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November 15, 2004
Odd Town
San Francisco has an odd aura about it. It is a great fun town, with a lot to do and see, but it is very quirky.
Other cities, big cities like New York and London, all have their quirks, their oddities. But in most of those places "odd" is an undercurrent. It pops up here and there, like in Soho in London, or the Village in New York. But for the most part you only notice the odd when look for it.
Not so in San Francisco. "Odd" not only seems to be in the mainstream, it seems to be work like a badge of honor. And it makes for a great fun city. What's so odd about San Francisco? Well, let's begin:
On a typical day walking through downtown you will run into hundreds of possibly homeless people. I say possibly because you can't really tell in this town who is and who is not homeless. People walk around, shabbily dressed, talking to themselves. Constantly. Some sing, some have conversations, but most are just nattering on about something or the other to an uncaring audience.
On one day, on one bus ride, I saw a dozen people try and sneak onto the bus by getting on at the back door. The best part of it all was the bus driver. He's wearing the MUNI brown uniform and it looks a bit like a communist state military outfit. He's also of Asian origin and was wearing huge "Blu-Blocker"-style glasses. He looked like a caricature of the North Korean leader. And he would get up and yell at these people, and they, in turn, would try and haggle with him. That was a fun bus ride.
Another oddity about the city is that in the heart of its tourist center, all the bars seem to close at midnight. Well, all the bars that you want to drink at, that is.
Posted by Samer at November 15, 2004 08:44 PM
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