jzt83

I never really thought about SF until 2005. I’ve had periods where I’d obsess about southern ca, portland, seattle, new york, boston, toronto, paris, amsterdam, et al. but my obsession with SF did not manifest itself until 2005. I guess I overlooked the city because I perceived it as an expensive, overly-pretensious, big-headed, and other hyphenated adjectives. Maybe the genesis of my obessesion with SF was a spontaneous and divine realization. Anyhow, I decided to visit the city after doing much research and talking with my friend who recently moved there.

While flying above the Bay Area, I could not help notice how ugly the landscape was. I noticed a huge brown body of water in the South Bay region I believe. yada yada, fast foward. As I exited the Embarcadero BART stop and ascended to the street to look for the L-Taraval Muni train, I was in great awe of the city. I felt like I was in a hybrid city that felt like both Seattle and NYC. I was it such awe and called my sister to tell her I have arrived. I was just so exited and couldn’t hold it in and had to yell at someone about my excitement. Well, excitement turned to stress when I couldn’t locate the L-taraval muni stop. I walked back and forth looking for it. For some reason, I thought all muni trains ran on the surface and only BART was underground. The trip planner thing didn’t indicate that the muni train was underground under market. It said to get off at XXX Market and catch the L-Taraval. After much waiting and distress, I asked a bus driver where the L-Taraval train stop is, and he kindly told me it was underground. whew, that was a relief. SO I caught the L-train to the inner sunset and got off a few stops prior to my destiniation. When I exited the train, I was in awe. I felt like I was in a fairy tale or something, I was just struck by the beauty of the area. Granted the buildings are ugly, but there was just something about the collection of the the ugly buildings and the wires and general chaos that apealled to me. Anyhow, I visited nearly every neighborhood except for bayview, Marina, and a couple others. I must say the SF is my favorite city in the US. I am too lazy to continue.

I’ve lived on the island of Oahu for all my life, save for a couple years. I like it alot except for the fact that it is small and there aren’t really any dynamic neighborhoods here. It is a very auto-centric place with slightly above average bus service. I prefer urban areas with walkable neighborhoods and good public transit. Other than that, I am sure you’ll like it here mostly for the natural beauty and unique culture.

I’ve lived in LA area for a year, in Hermosa Beach and Pasadena, and loved and hated the area with a passion. I dislike most of LA but have a proclivity for the neighborhoods of the San Gabriel Valley the most including, Pasadena, S. Pasadena, Alhambra, Monerey Park, Monrovia, Temple City, and Sierra Madre. I don’t really care much for the other areas. Santa Monica is too yuppyish, Hollywood is too fake and touristy, South Bay area is boring without much to do, the beaches aren’t that nice (I am from Hawaii), SFV isn’t that bad actually but just has a weird vibe, so on and so forth. I’ve been to almost every area in my free time and as a caterer and seen so much of the area in one year moreso than a life long LA resident that I met.