San Francisco, October 28-30, 2022

sopas ej · #1 Posted **Nov 3, 2022, 6:14 PM**

Road trip!

Photo by me

Incidentally, Mission San Miguel makes a nice little pit stop to use the restroom. You can get gas in the little town of San Miguel, too.

Anyway, my partner and I went up to San Francisco, which we often go to for a weekend getaway. We were last there in February. And we always use the 101. SCREW the 5. The last time we drove up to SF, we used the 1 from San Luis Obispo all the way into SF for a much more leisurely, beautiful coastal drive. But we usually use the 101.

OK, so, here's my photo dump of our eating/drinking/walking/public transportation taking weekend in San Francisco. Some of our usual haunts, and a few places we haven't been to before.

Photo by me

Photo by me

Waiting for the Number 28 bus.

Photo by me

Photo by me

We've been to/at/on the Golden Gate Bridge many times, but we've never taken the bus to it before.

Photo by me

sopas ej · #2 Posted **Nov 3, 2022, 6:16 PM**

Time for a break! More to come later!

202_Cyclist · #3 Posted **Nov 3, 2022, 7:48 PM**

Great photos! I know San Francisco has some problems now but it certainly doesn’t look like the dystopian hellhole some people want you to believe.

sopas ej · #4 Posted **Nov 3, 2022, 8:26 PM**

Thanks for the comment!

And aside from the lawless Gold Rush era and the 3-day Chinese massacre of 1877, has San Francisco ever really been a dystopian hellhole?

OK, let the photo dump continue!

Photo by me

Photo by me

Catching the bus back to the hotel...

Photo by me

Photo by me

The morning we left SF.

Photo by me

Echoes · #5 Posted **Nov 3, 2022, 9:35 PM**

Great tour. Thank you!

geomorph · #6 Posted **Nov 3, 2022, 9:55 PM**

The sculptures at Trinity Place and the Van Ness busway pics stood out for me, thank you.

destroycreate · #7 Posted **Nov 3, 2022, 11:22 PM**

How was the vibe of the city overall compared to your experiences pre-covid? I've heard from people up there that nightlife is still dead and there's just not that much pedestrian activity in the core and that there's still a lot of people uptight about covid (i.e. wearing masks in the cars etc.).

mousquet · #8 Posted **Nov 4, 2022, 12:04 AM**

Dirty Harry's town.
There are famous spots where classic movies from the late 60s and early 70s were shot, like Lombard street.
They told us - this is the town of Bullitt and Dirty Harry!
You know, I kinda shrugged and said - ok, cool...
It seemed old to me, but it's true that it's very cool, now I think better about it.

OhioGuy · #9 Posted **Nov 4, 2022, 12:12 AM**

Looks like a fun weekend! It always lifts my spirits to cross the Bay and spend time in SF!

homebucket · #10 Posted **Nov 4, 2022, 12:14 AM**

Nice! You made it out to Tunnel Tops!

Murphy de la Sucre · #11 Posted **Nov 4, 2022, 2:43 AM**

SF is nothing but just awesome as rarely seen on this forum. especially those silhouette catches outside downtown that show stunning metropolitan vibe of all time.

creamcityleo79 · #12 Posted **Nov 4, 2022, 12:50 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by 202_Cyclist

Great photos! I know San Francisco has some problems now but it certainly doesn’t look like the dystopian hellhole some people want you to believe.

This is what I was gonna say. When we were there earlier this year, I found it to be similar to the way the pictures portray it. The biggest problem I had was that there were too many straight people in the Castro.

EastSideHBG · #13 Posted **Nov 4, 2022, 6:58 PM**

Beautiful!

homebucket · #14 Posted **Nov 4, 2022, 9:21 PM**

This one is prob my favorite of the set.

sopas ej · #15 Posted **Nov 5, 2022, 2:07 PM**

Thanks for the comments!

And homebucket thanks for liking my photo!

Quote:

Originally Posted by destroycreate

How was the vibe of the city overall compared to your experiences pre-covid? I've heard from people up there that nightlife is still dead and there's just not that much pedestrian activity in the core and that there's still a lot of people uptight about covid (i.e. wearing masks in the cars etc.).

I thought the overall vibe of the city is that it's pretty much back to what it was pre-COVID. Regarding the core, for the last number of years now, we haven't been going to the Union Square area because we're really not into shopping, so I myself can't say whether pedestrian traffic has dropped off or come back. We walk through the financial district because we like looking at the buildings, but the financial district has always been dead past a certain time anyway.

Regarding masking, it's kind of like the LA area, where you see some people still wearing masks and many not. And kind of like the SGV, many Asians, young and old, are still wearing masks. Public transportation is also mixed; I know SF canceled its mandatory masking on public transit back in April, and LA County only canceled its masking on public transit in September, but on both transit systems, masking is only recommended. Though we brought them just in case, my partner and I didn't wear our masks the whole time we were in San Fran.

Quote:

Originally Posted by homebucket

Nice! You made it out to Tunnel Tops!

Yes! It's a very nice park. And even at 9-10am-ish, it's already very well used, and it was nice seeing young families there with their little kids. It'll only get nicer when the landscaping matures and fills in. Like I said in my OP, we had never taken the bus to the GG Bridge before; the bus stop is near the Roundhouse Cafe, and from there you can walk to the bridge (some years ago we already walked the full length of the GG Bridge), but of course on this trip we walked to Crissy Field and then to Tunnel Tops. It makes for a nice walk.

Coldrsx · #16 Posted **Nov 6, 2022, 3:38 AM**

My kinda set.

Thanks.

mousquet · #17 Posted **Nov 6, 2022, 5:40 PM**

Although I'm no movie connaisseur, I watched Bullitt starring Steve McQueen after my comment to this thread, because I'm more curious about photography now and this is what Wiki has to say about it:

In 2007, Bullitt was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

It's true that photography and staging from the late 60s look fascinating.
The action is a bit slow, like following a French-style crime movie from the late 1950s or from the 60s, a genre that was influential up to Hollywood back then. And the plot was a bit odd, like the bad guy would have a perfect lookalike. That got me a bit confused.

But yeah, the atmosphere was really special and the so-called muscle cars, a Dodge Charger and a Mustang from the era looked awesome compared to European cars in the same price range.

dktshb · #18 Posted **Nov 6, 2022, 6:53 PM**

Great photos!

Quote:

Originally Posted by destroycreate

How was the vibe of the city overall compared to your experiences pre-covid? I've heard from people up there that nightlife is still dead and there's just not that much pedestrian activity in the core and that there's still a lot of people uptight about covid (i.e. wearing masks in the cars etc.).

Neighborhood commercial areas are vibrant. The financial district still dead since hardly anybody is back at work; therefore Muni is not nearly as busy as it was either. I myself only go into the office twice a week. It is surprising how a city so dense with people can sometimes feel so quiet. Parks (as you can see by Sopas outstanding photos) are always packed with people. Late night bar hopping is not my thing anymore, but the bars I frequent for happy hour seem to be back to pre-covid level activity.

citywatch · #19 Posted **Nov 8, 2022, 8:30 PM**

Calif cities, less so with the west coast ones in general, all have a similar look. Bits of SF make me think of bits of sopas' stomping grounds around pasadena, the relatively new park next to the bay makes me think of the somewhat new park north of union station in dtla. But the trains of bart...which I've long liked...look sleeker than the trains of the mta in LA. Actually, I've long thought the design of bart's trains...at least the ones designed in the 1970s....were among the nicest in the US or even world. They remind me of the design of the small trains that shuttle visitors up the hill to the getty museum.

One other thing: I realize that quite a few cities throughout the US & world are all both nicer but also not as ideal...or unique...as assumed. Ppl & places throughout the globe seem to be similarly affected by their creative class, their moneyed class, their technical or engineering geniuses, their hipsters, tourists & burbanites.

enro · #20 Posted **Nov 9, 2022, 5:22 PM**

I'm glad the masking isn't as bad as it used to be.

I just moved back to LA last month after a year in Florida, and I'm still weirded out by random sightings of people out jogging or alone in their cars masked up haha.

Great set as always, sopas. Always look forward to your threads.