yay us. i'm a hardcore bay-arean. i lived in saratoga/los gatos for most of my life, then moved to san francisco in the panhandle/haight area and also in the inner richmond for a while, then moved to santa cruz, then moved on santa clara.. and now i live here (for uni purposes), but work in santa cruz still.

i really feel the need for a SF thread. to talk amongst ourselves about the happenings here, gigs, concerts, shows, museums, restaurants, information, shopping, etc.


my current bay-area obession? Firefly restaurant in Noe Valley... even though i dont live anywhere near effing Noe Valley, i'll travel. because this place.. i love it so.

There are so many good restaurants in SF, how could you pick just one?!


[I respect your love of SF, but PLEASE remove that Journey reference from your sig! ]

i haven't lived in the bay area for years now, but i grew up there and worked in SF.

some of the things i miss, restaurant-wise:

focaccia cafe on sacramento and...davis? wherever it was, it's on sac, one block east of front. best chicken focaccia sandwich ever.

the hot dog cart on sacramento and sansome right across from the federal reserve bank.

kaspers hot dogs in union city and the old part of hayward. i'm talking too much about hot dogs. moving on.

mona lisa in north beach.

favorite club/bar though it may have changed since:

fiddler's green on columbus near ghirardelli square. they played the best dancing songs ever including come on eileen by dexy's midnight runners.

best shopping:

stanford shopping center in palo alto.

best beach:

the one in carmel

there are probably many more places i'd like to mention but can't think of.

oh my lord.. i totally agree.
carmel beach is so so so so so lovley. i'd die a happy happy bitch if i could retire to carmel by the sea. it's the greatest place on earth; like a teeny european seaside village in the middle of california.

for shopping i def have to say buffalo exchange in berkeley (the one is SF is too small!)

i love the bay area, i never want to live anywhere else. its just soooooo freaking expensive!

i love that store.
where in the bay area do you live?

when i was 17 i got the most badass 1976 studio-54 esque dress.
i think i still have it somewhere, it's full length and various shades of blue.. but super skanky in the front (but i use to have a cups.. so it worked, but not so much anymore).

i love Berkeley. i'm applying to Cal for grad. school. i really hope i get in.

i live in moraga now but i've lived in pacifica and el sobrante before. i actually need to go to buffalo exchange really soon because i have A LOT of clothes to sell!

i love moraga. i went to st. mary's college.

eh i dont really like moraga. dont get me wrong, its a really nice town, its just hard to get anywhere if you dont have a car!! and the buses here are so expensive. its a pain in the ass sometimes. it wouldnt be that bad if there were more stuff to do, but all there is is a shitty movie theater.

i always had a car so it didn't bother me. is it too much of a pain to get the bus to the orinda bart and take bart into berkeley and sf?

i understand not being stoked on the place though but i've lived in many places to compare it to since which has made me appreciate it much more.

its just a nuisance because the bus is so expensive and the money really does add up fast. its like $1.75 now, which is a lot more than the 25 cents i was used to paying in washington! it was spare the air day though but i didnt take advantage of it and im kicking myself in the ass now for it.

is it possible to live in the bay area, whilst making not that much money?

is berkeley cheap? or even oakland?

i've been thinking about this a lot, and my shitty day today makes me want to leave this white white city.

yes but someone related has to die and leave you their home. eventually you will sell it and move somewhere shitty and regret it.

__________________
albert, you are the father

very soon the wisteria will bloom at hakone gardens.

__________________
albert, you are the father

I miss my favourite hang out, Spec's. Don't know if it's there anymore. Oh, and all the panhandlers on Market street. I don't miss the vileness of the Tenderloin. It was a bit much.

that is borderline creepy that another soul knows Hakone Gardens.

my parents house is less than a mile from there, we used to walk up the hill to the gardens in the summer.

and my workplace is like 15 miles up that same road. i pass hakone gardens, everyday. they shot some scenes for Memoirs of A Giesha there.

I went there a bunch when I was a kid. I had totally forgotten about it.

where did you live?

this thread reminds me that im such a southern californian. and i have no desire to visit the north. the parents would have loved me going to berkeley. but the seven hour drive is longer than the six hour plane ride. but anyway, i posted because that restaurant looks really cute. i love cute restaurants.

__________________
"We believe that the best of America is in these small towns that we get to visit, and in these wonderful little pockets of what I call the real America, being here with all of you hard-working, very patriotic, very pro-America areas of this great nation," she told the crowd.