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San Francisco, California [2] - part 1
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Time of Visit: January 2022
Today was a beautiful warm day by January standards in SF. I took advantage of the weather to wander through a few neighborhoods I haven't had the chance to properly explore.
Due to its proximity to the infamous Tenderloin neighborhood, the Civic Center BART is the worst station in all of SF. Drug addicts and peddlers, aggressive vagrants, and mentally ill lunatics wander the vicinity occasionally terrorizing vulnerable-looking passerby. And yet, like a cactus blooming in the desert, a wonderful bakery and cafe called Arsicault Bakery is situated just north of the station.
As I approached City Hall, I was greeted with a huge anti-abortion demonstration in the adjacent plaza. Counter-protesters were neatly cordoned off to the sidelines to prevent any disruption to the event, and tired-looking policemen and policewomen kept a wary eye on groups of protesters and counter-protesters yelling at one another.
Leaving the demonstration behind, I walked north on Polk Street, which roughly delimits the western edge of the Tenderloin district.
Expensive housing on the northern edge of the Tenderloin is not immune to graffiti and vandalism.
Heading north on Polk Street, we make our way into the namesake Polk Gulch neighborhood.
Aside: being a human in San Francisco just feels good. Sidewalks are wide and don't feel like an afterthought like they are in most American cities. Most streets are one way so you only have to check one direction when jaywalking. Every street with significant traffic has a bike lane, and people use them a lot in spite of the hilly terrain, a testament to how strong of an incentive good infrastructure can be.
Walking north into the Russian Hill neighborhood, all traces of seediness disappear. Instagrammable cafes, high-end boutique stores, and trendy eateries without any vowels in the name replace the slight working-className edge that remains in Polk Gulch.
At this point, I started walking east through Russian Hill to North Beach.
Looking east from Washington Square towards Coit Tower, I figured I had come all the way over here so I may as well go up. After walking uphill and paying $10 to go up the tower, I was thoroughly disappointed. Even a girl from Arkansas I spoke to was disappointed, so if you want a view of the city I recommend heading to Twin Peaks, where you can get a better view for free.
After climbing back down, I made my way towards Chinatown through a patch of Italian restaurants.
