I write as the Coastal Starlight, an Amtrak
train, caresses the California coast on my way to Los Angeles, the only person
in my sleeper cabin, sipping complimentary champagne. Now before your
imagination takes flight, to spare my credit card yet another assault, I opted
to pay for my ticket with cash 30min before boarding, with the result that I’m
sitting on the side of the train without the views, hence forcing me to make
good use of my time in alternative ways – updating my blog.... here begins my
diatribe on the fair city San Francisco.
I arrived at morning rush hour from a
restless night’s flight to find a balmy city, the sun already high in the sky.
Immediately, the vagaries of Downtown meet you as you step out the BART
(underground train) station. It’s not that I had no foreknowledge, it’s that I
didn’t expect the amount of nattering, put-on familiarity of strangers only
because I was walking the streets with a suitcase, and then there’s the
obviously mentally ill, homeless, and inebriated – not characterisations of the
same people. Yes, San Francisco is the postcard photos, but it’s also many
other things.
And that’s the sentiment I learned most
about in my 7 days in the city. It’s a place of contradictions. Beautiful
weather lasts 2 or three days, then the fog bellows in from the Pacific, and
for the next 3 days a pall covers the city like the Table Cloth falls off the
side of Table Mountain. But with the fog comes the cold wind chill, forcing you
to ditch the board shorts and t-shirt that was uniform in Hawaii for a slacks
and overcoat, encouraging thoughts more of London than of California. But this
is the true San Francisco, so know this when visiting “the city”.
Over the last century almost 100 movies were
shot in this city, popularising it’s vistas throughout the world, and with good
cause. Using the MUNI (public transport) Weekly, the travel pass used by the
locals, I ventured around the city with unlimited glee, with only a $1
surcharge on the cable cars. But if you visit SFO, can you really not ride a
cable car or two? The trolleys alone bring back images of yesteryear, as do so
many of the Victorian houses, and quaint diners which function just like
they’re shot in movies – down to the bucksome waitress swishing a pot of coffee!
Background music in all shops and establishments is positively retro – maybe a
dedicated radio station – but tastefully so, spinning the likes of Foreigner,
Billy Joel, Gladys Night, Stevie Wonder, and early Elton John. I enjoyed the
playlist so much, meal times even got me to reconsider my stance on 80s music
:D
SFO is a very cosmopolitan city, more than
any other I’ve encountered. P-flags adorn more buildings than the Stars And
Stripes, nationalities and languages from all over the world can be seen and
heard, but locals are largely Latino and African Americans, with a sprinkling
of Asian and White faces. Couples are both cross race and also for each
persuasion, this in a city where a bar is named The Makeout Room with by-line “PDA encouraged”. Of course, the
Castro District is best described as gay headquarters, but only in the next
neighbourhood is the birthplace of Hippies and LSD, Haight and Ashbury (an
intersection). There’s the well-off Seaview with vistas of Golden Gate Bridge
and the Pacific, and the more eclectic Mission District where I found my
lodging, each coexisting so easily side-by-side. I’ve visited many cities, and
what struck me about San Francisco is that I didn’t see one place where I wouldn’t
reside. Now some neighbourhoods ask from some adjustment, but none are totally
reprehensible... it’s all a matter of taste... and wealth. But if you compare
the neighbourhoods, you’ll find either modern architecture, or the
characteristic Victorian look. But more than that, public transport is well
developed and utilised throughout, leaving no “dead spots”, and almost all
areas have views hills or valleys, it being San Francisco.
I can’t say I left my heart in San
Francisco, but I can admit to it making a worthy impression on me, and even the
Americans I met along my journey.
