I want to write about moderately good impressions of Bostonian classmates with distinctive accents…read moreand their shaken-down girlfriends, and plentiful sokh as well as other hidden delectables and gardens and garden boxes and run-down neighborhoods that remind me of non-run-down neighborhoods back when they were more run down. And Joe. And proud old men and this loving community that mourns them and their senseless deaths with renamed streets. And the Kaiser hospital, which I really don't like and try to avoid even though it's much closer to me than the brand-spanking-new one in Mission Bay. But mostly paper streets and walkway streets and stair streets and exotically named streets all laid out in a surprisingly confusing grid, but I solved the puzzle and cracked the case, and I know how to pop out right by Blood Centers of the Pacific, but it closed! And that has made me sad for years even though I hadn't donated blood there since 2010, not long before I had my appendix removed. I forgot about the former forlorn Walgreens (RIP, really?) and its promising but surprisingly dangerous little parking lot. And pimple parking even before the neighborhood parking permit went into effect in 2015. Has it really been ten years? There's a straight-up red or black '80s toilet in an apartment here. I know because I saw photos of it when we were looking for a new place to live after the fire. I didn't think I'd live in Anza Vista then, nor do I now. But that toilet? Not quite chef's kiss, but it was amazing in a way I can't explain. And I would gladly write letters to my uncle and my childhood friend's parents, but they wouldn't understand. It has a view of more than Anza Street, which ironically starts right outside the neighborhood's borders. (Anza begins where O'Farrell ends.) Be sure to visit the Orthodox church and St. Joseph's Avenue. It goes all the way through to Geary!

In the way back machine in the early 2000s, my co-worker moved to a new apartment with two of his…read morefriends and no one could place his address or recognize his neighborhood. "What's Anza Vista?" we probed with a bit of a Mean Girls sneer. Now keep in mind, we sounded haughty while we ourselves lived in a slightly crappy neighborhood known for providing morning crack deals to some of its denizens and 40-caliber nightly entertainment. It's now Hayes Valley. So it was known as "Anza Vista Heights" (and "Divisadero Depths"). Anza Vista is still a little tattered, sitting right above busy workhorse boulevards of Geary and Divisadero yet boasting real estate as expensive as any around town. Most of Anza Vista has rickety '60s architecture but knockout skyline views.

This event turns the City of Good Living into the City of Inconvenienced Living for the residents…read morethat are prevented from either leaving their homes in their cars, or prevented from returning to their homes in their cars. There should be a pathway that is made clear how residents can leave and return to their homes. We are trapped like prisoners in our own neighborhood. My wife and I went shopping at 8:30am and came back to having to park 6 blocks away from where we live. We got lucky to find a parking spot. Maybe we should hold Hometown Days in the hills of San Carlos so the rich folk can finally understand how much it sucks to be trapped in or out of you own neighborhood.

I believe San Carlos is still the city of Good living and I would definitely stand up for that…read more It's smack dab right in the middle of San Jose and San Francisco. It's nice getaway from the city life. There's a library close by , I've got downtown close by with all kinds of restaurants, bars, and shops. There's even a market and bank downtown . They have a farmers market downtown every Sunday . I go to first Baptist church Sundays and the exit leads right to the farmers market. The diversity has become more evident here these days and it's the good kind tho,it's the kind that creates community. It's great to see people come together. You'll see great events here like hometown days and the art and wine festival which is one of the most awesome festivals ever. I work close by my house. I could even walk to work. I've even gotta girlfriend in San Carlos that's within walking distance. It's never good to be too comfortable but it's safer than most areas. Even my cat doesn't feel afraid and she walks down the street at times. We have a train station and a pretty good bus station. If you don't think so well we have the Samtrans building close by so you can even voice yourself. This is home to the family eucalyptus st Christmas lights every yr. They still have the downtown blocked off a bit for vehicles from the Covid times but I've recently realized that's it's actually kinda cool. It's great to be able to walk in the street freely but also it's not bad because I do door dash and I've never had any problems picking up any orders at any of the restaurants downtown. You'd probably love Burton park too. There's tons of basketball hoops , tennis courts , and the bathrooms are one of my faves. There's also live music at the park in the summer and there's two different play areas one for super small kids and one for the other kids which is cool because it makes it safer. Kids can get crazy wild yknow

The facade is really the only thing left but the old bricks catch one's eyes while walking up…read moreCommercial Street. This is the site of S.F.'s first mint, opened on April 3, 1854 to deal with all the gold coming in from the foothills of the Sierra. The mint moved to the more famous one on 5th and Mission in 1875 and this building was turned into a subtreasury. In the early days, the mint sat just a few feet from the wharfs of the Bay and Commercial street bustled with activity. The fire and quake of '06 destroyed it and it now is only one story, incorporated into the Pacific Heritage Museum (closed for remodeling)

Centennial Walk is an area in Downtown Palo Alto, across the street from the King Plaza…read more There are two huge plaques here, representing 100 years, from 1894 to 1994, with notable names on each plaque. I'm guessing everyone named contributed, in some way, to the city and surrounding area!!

When it comes to this time of year, I always remember my visits here…read more My friend took me here over twenty years ago a week or two before Christmas. Didn't know what the big deal was. We parked the car about two blocks away on a side street and walked up the slight hill to another side street. There was a bright glow from all of the shimmering and colorful lights. As we walked in, my mouth opened in amazement in seeing the line of houses, all decorated with a variety of Christmas and contemporary themed caricatures. My first visit included greetings from the Simpsons, Flintstones, the Jetson, Peanuts characters and Garfield; did I say family?! We came on a weeknight about ten to twelve days before Christmas. As it gets closer to the day, the traffic and parking become a bear with traffic enforcement guiding visitors. Kudos to the neighborhood community for perpetuating this tradition. It's wonderful to see the Christmas spirit alive and well! Merry Christmas, everyone!

I think they are not doing it now we went just before and after Christmas and there were no signs…read moreor anything that was the like the one I remember from before. We saw some people turning around and being disappointed because they didn't find anything.

Lower Nob Hill borders Nob Hill, Tenderloin, Union Square and parts of the Van Ness corridor. SF is…read moresuch a small City that if you walk a few blocks away, you can be in a different neighborhood. I feel like this neighorhood is still trying to figure itself out, but aside from the spillover of troubles from Tenderloin, it does have a few boutique hotel options, some nice restaurants, rooftop bars, and lots of older architectural buildings that need some TLC.

As the name suggests, the neighborhoods of the Tenderloin and Nob Hill intersect with interesting…read moreresults: Part hipster with rooftop lounges and dining spots, part addicted residents and new immigrants trying to make it work. It's a block-by-block situation of sketchiness. Be off your phone and aware of your surroundings as you would in any big city. In the heart of downtown, I'm always curious about the turn of the 20th century beautiful apartment buildings, wondering if all the original moulding and fixtures were preserved. I bet some are. "NewTendo" is this neighborhood's long term nickname. Great place for dining; renting is more affordable than most neighborhoods but don't have a car because it means garages, daily street cleaning and fully metered streets. While it has its challenges, I prefer the edgy NewTendo rather than the homogeneous crowd of the Marina.

Was taking a fine stroll around Chinatown when I happened upon this tunnel. Brightly painted red…read moreand yellow on opposing ends, it was nights like these I was glad I wasn't driving. Traffic was congested even before the entrance of the tunnel, though the drivers were remarkably patient without honking away. Seems like the "Quiet Through Tunnel" sign actually worked. While these two lanes heading out of Chinatown were backed up, the singular opposing lane was more or less empty. A few other pedestrians were passing through that evening. One was blasting music from his phone, while another was practicing his high notes out loud, so even without the honking their sounds bounced and reverberated. There were scraps of refuse here and there along with an abandoned scooter, but for the most part it was a clean path. Walls included the words Chinatown on one end and Union Square in English and Chinese along with an assortment of koi paintings. I decided to come back in the morning when the traffic was at a minimum and check out the scenery above the tunnel. The stairway going up was smelly and less maintained than the tunnel, though once I was back on the streets, it was a pleasant experience walking downhill to Chinatown.

I have walked through the Stockton Street Tunnel many times over the years. Sadly, over the last…read morefew years, especially during the COVID period, it was poorly maintained, and the sidewalks were littered with garbage. However, a few days ago, while walking toward Chinatown through the tunnel on the left side, I found it much cleaner than it had been in recent years. Granted, I still noticed a few signs of the challenges the area has faced, but overall, the tunnel felt much cleaner and better maintained. The Stockton Street Tunnel opened on December 29, 1914. It connects downtown San Francisco to Chinatown and North Beach. It was designed to avoid the steep climb over Nob Hill. It originally accommodated electric streetcars, but today it carries traffic and Muni buses. Personally, every time I walk through it, I appreciate not having to climb to the top of Nob Hill and then head down the other end. It is also a big help to drivers, like me, who need to drive from one side of the hill to the other.

Market Street will always hold a special place in my heart; I remember walking here when about 30…read moreyears ago. It's definitely changed a lot in the past handful of years. I hope the City can figure out how to revive the area, bring safety back, and to reduce the issues with the unhoused. In the daytime, it's pretty much a ghost town. It never used to be that way. In the evenings, it's also fairly quiet, but there are more unhoused visible. Many shops and restaurants have closed; those that are still open, I wonder how they're surviving? When Westfield was Westfield, the shopping center used to bring foot traffic to that area of the street. I really hope that San Francisco can sort out its problems. While I still love the city, it's sad to see how it's declined. 2024: 94/100

Market Street is one of the main drags in San Francisco. Since the late 1990s, my experiences with…read moreand memories of this street primarily involve the stretch from 5th Street and the Powell Street BART station to the northeast ending at the Embarcadero and the Ferry Building. This stretch includes Union Square, the Financial District, and SoMa (South of Market). Unlike parts south, this stretch of Market feels relatively safe thanks in large part to lots of tourists, local office workers, and nicer, higher-end hotels, restaurants, and retail. 5th to the Embarcadero is a walkable stretch with lots to see and do in the aforementioned neighborhoods. That said, as a longtime regular visitor to San Francisco over the past two decades plus, I've noticed Market Street and the city as a whole aren't what they used to be. During our recent visit, walking up and down Market Street to get from our hotel to various places, I couldn't help but notice several vacant storefronts. Lots of retail for lease. Some parts looked like a ghost town. Market Street just had a different vibe and energy to it. It's not as "alive" as it used to be. And it appeared there were more homeless people too (or they're just more visible now). I noticed within the past year that Westfield had dropped the San Francisco Centre shopping mall from its portfolio: https://www.yelp.com/biz/westfield-san-francisco-centre-san-francisco-3 Here's a San Francisco Chronicle article about it from October 2023: https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/s-f-westfield-mall-new-management-18417748.php Sad. The stretch of Market from the Castro to the Embarcadero is straight and tree-lined. You can see the Ferry Building's 245-foot clock tower from a distance. It's a nice view and one of my favorite things about walking on this street. Most of the stretches of Market south of the Tenderloin, such as around the Civic Center / UN Plaza BART station, X (formerly Twitter) headquarters, and southwest down into the Castro and beyond, I've experienced mainly from cars. When you get into this part of Market, the elevation increases and there are some scenic city views. At its southwest end, Market Street turns into Portola Drive. This happens in the Twin Peaks area. There are great views of the city from Twin Peaks at a place called Christmas Tree Point. You can drive and park there. You can also park and walk to nearby Noe Peak. From these vistas, you can see Market Street run all the way up to the Bay. It's neat and I recommend it.