Well, first off, not the eau de trash that is wafting in my window from the sewers… on a hot day not the ideal place to live.

As I flew to Baltimore then drove back, I had a lot of time to think about the things I like about this fair city.

– Lots of variety of cuisine, cheap, and in relatively good quality.
– People seem to generally care about ingredients, steep and cheap prices alike, and don’t care about volume.
– Freshness is really important. (caveat: seattle takes freshness a little more seriously)
– The weather is temperate. I really appreciate this. I’m glad I can wear my hoodies all year long. I like driving to weather, I’m glad I don’t know how to drive in snow. I don’t think living in a temperate climate means I’m weaker.
– People generally frown on judmental opinions combined with lack of open-mindedness. I appreciate that. Get to know someone before hating them, essentially.
– While you could argue that economically we’re classist in SF, I tend to think Westerners try really hard not to mention where they went to school, if their Daddy is a Vanderbilt, etc. It’s a general “remake yourself,” rags-to-riches attitude, or heck, just rags. The Lebowski-esque flip-flop wearing millionaire who doesn’t own a yacht.
– Public parks and public beaches, lack of private-everything. A general openness.
– How there’s not a lot of Jesus signs and memorabilia everywhere.
– How we don’t have a lot of freakish LDS sects running around, just freaks in general, of all stripes.
– Good coffee is everywhere.
– I run into friends in cafes and we sit and talk for awhile, then I run into another friend in a cafe, and there are lots of interesting things going on all the time.
– At least in North Beach, there’s a “less is more” attitude that perhaps is Chinatown’s influence or maybe Bohemian, I’m not sure (this is not in relationsip to views, though.)
– We’re all wannabe artists.
– Second to last: people don’t stare strangely at my iPhone
– And lastly: there is a lot of free wi-fi around.

Ta-da! Add large unfounded generalizations in the comments if you dare.

Picture is of my two nephews who made the most out of the visit to the non-existent sea lions on pier 39 by acting like sea lions. What troopers! That’s good tourist behavior: don’t bitch, make art!