San Francisco Photothread | Page 2

Hipster Duck · May 17, 2007

I went to SF once and I desperately wanted to be back in Toronto sometimes. All of San Francisco's problems are Toronto's problems on steroids: an enormous homeless population, an overloaded transit system that is not fit for a city of its density and urbanity, housing prices that have gone through the roof, a fractured suburban transit network that is crying for region-wide integration, subway expansion into arid cow pastures like Dublin/Pleasanton.

It is a beautiful town, though.

ShonTron · May 17, 2007

I found the Muni system to be OK - as I said, I relied on the #30 trolley bus. Though there seems to be a big gap in not serving the north and northwest parts of the city. I hear routes like those on California St and Geary Blvd to be really bad - the places where the legacy streetcar system did not survive.

BART is a weird, extremely political beast all together - though we have the stupidity here that is GO Transit.

Long Island Mike · May 17, 2007

ST: I would like to add two items I failed to add on my first overview: The Amtrak Bus sign is for their Thruway Bus connections to Emeryville or Oakland/Jack London Square to access Amtrak trains there. A bus station to connect also is located at the foot of Market Street at the Ferry Building. Just North and East of SF City Hall-a beautiful building,by the way is the infamous Tenderloin District. It is a seedy place that you have to be careful in-especially at night. In closing I found SF to be the most PC-as in Politically Correct city in the USA. LI MIKE

JasonParis · Nov 29, 2007

I'm just back from 5 days in Frisco myself, so I thought I'd resurrect Sean's thread with some fresh thoughts. And yes, my gazillion pictures will be coming soon!

First off...

Stockton Tunnel.

What is the point in this tunnel (except to split Stockton Street in two)? I couldn't really figure out why it was needed, although it is cool in an "infrastructure" sort of way.

Jayomatic said:
Wow. Great shots. Reminds me of the time i was there last year around the same time. I made the mistake of deciding I would walk down market street toward Union Square from around 14th Avenue. I didn't know that the area between 5th and 7th Avenues were so sketchy. Quite scary but the rest of the city is beautiful. Did you drive up to the tops of the twin peaks? Amazing views from up there, not to mention some beautiful neighbourhoods.

I walked all the way from Union Square to The Castro on my first night in the city and was quite taken by how quickly it turned dodgy (especially around the Civic Center area). The drug pushers really "push" there too I'd add. I took Muni and/or the historic F-streetcar line on future trips to The Castro (and there were many).

AndreaPalladio said:
There's another FLW building, right in the city, on that private street with the gate in the photo upthread. It has a great arched entrance, and a circular ramp that anticipates his later design for the Guggenheim Museum in New York.

It's the Xanadu Gallery at 140 Maiden Lane. I looked through the window the other day, only to realize on my plane-ride home (while reading some brochures) that I was looking into a FLW.

Venti de Milo said:
Nice pix!
What do you think of Fisherman's Wharf? I find it's over-rated. Our waterfront is nicer, but of course, it's not as well visited.
Castro's much, much better than Church for sure! Lots more shops and restaurants.

Fisherman's Wharf is real tacky. Sort of a cross between wanna-be Las Vegas and overblown Wasaga Beach. I hated it.

I think Toronto's Village and SF's Casto are highly comparable. They are both "communities" in every sense of the word and (if you want) one can live and work there completely oblivious to the rest of the city. I wouldn't say The Castro has any more shops or restaurants than our Village, but it would depend on how you go-about defining where our Village's boundaries end, etc. Also, there's arguably slightly better retail in The Castro (including one of SF's two Diesel stores), but I do like the way C&W is right downtown and not a 20 minute streetcar ride away.

Hipster Duck said:
I went to SF once and I desperately wanted to be back in Toronto sometimes. All of San Francisco's problems are Toronto's problems on steroids: an enormous homeless population, an overloaded transit system that is not fit for a city of its density and urbanity, housing prices that have gone through the roof, a fractured suburban transit network that is crying for region-wide integration, subway expansion into arid cow pastures like Dublin/Pleasanton. It is a beautiful town, though.

True, although I think their transit-planning on Market Street is something we could use on King and/or Queen Streets with MUNI trams running in a dedicated tunnel underneath the street and historic streetcars plying the rails above. Obviously, we have no need for the BART level in T.O., but I think we could still learn something from that street.

Long Island Mike said:
ST: I would like to add two items I failed to add on my first overview: The Amtrak Bus sign is for their Thruway Bus connections to Emeryville or Oakland/Jack London Square to access Amtrak trains there. A bus station to connect also is located at the foot of Market Street at the Ferry Building. Just North and East of SF City Hall-a beautiful building,by the way is the infamous Tenderloin District. It is a seedy place that you have to be careful in-especially at night. In closing I found SF to be the most PC-as in Politically Correct city in the USA. LI MIKE

I think some of you may get a kick out of this blog entry...

Why I Hate San Francisco

Zephyr · Nov 29, 2007

Thank you - this is a retread for you, unknown to me.

I've lived in and around San Francisco for several years back in the 1960s, and often find my way back when I am on the coast (usually based further south).

I saw these photos for the first time this evening, and it is as if nothing has changed, although I know it has. Obviously it is an incredible city with many characters populating its varied neighbourhoods.

Prior to going here I had a friend drop out of undergraduate school where I attended, stating he was headed to SF. Appeared that his life was becoming a mess, then I found him later, flourishing by opening a business for building custom bookcases. His father used to build small boats, and taught him well. Back in those days there was much of the bizarre in the city, and that is still true but not as much as then.

That place is a museum of transportation, and those vistas are unmatched by any other that I have found in California. But there is much of the run down and the dank as well, and the occasional throwback to the barbary coast, and the 'barker' on the street, that are also part of that city.

Coit Tower, Golden Gate Bridge, North Beach, The Mission, Chinatown on Grant, Chinatown in the Richmond District, the little known Japanese part of town near Post, the Presidio, Union Square, the longer Cable Car on California that tourist leave for natives, the constantly running cable that the cable cars grab to move forward, the Ferry Building, the San Francisco styled Victorians, the lost luster that once belonged to the Marina District, all come flooding back.

Looking forward to seeing your photo version.

Ronald · Nov 29, 2007

Darkstar, loved the blog. I'm looking foreward to your pics!

allabootmatt · Dec 2, 2007

I just looked back through the photos on this resurrected and excellent thread...reminded of how much I like San Francisco, which despite some problems must be one of the more civilized places on the planet. Also struck, as I have been whenever I've visited, by how unbelievably similar it is to Toronto in 'vibe' and, minus the mountains and palm trees, physical appearance. Swap the wood for brick and Haight could be almost any east-west street in central Toronto, and Castro is a dead ringer for Queen East, not (our) Church, which I find has more of a 'downtown' feel. Some of the shots with streetcar and trolley wires criss-crossing intersections put me in the mind of home as well. Toronto and San Francisco are certainly similar cities in a lot of ways, along with similar problems as Hipster Duck points out.