The San Fran-Brooklyn Love Connection
Did you know there are places to live in the United States aside from Brooklyn? Neither did we, but according to an article in the Style section of yesterday’s Times, there’s a place in California called San Francisco that is something of a sister city to Brooklyn. Or, as the piece puts it, “there is…
Did you know there are places to live in the United States aside from Brooklyn? Neither did we, but according to an article in the Style section of yesterday’s Times, there’s a place in California called San Francisco that is something of a sister city to Brooklyn. Or, as the piece puts it, “there is a young, earnest population that is beating a path between artsy, gentrifying neighborhoods in Brooklyn and their counterparts in the Bay Area, especially East Oakland and the area south of Market Street in San Francisco, or SoMa.” So what do the two places have in common aside from loads of creatives? Local eyesores (Emeryville mud flats and the Gowanus Canal); good breweries (Anchor and Brooklyn); literary do-gooder establishments (Dave Eggers’ 826 Valencia and 826NYC); and a shared ethos: “If there is an aesthetic credo to Brooklyn and the Bay Area, it is Do It Yourself, which connotes more than using an Allen wrench from Ikea. D.I.Y. can mean everything from wearing locally designed T-shirts to attending concerts staged in someone’s warehouse apartment, to riding a bike to work.”
Sisters in Idiosyncrasy [NY Times]
San Francisco photo by Dizzy Atmosphere; Brooklyn photo by rsguskind.
I think a lot of these posts have good points. SF is not a city like NYC or even Manhattan alone is a city, but it is the cultural hub of the Pacific. I think seasons are overrated, and I miss the ocean, but NY has a neverending stream of music, arts, etc. One thing I do have to say, though, is that NY can never really be a “foodie” city because from November to April, you can only buy really fresh food at the greenmarkets that’s white or orange. No greens in winter is a killer.
Why can’t people just appreciate things for what they are instead of trying to compare them to one another constantly?
fun thread. for me the old saying, “wherever you go, you bring yourself” has proven true, alas.
SF doesn’t have the best weather.
Have you been there in the summer?
The East Bay has far superior weather
lived in SF back in the early-mid 90’s and i enjoyed it but i grew up in the east so i moved to NY and I have always been happy with my decision. from what i am told SF has changed quite a bit but so has NY. oh and SF has the BEST weather!
The scale of SF is way different…it’s like all of NYC is reduced to a tenth. A neighborhood like Noe Valley is like Park Slope, but only has 8000 vs almost 100000. Downtown SF is tiny but does have the feel of Manhattan…for 12 square blocks. And the outer Mission etc are full of single family homes, like the outer boros, and are full of conservatives to boot.
There is no comparison between Muni and MTA! Its buses could do a third world country proud, if they ever show up after 6pm. Drivers are allowed by union rules to not show up 5 days a year without (yes) notice. And try getting any information or finding a bus map or schedule. Otoh, BART is clean and fast, but with unreasonably complex fares and few stops.
SF is clean, NYC is dirty; the weather is perfect vs so-so; the food is much better and cheaper; the level of green consciousness is much higher; but am I glad I moved here form SF? Absolutely.
SF is humorless – I think it’s a lot more like Boston than NYC. the elite there are stuffy old money preppies instead of striving new money bankers or super successful people in the arts which also adds to the lack of energy there. People move there for the “lifestyle” not because they are ambitiously chasing a dream. So you get a great lifestyle but people in general are less interesting. That does mean however that life IS much more relaxing. LA is more like NYC because people also go there chasing their dream – even if the dream is far more one note (movie industry) than here.
the bay area as a whole is way more dangerous than NYC.
I do know that
“Quick question: name a major issue in which the NY Times has played a major role in the past 10 years.”
Quick answer: They helped the Bush administration sell the need to invade Iraq.
And then apologized for it over a year later.
3:28, I can’t quite get my head around your comment.
SF MUNI is an EXPONENTIALLY and DRAMATICALLY inferior public transit system compared to MTA.