!
|
|
climbski2
Mountain climber
Anchorage AK, Reno NV
|
|
|
Oct 25, 2013 - 11:37pm PT
|
SO far San Francisco is in a tie with Vancouver for best city I have visited. I like Seattle and San Diego also but they are not as good as those two.
|
|
climbski2
Mountain climber
Anchorage AK, Reno NV
|
|
|
Oct 26, 2013 - 12:26am PT
|
Always go there when I visit.. Beautiful spot... uhn it's sorta south of Baker though ..
|
|
paul roehl
Boulder climber
california
|
|
|
Oct 26, 2013 - 02:18am PT
|
I love the city, went to grammar school at Starr King Elementary near Potrero Hill and then moved to San Bruno. San Francisco is a great city, the city of St. Francis of William Keith and Arthur Matthews and so many great artists and poets and musicians and writers and comedians. The only city that compares to Paris in its lightness and beauty. I love the city.
|
|
Patrick Sawyer
climber
Originally California now Ireland
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Oct 26, 2013 - 03:30am PT
|
g-tech, yeah Indian Rock (okay Berkeley not Oakland), I met some great climbers there.
My mother worked in dentistry for years in Oakland (Naismith Dental Group, next to Kaiser).
I spent first and second grade at Saint Francis de Sales school (the cathedral was demolished after it suffered extensive damage in the Loma Prieta earthquake). It was across the street from the main Greyhound station in Oakland.
Since St Mary's Elementary in Walnut Creek did not have any spaces open after we moved from Lafayette to Saranap, Mac, Mary and I commuted by Greyhound for two years, the old El Curtola (Highway 24) on-ramp (now gone) was a Greyhound stop. Mac would always get to Oakland and then skip school. I was kicked out of First Communion for speaking in the cathedral, the nuns were harsh (aren't they always).
There were the three musketeers Jesse (Hispanic American), Tony (Anthony, African-American) and Patrick (Euro-American), and we kicked up a fuss for the nuns. I suppose I should not really mention ethnic backgrounds but it does illustrate the diversity.
Back in those days a kid could travel safely on a bus by himself with just primarily businessmen as passengers who would look after you. I wouldn't do that nowadays. But then we also left our front door open (albeit with a screen door), such innocent times.
There was one burglar in the area (Saranap) and he ended up in San Quentin. One of his sons was the bassist in a band I played in (I was a lousy rhythm guitar).
Oakland is a good city. Jerry Brown and other mayors (Ron Dellums, Jean Quan) helped to turn the city around.
Despite denials by the state authorities in places like Nevada and Idaho, it has been proven that they would give their homeless a stipend and one-way ticket to SF. Check it out. It's true.
Dump everything on SF.
Playing for San Francisco Celtic, San Francisco Hungarians (I have no Hungarian in me, but I went out with a gal of Hungarian ancestry), AC Mexico, and San Francisco Concordia (okay, I do have some German blood in me), head chef and kitchen manager at Sea of Cortez (Pier 39), playing football at the old Balboa Park and on the soccer fields of Golden Gate Park, freezing my butt of surfing and swimming off the Great Highway.
Escorting (sort of) Paul Butterfield and his blues band who were staying at (I think) The Seal Rock Hotel. He was going to do a gig at Diablo Valley College and one of my brother's (and mine) best mates Craig Smith had organized the gig, and as a 14-year-old walking in the parking lot with a Woodstock veteran like Paul and chatting with him, unforgettable.
(Just a side note of another unforgettable experience, spending a late evening at the Jazz Basement in Soho, London - I was working on Jazz Express magazine at the time - with Benny Carter on his 83rd birthday, being regaled by his tales of being an African-American playing jazz in the 1930s/40s/50s/60s/70 and the discrimination he came up against. And as well his stories of playing alongside jazz great. Unforgettable.)
But back to SF. Is there any city in this world that does not see the problems that SF has... name one and I will send you a dollar.
|
|
Patrick Sawyer
climber
Originally California now Ireland
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Oct 26, 2013 - 04:29am PT
|
Tioga, my late father was from Olympia/Tumwater, where his father was a well-respected judge. I have loads of relatives in the Puget Sound area.
You claim that SF is the armpit of the West Coast, actually I always heard that Tacoma is the armpit of the Pacific Northwest.
|
|
Dr.Sprock
Boulder climber
I'm James Brown, Bi-atch!
|
|
|
Oct 26, 2013 - 07:10am PT
|
OlyWa is a cool place, not too many people and not much traffic, beautiful views of Budd Inlet, the Capitol building,Percival Landing has been spruced up, a couple of yacht harbors, big ships still pulling into the port which loses 1.5 million a year, people stop in their cars if you even look like you want to cross the street, everybody is friendly because they are trying to help each other through the depression of the pacific northwest, the homeless are looked after on cold nights, never seen a traffic wreck or somebody getting a ticket, crime is low which means very few cops, food is of higher quality due to healthier cattle and plenty of clean water for farms, there are tons of musicians in the streets and open mics everywhere, plenty of granola lesbians, karaoke at the Clipper, Hannahs, and the Urban Onion hosted by Tina Turntable, a cross dressing Indian from montana, there is Fishtail Brewery and pub, Boston Harbor for sea kayaking, western chehalis bike path is 40 miles of beautiful riding, there is salmon at the capitol lake bridge every fall, mt ranier, and free music at the farmers market, chicken and waffles at solomons reef, there is the artesian well where people fill up jugs 24/7 with rusty tasting water, don rich, buck owens guitar player for may years, grew up in tumwater, Olympia Brewing Co is closed but you can still break into the old factory for a self guided tour,
there is a small climbing gym for 12 bucks a visit,
however, there was a stabbing at McCoys Tavern and another one outside Jakes, which means there were 2 murders this year,instead of the average which is about 1, if a big earthquake hits here, most of downtown will collapse, but not too many big ones here, weather is not as bad as you would think, kind of like SF, everybody is white so the radio stations have no soul, they think All Blues by Miles is still hip,
Tacoma is the closest place for hookers and gangs, next stop is Seattle which is one of the snobbiest cities in the us due to microsoft and boeing jacking up the avg incomes, Tacoma Aroma is that nasty smell from the logging mills when the wind is right, traffic sucks as soon as you get north of Olympia, especially when bridges collapse on I-5,
|
|
Dr.Sprock
Boulder climber
I'm James Brown, Bi-atch!
|
|
|
Oct 26, 2013 - 08:20am PT
|
country living is cool if your hooked up,
lots of farm animals getting molested up here,
|
|
Risk
Mountain climber
Olympia, WA
|
|
|
Oct 26, 2013 - 03:54pm PT
|
I’ve lived in Seattle and Olympia each about 5 years. Olympia is super safe and all of what the Dr. says is true. I’ve left my car and house unlocked for years and nothing has ever been stolen. Downtown has its creeps and “tattoo district,” but that’s because of accessible social services concentrated there. Seattle is a big city, but has a small town feeling outside of the scummy, bum riddled downtown. Bellevue and the eastside of lake Washington are pretty snobby. Seattle’s heyday has been over several years now, and the wave of NW culture seems to have drifted to Portland.
Olympia is a perfect small city to raise a family, with good schools, good public trans, nearby hiking, college town feeling, cheap housing prices, walk able neighborhoods stable economy. There are “better” places, but I’m not complaining about being stuck here where I can drive 10 minutes to a native forest with a creek or salt water beach, and buy locally grown fruits, vegetables, meat, fish and dairy.
San Francisco (Go 49ers!) is my hometown big city, but I’ve never lived there. It’s hard to beat for culture and excitement.
|
|
hellroaring
Trad climber
San Francisco
|
|
|
Oct 26, 2013 - 04:02pm PT
|
Hey Tioga...would you really cheer on a devastating earthquake? There are a few of us here that are neither hipsters or self entitled rich f*#ks. Big man on the intrnet throwing out desire for pain and suffering on others, others that your hugely open mind casts as either this way or that. I find it hard to believe you would really wish that. Of course if it does I hope you are a hard worker cuz a lot of your tax dollars are gonna be spent helping rebuild this place some us call home.
|
|
Dr.Sprock
Boulder climber
I'm James Brown, Bi-atch!
|
|
|
Oct 26, 2013 - 04:59pm PT
|
snobbiest cities article>
No. 5 (tie) Seattle
In this city of coffee connoisseurs and tech-savvy early adopters, it can be easy to feel hopelessly out of step. To relive the city’s pre-Internet tech scene, check out the Museum of Flight (home of the original Air Force One) or Everett’s Flying Heritage Collection, launched by Microsoft alum Paul Allen. And you don’t have to be schooled in contemporary art to appreciate the city’s Olympic Sculpture Park and its view of Puget Sound.
and this>
As a newcomer to Seattle (2 years) and having lived many places in the world, I would say that I find the old time residents here lovely, friendly, but becoming a little guarded -- and I don't blame them. The general techie and other types that arrive for the paycheck bring no social skills, a ridiculously misguided sense of entitlement, and are hugely unfriendly. Just watch the faces of drivers passing, or look someone in the eye as you pass them on the sidwalk, they continuously wear an expression that conveys, instead of "hello", says more like "I think I need to fart". Yes, there is some snobbery, but it's mostly just like the rest of the world, people trying to make themselves feel better about their own condition by putting others down. They will get what's really coming to them when they someday realize that all that "upscale" living really meant "overpaying", and they have nothing to show later in life.
but at least there are jobs in the Seattle area, Oly has no jobs unless you get lucky with the state capitol,
|
|
Patrick Sawyer
climber
Originally California now Ireland
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Oct 26, 2013 - 11:07pm PT
|
Kenny, long time no talk, how's Danville nowadays? How's Mt Diablo? When was the last time we climbed together? It seems like after the American Revolution. ;-)
I have to laugh at the ride bit. If a gal gives you a ride here in Ireland it means...
I learned that many years ago. I helped organize a football match for a charity between the Department of Arts, Culture and Gaeltacht, where I was working as an intern on my masters, and the Department of Justice and Equality.
The football pitch we found to use was at Herbert Park. I was working in the minister's constituency office (Michael D Higgins, now president of Ireland).
The executive officer (EO) in the office was Aidan. His wife Brid was the PA to the Department's General Secretary.
So, when I was asked how I was going to get to the match at Herbert Park, I said that "Brid is going to give me a ride".
Aidan and the others looked at me, then they all laughed. "It's called a lift over here Patrick."
BTW, we beat the Dept of Justice, only because the rule was that goals by the female players counted as double. It was a coed match.
|
|
SalNichols
Big Wall climber
Richmond, CA
|
|
|
Oct 27, 2013 - 05:39am PT
|
No offense, but Ron Dellums and Jean Quan are two of the most worthless elected officials in a city with a history of worthless officials.
|
|
Patrick Sawyer
climber
Originally California now Ireland
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Oct 27, 2013 - 09:01am PT
|
Sal, since I have been living outside the US for some years, I only assumed Dellums and Quan were good mayors.
Also, to other posters on this thread, the last time I was in SF was December 2008, so again, based on assumptions, I only have fond memories of the city by the Bay.
But can it really be any worse than most large cities?
|
|
justthemaid
climber
Jim Henson's Basement
|
|
|
Oct 27, 2013 - 09:28am PT
|
I've worked in the Bay Area seasonally for over 20 years. I'm in Cragman's camp... I like to visit SF for the reasons listed, but I would never live there. The weather is just too cold and damp and getting to climbing areas is a pain in the rear.
|
|
Patrick Sawyer
climber
Originally California now Ireland
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Oct 27, 2013 - 10:00am PT
|
Justthemaid, Mark Twain agreed with you, yet having worked and played football/soccer in the city, there are enough sunny days, but climbing? Yeah, I agree.
|
|
|
SuperTopo on the Web
|
Let us know!