wedding road trip

A Letter to San Francisco

Dear San Francisco,

While I was gone, I must admit that I didn’t miss you too much. But that was understandable, because we were pretty busy – visiting friends and family, driving through incredible nature, and whale watching.

Now that I’m back, I want to give a shout out to the things that I missed – my friends of course, many of whom came out for a raucous kickoff party, and the combination of mountains and water so rare in an urban environment. But I also missed…

• Good food at our favorite local restaurants Patxi’s, Velvet Cantina, and Alamo Square Grill
• Amazing coffee – really, the best in the world – from Martha & Bros and Blue Bottle
• Local cafes like Central Coffee (where I am now), Café Abir, and The Grove
• The Kabuki movie theater, where you can get assigned seats and buy beer and wine, all in a beautiful facility not geared toward 14-year old boys hepped up on giant, refillable Cokes
• Live music at some of the best venues anywhere, such as The Fillmore, The Independent, Café du Nord, the Great American Music Hall, and the Greek Theatre
• Incredible fresh fruit and avocados – and thank you to all our friends that allowed us to order guacamole whenever possible.

That said, I did not miss batshit crazy homeless people everywhere, fog, very smelly buses, $26 billion budget deficits, and super expensive rent. In fact, San Francisco, while I love you, there are a lot of other cities in the US that are eating your lunch. So though it pains me, I’ve got to tell you who does it better.

• NYC has way better parks and street trees. Every neighborhood seems to have a beautiful square filled with lawns, benches, and ball fields, and almost every street is lined with huge trees. Really, San Francisco, get with the tree program.
• Chicago has a city government that is actually progressive and gets things done (green roof program, Millennium Park) rather than occupying itself with posturing and giving into navel-gazing special interests.
• Louisville’s art scene was the best I’ve seen in a long time, between the waterfront park and the 21C Hotel gallery.
• Salt Lake City and Denver have better weather and more awesomer mountains.
• Downtown Seattle has more buzz going on than SF, with its museums, sports stadiums, central business district, main shopping area, and waterfront all within one compact area – which is loaded with turn-of-the century brick buildings.
• Portland is better for biking, with bike lanes and boulevards clearly marked everywhere. And if even if you don’t bike, that takes cars off the road and people out of buses and trains, so transportation is easier for everyone.
• Last but not least, Detroit has cooler buildings. Yes, many of them are in ruins, but even the intact mansions and skyscrapers are world-class.

So, San Francisco, you’re wonderful and there’s a lot to like about you. But don’t believe your own hype too much, and don’t go raising rents like crazy, because there’s some real competition out there.

Love, Chris

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