LOL @ San Francisco

[Grandpa's Spells]

While I think relaxing drug laws are in general a good thing, my first 20 minutes after getting off the Bart from the airport were hilarious. Two super stoned guys in a burger joint texting with their faces inches from the screen. Finally one looks at the other and says "dude! You came out of nowhere!" They'd been standing next to each other for several minutes each waiting for the other to arrive. This is before noon on a Friday.

Weed smoke everywhere on Market street for and blocks in every direction. It seems like it's a little out of hand.

[baffled]

I have yet to see anything like that. Maybe a few of thhr dudes who work there can comment.

[The Ginger Beard Man]

Weed smoke everywhere on Market street for and blocks in every direction. It seems like it's a little out of hand.

This is my only issue with legalization/decriminalization. I don't want to smell it or walk through a cloud.
I don't know what's worse in my neighborhood, the white boy hipsters from the Midwest or the Jamaicans.

[Bud Charniga's grape ape]

I work a few blocks from the TL. Pretty frequently see people nodding out on the sidewalks. Have seen people cooking/shooting up right outside Civic Center Bart. I've also seen and smelled many folks smoking up.

You know what I've seen much, much more than any of that? Drunken techbros stumbling around outside the bars, picking fights, pissing in the gutter, and generally being unpleasant. I'd rather deal with the junkies and the stoners; at least they usually mind their own business.

[Turdacious]

It's all because the Bushman died last year.

[lasalle]

I work downtown. You're either exaggerating or happened to time it just right. The only place you'll see people lighting up in public is at Civic Center BART (the home of the homeless), or at the 2 bike messenger hangouts around lower Market. It's not exactly Cheech & Chong around here.

[DrDonkeyLove]

I stayed at the Hotel Whitcomb on Market near the Civic Center last May. The whole area was crawling with homeless. Don't recally smelling any weed but didn't feel great around there after dark. Saw a lot of cool little well behaved dogs with many of the homeless. The dogs seemed well cared for and the homeless appeared to clean up after them too.

[buckethead]

I saw a man smoking in Kansas once

[Grandpa's Spells]

I work downtown. You're either exaggerating or happened to time it just right. The only place you'll see people lighting up in public is at Civic Center BART (the home of the homeless), or at the 2 bike messenger hangouts around lower Market. It's not exactly Cheech & Chong around here.

Definitely not exaggerating. This is by the Powell BART station. Perhaps this was isolated, I was here last September and didn't see it, but today was nuts, and was the subject of a lot of people's conversations who were also visiting.

[Hanglow Joe]

I was out there a couple weeks ago. I smelled it twice. I walked everywhere.

[WildGorillaMan]

I stayed at the Hotel Whitcomb on Market near the Civic Center last May. The whole area was crawling with homeless. Don't recally smelling any weed but didn't feel great around there after dark. Saw a lot of cool little well behaved dogs with many of the homeless. The dogs seemed well cared for and the homeless appeared to clean up after them too.

San Francisco homeless all seem oddly spotless and well groomed, at least compared to Vancouver homeless who are much grubbier for some reason.

[Freki]

I stayed at the Hotel Whitcomb on Market near the Civic Center last May. The whole area was crawling with homeless. Don't recally smelling any weed but didn't feel great around there after dark. Saw a lot of cool little well behaved dogs with many of the homeless. The dogs seemed well cared for and the homeless appeared to clean up after them too.

San Francisco homeless all seem oddly spotless and well groomed, at least compared to Vancouver homeless who are much grubbier for some reason.

Maybe you saw hipster lumbersexuals and not true homeless?

[WildGorillaMan]

I stayed at the Hotel Whitcomb on Market near the Civic Center last May. The whole area was crawling with homeless. Don't recally smelling any weed but didn't feel great around there after dark. Saw a lot of cool little well behaved dogs with many of the homeless. The dogs seemed well cared for and the homeless appeared to clean up after them too.

San Francisco homeless all seem oddly spotless and well groomed, at least compared to Vancouver homeless who are much grubbier for some reason.

Maybe you saw hipster lumbersexuals and not true homeless?

I guess that I can't rule that out.

[Grandpa's Spells]

Didn't realize we had locals here. What's the draw? I liked it but wasn't blown away.

[Turdacious]

The west coast is different-- there are real hipsters and real hippies. Not just the Evanston Imitations. Which BART station you got off at makes a big difference.

[lasalle]

Didn't realize we had locals here. What's the draw? I liked it but wasn't blown away.

Tourists tend to go straight to the crap (like Fisherman's wharf and crappy restaurants) and miss the gems. Where did you stay?

[Grandpa's Spells]

Didn't realize we had locals here. What's the draw? I liked it but wasn't blown away.

Tourists tend to go straight to the crap (like Fisherman's wharf and crappy restaurants) and miss the gems. Where did you stay?

South of Market, but I already get how somebody could see certain parts of Chicago and come away not getting it. So I'm more curious what the draw is for people who are there and like it. You've got sea kayaking, legal poker, proximity to some truly great parts of the country, but that's not necessarily what the locals like about it.

[lasalle]

Didn't realize we had locals here. What's the draw? I liked it but wasn't blown away.

Tourists tend to go straight to the crap (like Fisherman's wharf and crappy restaurants) and miss the gems. Where did you stay?

South of Market, but I already get how somebody could see certain parts of Chicago and come away not getting it. So I'm more curious what the draw is for people who are there and like it. You've got sea kayaking, legal poker, proximity to some truly great parts of the country, but that's not necessarily what the locals like about it.

I can take the ferry to work. In 30-60 minutes in any direction I can be on an isolated beach, at a world renowned restaurant or in Napa or Sonoma Valley.

It's beautiful-it's not hard to find a great building, or a great view.

There's a lot to do in any season. Amazing hiking. Skiing a few hours away. Surfing. Etc.

It's an open minded city, not full of bible thumpers.

Now, I grew up here and I'm biased. I could also give you about 300 reasons that it sucks, including the homeless, the insane cost of living, the overrunning of the city by self absorbed tech geeks, the overly liberal city council, and the fact that California is determined to destroy itself. But I'll take it over most every other major city in the US.

[Kenny X]

While I think relaxing drug laws are in general a good thing, my first 20 minutes after getting off the Bart from the airport were hilarious. Two super stoned guys in a burger joint texting with their faces inches from the screen. Finally one looks at the other and says "dude! You came out of nowhere!" They'd been standing next to each other for several minutes each waiting for the other to arrive. This is before noon on a Friday.

Weed smoke everywhere on Market street for and blocks in every direction. It seems like it's pretty fucking awesome, and I'm gonna stick around and enjoy it for a while..

FTFY

[Grandpa's Spells]

I can take the ferry to work. In 30-60 minutes in any direction I can be on an isolated beach, at a world renowned restaurant or in Napa or Sonoma Valley.

It's beautiful-it's not hard to find a great building, or a great view.

There's a lot to do in any season. Amazing hiking. Skiing a few hours away. Surfing. Etc.

A lot of this is what I liked about LA when I went in my early 20's, which I did not expect.

It's an open minded city, not full of bible thumpers.

Really? Are conservatives welcome? I associate Austin with open-mindedness, though part of that is because it's liberal but in the middle of Texas.

Now, I grew up here and I'm biased. I could also give you about 300 reasons that it sucks, including the homeless, the insane cost of living, the overrunning of the city by self absorbed tech geeks, the overly liberal city council, and the fact that California is determined to destroy itself.

Yeah, I bumped up against a fair amount of that, so that was coloring my view.

[terra]

FWIW this is my total out-of-towner experience of SF...

Landed in San Francisco from Sydney, my fucked up old phone wouldn’t work, my fucked up little notebook was flat. Didn’t even have a pen on me.

I asked a local for a suggestion on a place to stay. “You’d probably like the Red Vic”, he said. Really, how would he know what I’d like? A couple of 'old ladies' at the airport BART station said to try Downtown for hostels etc...

Heading Downtown to find accommodation options only really confirmed that “The Streets of San Francisco” are indeed a good backdrop for a police/crime series. Lots of homeless and 'panhandlers', they were a bit in your face too. I travel superlight, no touristy backpack - more like a student's satchel. Just go about my business, so shouldn't have attracted any undue attention.

One thing about the SF homeless was the aggressive nature many displayed. Not aggressive to me or anyone in particular, but 'shouting at the world and staggering around' types. We don't have much 'angry/crazy homeless' like this back home.

Dunno, but back here the homeless are kind of inert people. Throw them a dollar, or give them a coffee and they'll just nod their thanks. In SF I wouldn't think of getting so close. Apart from the initial Downtown experience, SF actually felt pretty safe, and I went all over - mostly on foot or bicycle, day and night.

Maybe it's the types of pharmacology, legal or otherwise, that have passed through the homeless people there? It could also be the lack of a certain type of institution for them, a type that we have and you don't maybe? Anyhow, yeah, Downtown SF was dirty and unfriendly, not a place I wanted to be.

The mention of the RedVic, up in the Haight-Ashbury near Golden Gate Park was prophetic (the bloke at the airport was right). Staying there meant catching public transport, hiring bicycles and walking a lot, but that totally added to the experience.

I saw a lot of SF in only a few days. Really liked it and plan to return for sure. I could live here (although the water is so fucking cold to swim in). Will be interesting to see the changes post dope legalization.

[lasalle]

Yeah, I bumped up against a fair amount of that, so that was coloring my view.

Let me know next time you're coming this way and I will set you up with places you must hit vs. places to stay away from.

Number 1&2 of places to stay away from: Civic Center and Powell Street BART stations.

[lasalle]

Dunno, but back here the homeless are kind of inert people. Throw them a dollar, or give them a coffee and they'll just nod their thanks. In SF I wouldn't think of getting so close. Apart from the initial Downtown experience, SF actually felt pretty safe, and I went all over - mostly on foot or bicycle, day and night.

Maybe it's the types of pharmacology, legal or otherwise, that have passed through the homeless people there? It could also be the lack of a certain type of institution for them, a type that we have and you don't maybe? Anyhow, yeah, Downtown SF was dirty and unfriendly, not a place I wanted to be.

The SF City Council is boderline Marxist, and anything short of blowing homeless people on the streets is deemed "classist" and "exclusionary". Police are not allowed to roust them.

The rest of the Western US knows about SF's liberal attitude towards the homeless, so they literally give their homeless $20 and a one way bus ticket to SF to get them out of town. Thus we keep getting more and more of them. And there are some scary fuckers out there. I dodge 10-20 every morning on my 6 block walk from the ferry.