Virtual Greg

After months of planning I’ve finally arrived in San Francisco. The trip over was fine except for a long delay in Sydney: thankfully Qantas phoned me early enough that I could spend it at home instead of at the airport. On the same flight were a Melbourne band (who I won’t name in case they’re not meant to be making money here) with their tour manager, a nice guy who mixed our HGP Tote shows in February. Got a great view of the bay area coming in, including a top down of Stanford Uni.

I went to my hotel by BART and still had a couple of hours daylight for a cable car journey. My hotel was on 4th near Market, right in the city shopping zone, which was not peaceful, but allowed easy access to public transport, with which SF is well-equipped, so I bought a three day pass and did my weekend that way. The cable cars go up and down a number of steep hills and terminate on the north side of SF; slow and creaky but a good way to look around. SF is a great looking, compact town, with colourful terraces and great views from surprising hills. I took a few snaps for Flickr.

First thing Monday I caught the F Market street-car (tram) from the hotel to the ferry terminal and round the bay to north SF. Caught another cable-car back over Russian Hill and down to the hotel. Found good coffee, a great place hidden away in an alley near the hotel, whose staff were playing Architecture in Helsinki on the stereo while I was there, like getting I Still Call Australia Home and a kangaroo. I’d never have found this place without the advice of my hotel receptionist, a hipster.

I walked to the other end of my street (4th) to find the Caltrain station for my trip to Palo Alto the following day, found an organic food store on the way and stocked up, and experienced that amazing “neighbourhoods” thing that US cities do so strikingly. The further 4th street gets south of Market, the dingier it looks, until wham, you’re in Mission Bay, a big technology zone. Coders all over the streets, cafes, and a light-rail that runs south to Potrero Hills (where many of them live) or north-east past the baseball stadium back to the ferry terminal on Market. I explored both these directions.

I wanted to see the fabled Haight-Ashbury, so I got a bus from Market all the way along Haight st. Maybe it was too early in the morning, but this was unimpressive, just a few shops and no-one around. I disembarked at the east end of the Golden Gate Park, a massive wild zone that runs from the end of Haight all the way west to the ocean. I was expecting something manicured like the NYC Central Park, but it was more like the local “bush” near where I grew up in Carina: overgrown and messy. I walked north a km and caught a bus west to the beach. Again, a surprise. This is a fabulous beach, reminiscent of Manly or St Kilda, yet there were no shops or eateries, and on this hot day barely a half dozen people around. I asked a guy on the return bus about it, and he said the sunny weather is a modern drought thing – in the past it was too cold to hang out and they pulled down a local amusement park. He reckoned the surrounding suburbs were upscale, but if they are they hide it well. I don’t understand why this isn’t as happening a place as similar beach suburbs in Australia.

The Castro is famous as the gay centre of San Francisco, perhaps the world, so I went and rubber-necked there at the end of the Market st tram. Beautiful houses in this area. Last thing at night I took the third of the three cable-cars back up Nob Hill to get some photos. This time I got out and walked around up there. The architecture is phenomenal – the grandest old hotels you’ll ever see that must have great views.

A surprise: the only thing everyone recognizes in San Francisco – the Golden Gate Bridge – doesn’t seem to be an integral part of SF life, unless you’re commuting in from Marin County, or maybe it’s just not integral to public transport. The completely un-famous Bay Bridge looks as impressive architecturally (though it’s grey instead of orange) and seems more important.

The weather is variable like Melbourne’s: heat wave during the day but cool when the sun goes down.