I'm really disappointed so far with San Francisco....

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

Hey ppl. I'm in San Fran. right now, and no disrespect to anyone from here, but there are parts of this city that should just be destroyed. The Tenderloin is disgusting, truly disgusting. Market street is disgusting. Golden Gate Park is boring and disgusting. And Haight Ashbury is not disgusting, but the people there certainly are.

PPL, i'm sorry for ragging on the city. I told some people how I felt and they said that i was just in the wrong areas. So tomorrow, i'llbe going to Russian Hill, the Marina, and the Castro. Hopefully i will have nicer things to say tomorrow about the great city of Fan Srancisco.

[dbgirl]

Ragnar,

Some people consider it rude to go to someone else's hometown and complain about how "disgusting" it is. I think you're being rather judgmental.

San Francisco is a big city with its good areas and bad areas.

[Nemesis]

Hey ppl. I'm in San Fran. right now, and no disrespect to anyone from here, but there are parts of this city that should just be destroyed. The Tenderloin is disgusting, truly disgusting. Market street is disgusting. Golden Gate Park is boring and disgusting. And Haight Ashbury is not disgusting, but the people there certainly are.

PPL, i'm sorry for ragging on the city. I told some people how I felt and they said that i was just in the wrong areas. So tomorrow, i'llbe going to Russian Hill, the Marina, and the Castro. Hopefully i will have nicer things to say tomorrow about the great city of Fan Srancisco.

And you're from New York!? Dude, they line the streets with garbage at night...

[ScurvyWench]

Ragnar,

Some people consider it rude to go to someone else's hometown and complain about how "disgusting" it is. I think you're being rather judgmental.

San Francisco is a big city with its good areas and bad areas.

Sorry, dbgirl. I don't think SF is that great either. I wouldn't say disgusting, but certainly not what you'd expect with how people rave about it. I would take quaint little Santa Clara over metropolitan San Francisco any day.

RD, you should go out to Alcatraz, check out Fisherman's Warf, the Curran Theatre, the Marina, and the Castro. Should give you a good variety and more of what you'd expect. Have you been to Ghiradeli square yet? Greatest peanut butter cups ever. At the very least, stop in and enjoy the chocolate.

[dbgirl]

I love San Francisco -- much better than Silicon Valley, IMO.

I feel like Carrie on Sex in the City. There's this episode where Carrie meets a sailor and he complains about how filthy and noisy NYC is. I truly can't grasp how anyone doesn't love San Francisco. And I guess I just take offense at people talking about "my" city that way.

[Nemesis]

I have very fond memories of San Francisco...*sigh*

Love you baby!  

[vivaxixon]

Rgr,

Sorry you're disappointed - but why'd you choose to go to the Tenderloin?

Listen to Scurvy Wench and go do all the touristy things if you haven't been here before. See Chinatown, Alcatraz, Coit Tower, whatever suits your fancy. Like dbgirl and Annabel Lee, I love SF. I really like Santa Clara and the south bay as well - but for wildly different reasons. SF for culture, restaurants, people, museums, weather in the fall, and the neighborhoods. South bay for the weather yearround and because I can ride my bike on the gazillions of trails down there. I don't know you and don't know what you're looking for, but if you can't find anything redeeming about SF, I'm guessing that you won't find anything that meets your expectations in NorCal. I went to undergrad on the East Coast and once I stopped comparing things to California, I found a great, albeit very different, place to live.

So be a little charitable to my lovely city. I'm not enamoured with NYC but between the museums and nightlife, I can get over the mountains of rubbish on the streets and the occasionally brusque locals.

[najniran]

I think you've got to take the entire Bay Area into consideration when you're talking about San Francisco. There are a ton of things to do in the Bay Area as a whole. Dont just look at the city. The city has turned into a primarily work-business district. People live there, etc...but if you're looking to do things, usually you have to leave the city.

Within the city:
Metreon
Numerous conferences and shows at Moscone Center
Giants games at SBC Park (formerly Pac Bell)
Museum of Natural Sciences in Golden Gate Park
49ers games at Candlestick in about a month
Numerous comedy clubs and dance clubs (IMO the best is Ruby Skkye)
Brown Bear Brewery

Outside the city, all accessible via BART. Which is IMO the most awesome public transportation system outside of Europe.
Berkeley:
Pyramid Brewery
Numerous food places
UC Berkeley (which actually has a lot of cool publicly accessible *&^%) ~ including their law library. at least this summer it was.

San Jose/ Dublin / Pleasanton:
IMAX Theatres (theres one at Metreon also)

anyways...i'm bored of listing *&^%. Theres tons of things to do in SF, and yes, like most big cities, SF is pretty dirty. Dont knock the city until you've been there a little longer. It'll grow on you. I promise.

[HippieLawChick]

It is hard to "love" a place if you just happen to stumble upon less desireable areas.  There was a poster criticizing my hometown a little while ago, when it turns out, he could have just used a guide to show him the great things about my city.

Once you start school, ask one of your new friends who is from nearby to show you around.  that's the best way to discover the hidden gems the city has to offer.

[maritod2003]

It's true. A big part of San Francisco is truly disgusting. This from someone who's been living here for many years.
Market and Tenderloin are sleazy and infested with crime. Downtown is soulless. The Bayview is made up of housing projects where innocent passers-by regularly die, hit by stray bullets.
The Excelsior and the neighborhoods bordering on Daly City are dirty and noisy.

On the bright side, the Marina and Pacific Heights are beautiful. The Castro is colorful and spirited. Some outlying areas such as St. Francis are also very liveable and beatiful. Overall though, I would gladly move some place else and look forward to doing so when I start law school in 2006.

Note that Hastings may be in the Tenderloin but is a block away from Civic Center, which boasts the new and beautiful Asian Art Museum and the venerable City Hall. Not too bad a location. No aspirations to go to this law school for me, though...