San Francisco
Perspective from a short time resident/long time tourist

This past summer, I packed my bags and moved up to San Francisco: home of Karl the Fog. I was in the city for 12 weeks which definitely doesn’t qualify me as a local but also excludes me from being a tourist. With that context in mind, I’ve documented my observations of SF.

When I first arrived in San Francisco, I immediately noticed how aggresively tech-oriented the city is. On seemingly every block in east SF, there is some tech company worth over $10,000,000 dollars. To take it one step further, a majority of the billboards and bus advertisements across the city were of technology products (Notion, ClickUp, and various data management systems to name a couple examples) or straight up targeted towards those in the tech industry. There was an ad for a Harry Potter live play plastered on Munis (SF’s public transportation system) across the city with the slogan “You’ve got tech wizards, we’ve got wizard wizards” (talk about targeted marketing). As someone originally from the greater LA area, this was a drastic shift from the ads I’m used to seeing: new movies and TV shows that are premiering in the near future and products from designer brands modeled by A-list celebrities.

A surprisingly small portion of SF is commercial. I’m not sure if my surprise is due to my lack of experience living in a proper city but only the northeast portion of the city is made up of high-rises. I do prefer it this way though. I think I’d lose my mind if I had to live with the constant noise in areas like Financial District.

For reasons I haven’t been able to deduce, businesses in SF either close down early or open quite late. As someone used to establishments staying open until 10pm as the default (the norm in LA), I was not expecting to see restaurants closing at 8pm/opening at 5pm and supermarkets like Target closing at 6pm. Needless to say as someone who often eats dinner at around 8pm, I was caught off guard by the reduction in options I had for places to eat at.

Picture of Oracle Park, it's right on the bay View from Oracle Park

Oracle Park is stunning and if you’re ever in SF, I highly recommend you go to a Giants game. It doesn’t matter if you don’t like the Giants or baseball at all (I don’t consider myself a baseball fan). The view from the stadium is worth the price of admission itself. Besides, baseball tickets are surprisingly inexpensive so why not grab some garlic fries (what Oracle Park is famous for), sit back, and enjoy a beautiful view of the bay.

Summer doesn’t really exist in SF. While the rest of the country dealt with heat waves and other climate issues, it was perpetually between 60-80 degrees. I do prefer hotter and sunny weather over cloudy, rainy, and snowy weather but it was nice pretty much escaping the summer heat this year.

SF is a beautiful city with character and great people. Within 12 weeks, SF has carved a special place in my heart. The next time I’m in SF, it may very well be with the intention of being a permanent resident.

View of the bay from Uber office View of the city from Uber office Uber offices

New Belgium Brewing Company Oracle Park at night SF Ferry Building

View of Bay Bridge from Financial District View of Financial District from Coit Tower View of SF from Coit Tower

A great view of the city, mainly downtown View of west SF SF roads on an incline

Marin beach view from hike Marin beach Tony's slice house

San Francisco in emojis: 🌉 🧑‍💻 ⛴️

Thanks for reading!

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Pranav Srinivasan © 2022
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