13 things about San Francisco.: seanan

13 things about San Francisco.

We are now thirteen days from the release of Late Eclipses [Amazon]|[Mysterious Galaxy], and to celebrate, here are thirteen things about San Francisco!

13. Yes, parking is as difficult to find as I make it out to be in the Toby books. In fact, it's usually slightly worse; because Toby has magic (and narrative flow), she usually manages to find street parking after only a paragraph or two of driving around. The rest of us usually wind up paying for our parking. Lucky Toby.

12. In areas like Valencia, you can walk for miles without seeing a Starbucks, although you will encounter dozens of small, independent coffee shops and cafes. In areas like North Beach and the Financial District, you can find a Starbucks every two blocks. It's like the city has a median average to maintain, and has decided to dump them all in the same place.

11. Many San Francisco natives rarely, if ever, visit the rest of the Bay Area, and are surprised when interesting things happen in the East Bay. (Not 100% true, but definitely supported by my personal experience.)

10. San Francisco is a city which never met a hill it didn't think "hey, I could put houses there, and people will totally figure out how to park at an eighty-seven degree angle." And because parking is at such a premium, people do.

9. It may be apocryphal that Mark Twain once said the coldest summer he ever spent was in San Francisco, but there's a reason so many people believe it. Thanks to the marine layer, we often have heat waves in December, and cold snaps in July.

8. Despite the hills and the messed-up weather, we still have joggers. Joggers are insane.

7. San Francisco's pigeon population is fairly epic, and most of them are pretty healthy, because there's so much food dropped by the tourist trade. Also, they eat their own sick. It's disturbing and fascinating, like an avian recreation of The Lottery.

6. Cable cars, not really worth it. No, seriously. They're not.

5. Ghirardeli Square sells a sundae called "The Earthquake" which costs around twenty dollars and needs at least five people to eat it. It's a towering monument to gluttony, and all visitors to our fair city should treat it as a mandatory undertaking. Unless you're lactose intolerant or diabetic.

4. San Francisco proper covers a span of 46.7 square miles. That's why we have South San Francisco, San Bruno, and Colma. Because otherwise, we'd run out of space really, really fast.

3. A team of fae without human disguises on could probably run the Bay to Breakers without anyone saying anything but "cool costumes, man."

2. The Ferry Building Farmer's Market is one of the best in the state. It's huge, diverse, and a little bit scary, since who really needs an heirloom tomato the size of a human head? Me, that's who. Now gimme.

1. I do an incredible amount of geographic research when introducing a new location in the Toby books. Half of it gets thrown out the window in the interests of not turning into a guidebook, but I do it. And this city is really weird. That's what makes it so great.

djonn

February 16 2011, 16:24:27 UTC 6 years ago

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When I was growing up, the legendary ice-cream institution here in Portland (and later around the country) was Farrell's, home of the Portland Zoo (a sundae so enormous it took two strong servers to deliver it -- after racing up and down the rows of tables while bells and a siren sounded). An approximate description: "FOUR flavors of our famous ice cream. THREE fruit flavor sherbets, FOUR delicious toppings, whipped cream, cherries, almonds, pecans, and bananas."

Unfortunately, the chain imploded after Marriott bought it, and the one surviving outlet in Portland (finagled back into private ownership under another name) closed a decade ago. In recent years a couple of reborn Farrell's Ice Cream Parlours have turned up in California, with another two in Hawaii and rumors of a Portland comeback, but as yet no Portland rebirth has materialized. If and when it does, however, I'll be among its early visitors....

vixyish

February 16 2011, 16:56:55 UTC 6 years ago

Ohhh, Farrell's! I didn't know they originated down there! We used to go all the time up here. When I was a little tiny thing, the bells and sirens used to frighten me something *awful*, even though I loved the place. I was glad we were always there for someone *else's* birthday, not mine.

February 16 2011, 19:26:15 UTC 6 years ago

Yup, Portland was the birthplace of Farrell's. The primary founder, Bob Farrell, was later involved with the company that created the Stanford's and Newport Bay regional restaurant chains, but he eventually switched careers and became a successful motivational speaker whose signature talk involves telling customer-service providers to "Give 'Em the Pickle!"

February 16 2011, 19:37:34 UTC 6 years ago

...it's a good thing he got out of ice cream, then.

janetmiles

February 16 2011, 17:46:34 UTC 6 years ago

Oh, I remember the Farrell's in Scottsdale -- it was wonderful.

xanath

February 16 2011, 17:56:47 UTC 6 years ago

I loved Farrell's as a kid. Then they went out of business, I moved to Los Angeles, and I've never found an ice cream place that was half as much fun.

I'm moving to Seattle in June . . . I may stop in SF and get that sundae. And yes, I'm a Type 2 diabetic. :D

February 16 2011, 19:35:32 UTC 6 years ago

Before you come north, you may want to make a side trip; as it happens, the two revived Farrell's operations</> in the continental US are in Santa Clarita and Mission Viejo....

kyburg

February 16 2011, 18:33:58 UTC 6 years ago

We've got one! Actually, we'll have two VERY soon - and that second one? Right around the corner. (It's replacing a Jerry's Deli, so I'm a bit sad, but still. Farrell's!)

ZOO WHOOOOOOOO!