Dear San Francisco,
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways...
I just returned from a month away from you in three beautiful countries and two very different places in America. Most recently I was in Manhattan.
I must admit that I questioned my loyalty to you while indulging in the endless charms of the countryside of France, but my week in Manhattan has solidified my undying love for you.
Most importantly, you are a city where people come to be themselves.
When they come they are greeted by other people from other places who also came here for the same reason. Living here is like a perpetual freshman year in a college dorm, with a revolving door of unending excitement at the possibility of discovering who you are instead of who you think you should be. You are a city of authentic freedom and happiness for generations of people, gay or straight, rich or poor. The warmth of people who have been let loose to the freedom of being themselves permeates every aspect of your culture, bringing a sense of unbridled optimism to every environment from the mundane quotidien of laundry and dishes to the fast-paced ever-growing technology start-up economy.
Pretention is for the pretentious.
Manhattan feels like an oppressive cult of people who just have to fit in and prove themselves in a competition in which they don't even really know the prize. Money and power need to be shown to whatever capacity possible, at all times. Winning is for the sake of winning, and proving one's elevated status is the primary objective. You, San Francisco, keep a place for pretention, for those who need it, just like you keep a place for every other personality type with whatever quirks they choose to exhibit, from investment bankers to homeless drug addicts. Pretention, blatant consumption, showing your status don't have the same value as they do in New York. People drive Farraris in t-shirts and wear couture suits on Muni. You assign societal value to originality and authenticity. You value substance and your people in turn give it to you. 150 years after the gold rush, you remain a city of gold not because of metal, but because of mentality.
Nature's air conditioning.
As I sit in the sun on my deck, feeling the warm sun tempered by the natural air conditioning of cool, fresh ocean breeze tickling my skin, I'm thinking about how I will have the chance for this same experience all year long. July or January, it doesn't matter. 65 degrees and sunny is the all-year temperature and it is glorious.
Walking for fun, driving for speed.
I drove my cobalt blue 370z roadster convertible with the top down to an appointment in the middle of the afternoon and found street parking immediately at $2 an hour on a major street. This morning I walked to the best brunch spot in the city, Zazie, past colorful, "painted lady" victorians, well-groomed, impeccably behaved dogs, and laid-back people enjoying the air-conditioned sunshine. I waited 10 minutes to be seated by the owner for the best brunch in town. It cost less than $15 and came with a genuine smile. Beat that, New York.
The best food in America at half the price of New York.
Frances. Aziza. Benu. Zazie. Bistrot l'Ardoise. Limon Rotisserie. Hundreds of others. I can walk to the best restaurants in America in less than 30 minutes. Many are Michelin rated, yet cost under $100 for two people with alcohol. Service is natural and it is clear that the people love what they do. It's truly not about the money, it's about the love of the game. I've never encountered more nervous waiters than in New York - and for what? The food cost twice as much at half the quality. When you serve good food at reasonable prices, you don't need to be nervous. PS, San Franciscans know their wines. Your people won't put up with a $23 glass of Trader Joe's Bourgogne at a restaurant charging $50 for mediocre lamb. I love you for that.
San Francisco, you are the most European city in America, but you are entirely American. You embody the best that your people have brought to you for 150 years and you make those things better. You don't stagnate or stifle, you embrace and evolve.
Thanks for embracing my twenty-something, straight, celtic-ancestry, suburb-raised self. I'll be sure to high-five the lost, gay, hispanic, small-town raised 18-year old who finishes his long journey from somewhere worse by stepping off a Muni bus at 18th and Castro tomorrow in a scene that repeats itself over and over.
I'll tell him, "this is the place you thought it would be. You've come over the rainbow, and you can make whatever you want of it. Go forth and evolve."
Then he'll do the same. And the cycle of San Francisco will continue.
Thanks again for being authentically and substantially the best city in America.
XOXOXO
-Ashley
PS You're gorgeous too.
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways...
I just returned from a month away from you in three beautiful countries and two very different places in America. Most recently I was in Manhattan.
I must admit that I questioned my loyalty to you while indulging in the endless charms of the countryside of France, but my week in Manhattan has solidified my undying love for you.
Most importantly, you are a city where people come to be themselves.
When they come they are greeted by other people from other places who also came here for the same reason. Living here is like a perpetual freshman year in a college dorm, with a revolving door of unending excitement at the possibility of discovering who you are instead of who you think you should be. You are a city of authentic freedom and happiness for generations of people, gay or straight, rich or poor. The warmth of people who have been let loose to the freedom of being themselves permeates every aspect of your culture, bringing a sense of unbridled optimism to every environment from the mundane quotidien of laundry and dishes to the fast-paced ever-growing technology start-up economy.
Pretention is for the pretentious.
Manhattan feels like an oppressive cult of people who just have to fit in and prove themselves in a competition in which they don't even really know the prize. Money and power need to be shown to whatever capacity possible, at all times. Winning is for the sake of winning, and proving one's elevated status is the primary objective. You, San Francisco, keep a place for pretention, for those who need it, just like you keep a place for every other personality type with whatever quirks they choose to exhibit, from investment bankers to homeless drug addicts. Pretention, blatant consumption, showing your status don't have the same value as they do in New York. People drive Farraris in t-shirts and wear couture suits on Muni. You assign societal value to originality and authenticity. You value substance and your people in turn give it to you. 150 years after the gold rush, you remain a city of gold not because of metal, but because of mentality.
Nature's air conditioning.
As I sit in the sun on my deck, feeling the warm sun tempered by the natural air conditioning of cool, fresh ocean breeze tickling my skin, I'm thinking about how I will have the chance for this same experience all year long. July or January, it doesn't matter. 65 degrees and sunny is the all-year temperature and it is glorious.
Walking for fun, driving for speed.
I drove my cobalt blue 370z roadster convertible with the top down to an appointment in the middle of the afternoon and found street parking immediately at $2 an hour on a major street. This morning I walked to the best brunch spot in the city, Zazie, past colorful, "painted lady" victorians, well-groomed, impeccably behaved dogs, and laid-back people enjoying the air-conditioned sunshine. I waited 10 minutes to be seated by the owner for the best brunch in town. It cost less than $15 and came with a genuine smile. Beat that, New York.
The best food in America at half the price of New York.
Frances. Aziza. Benu. Zazie. Bistrot l'Ardoise. Limon Rotisserie. Hundreds of others. I can walk to the best restaurants in America in less than 30 minutes. Many are Michelin rated, yet cost under $100 for two people with alcohol. Service is natural and it is clear that the people love what they do. It's truly not about the money, it's about the love of the game. I've never encountered more nervous waiters than in New York - and for what? The food cost twice as much at half the quality. When you serve good food at reasonable prices, you don't need to be nervous. PS, San Franciscans know their wines. Your people won't put up with a $23 glass of Trader Joe's Bourgogne at a restaurant charging $50 for mediocre lamb. I love you for that.
San Francisco, you are the most European city in America, but you are entirely American. You embody the best that your people have brought to you for 150 years and you make those things better. You don't stagnate or stifle, you embrace and evolve.
Thanks for embracing my twenty-something, straight, celtic-ancestry, suburb-raised self. I'll be sure to high-five the lost, gay, hispanic, small-town raised 18-year old who finishes his long journey from somewhere worse by stepping off a Muni bus at 18th and Castro tomorrow in a scene that repeats itself over and over.
I'll tell him, "this is the place you thought it would be. You've come over the rainbow, and you can make whatever you want of it. Go forth and evolve."
Then he'll do the same. And the cycle of San Francisco will continue.
Thanks again for being authentically and substantially the best city in America.
XOXOXO
-Ashley
PS You're gorgeous too.
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