caryn came home friday evening and i went with her, sage, and catherine to this gallery exhibit that featured robotic interactive art. it was really cool. a bunch of small animated robots that turned on by the push of a button, or sound activated, or motion sensitive. you could try out each robot and they were all cool and artsy looking. the whole room was buzzing w/ robot sounds, whirring, and beeps. afterwards, sage suggested we go to a Senegalese restaurant. i’ve wanted to go to this place for a long long time, and so was pretty excited to finally try it out. the food was hella good!! i had been reading in my travel books that a lot of the food in africa is quite bland, but this was super flavorful and delicious. after that we dropped off sage and went to go hang out at the Fireside Lounge. it’s really nice having a cool bar less than a block from your house. that’s why i love Sf so much. you can do so much just within walking distance of your house. there are neighborhoods w/ local bars, local markets, coffee shops, etc. unlike the south bay where all you can do from your house is either stare at other similar houses or go visit the local strip mall.
-v
“unlike the south bay where all you can do from your house is either stare at other similar houses or go visit the local strip mall.”
so true man, so true…
Then get the fuck out of my home and go live in the armpit of society! All you whiners and “haterz” need to bail. hah! 😛
The south bay is great. There are plenty of things to do and everything else is just a hop away. Then again, I’m completely over clubbing and bar-hopping.
The city is weak, filthy, crime-ridden, filled with homeless and crackwhores, noisy, overcrowded and rather ugly. There’s a few nice things about the city, but overall I think it’s weak.
So there. 😛
sf is the armpit of society?? riiiight. sure. that’s why Sf is one of the top 5 most famous cities in the US? that’s why tons of people flock here to visit from all over the world? that’s why when any important band/theater group/speaker comes to california, sf will be one of it’s only stops? sf is a city filled with culture, art, music, amazing architecture etc etc. it’s a world class city. on any given day there’s a million different interesting events going on.
if any city is an “armpit” that would be san jose. just what is so nice about san jose? it’s basically the exact same cookie cutter city as any other boring ass strip mall town. living in san jose is the same as living in fresno, modesto, or really wherever. you may as well live in idaho.
you think sf is ugly… what’s so pretty about san jo? it’s a bunch of boring ho-hum suburbs w/ nothing to offer surrounding a “downtown”, if you can call it that, which is filled w/ shite bars and thugs. wow, how fun!
-v
Who said anything specifically about San Jose? The South Bay encompasses much more than downtown San Jose.
SF is the armpit of society, well one of them. You claim San Jose has nothing but shite bars and thugs, well look around SF. Everytime I go there I run into countless thugs, homeless, crackwhores, etc. SFs crime rate has risen steadily and dramatically. I’d hardly claim that SJ is any worse. I can’t count the amount of times people I know (including myself) have been mugged, harassed, burgled, vandalized, etc in the city, but I can count the amount of times people I know have had these things happen to them in the South Bay (SJ included) and it’s very few.
As I said earlier, I could give a shit about clubbing and bar-hopping. I have outgrown that sort of thing. So sure, if that was my main focus, I might enjoy the city, if it wasn’t filthy and filled with criminals, hobos, crackwhores and simply too damn much noise and people.
As for bands, theater groups and speakers, they don’t only hit up SF. I’ve come across many of the biggest names elsewhere.
The South Bay, read as The South Bay and not San Jose, has a lot to offer as I have said. It’s a pretty central area to many great things. There are cultural events, art, music, etc here as well. You just have to pay attention I suppose.
What’s so pretty about this area? Well it has trees and gardens and hill for example. It’s not covered in graffitti, piss, shit, trash, and endless concrete columns. This area offers nature. Sure SF has Golden Gate Park, which is nice, but it doesn’t offer much in the way of natural settings and beauty. Just about everywhere I go in this area offers some natural beauty. SF does not.
I’m not saying that SF doesn’t have some great things there, but overall it’s a typical city… noisy, overcrowded, homeless and crime infested and lacking in natural beauty.
I enjoy living in a rather calm, uncrowded, quiet area with a decent lack of crime and dregs of society. Plus there is always something to do nearby.
You don’t like this area, that’s cool. Live in the city. But I happen to like this area and know that it has an endless amount of things to offer. Plus it is close to everything that I might want to enjoy. So I have a right to defend it and express my opinion.
crap, my comment was so long, LJ wouldnt let me include it all, so i had to break it into 2.
PART 1
>>Who said anything specifically about San Jose? The South Bay
>>encompasses much more than downtown San Jose.
ok, we dont have to use san jose as an example. we can use pretty much any south bay city. which one do you want to use? cupertino? sunnyvale? what is there to do in either one of those places? is there a lot of stuff going on there? are they filled w/ museums, art shows, concert halls, etc? i dunno.. i’ve lived in sunnyvale for years… and there really was hardly anything to do. other than what you do in your own home. oh yeah.. i guess you could go bowl or to the mall.
>>SF is the armpit of society, well one of them. You claim San Jose
>>has nothing but shite bars and thugs, well look around SF. Every time
>>I go there I run into countless thugs, homeless, crackwhores, etc.
i dont think you can call a place an “armpit” or whatever based on the fact that it has homeless people. homelessness is a sad reality and lots of people who are stuck w/ no jobs or are mentally incapacitated from working end up on the streets. the fact that this happens, doesn’t make a city an “armpit”. also, the areas of SF that are “sketchy” and filled w/ homeless and “crackwhores” are: the mission, the tenderloin, and maybe a few other isolated pockets. most of the city is clean, and completely 100% safe. maybe you got a crap impression of SF because you only went there at night and only to neighborhoods in the ghetto where people could throw raves or whatnot. that is completely not representative of what most of SF is like.
>>As I said earlier, I could give a shit about clubbing and bar-
>>hopping. I have outgrown that sort of thing. So sure, if that was my
yes i’m fully aware of that. other than going to the top a few times to hear alex play, i dont *ever* go clubbing either, and the time i spend in bars is not that much either. SF has a *ton* more to offer than just bars and clubs. but at the same time, even if i dont go to them that much, it still is a plus to SF that it has so many bars/clubs. it means that there is stuff going… some kind of city life that is happening, instead of the desolate cities of the southbay. you dont per se have to be into an activity, to appreciate that a city is amore interesting place for having that activity. for instance, i dont go to the opera, but i still value the fact that SF has an opera hall.
>>As for bands, theater groups and speakers, they don’t only hit up
>>SF. I’ve come across many of the biggest names elsewhere.
elsewhere as in where? other than shoreline, i doubt there are that many important names coming to any city in the south bay. mostly because there aren’t any big or interesting venues there. how many good venues are there in cupertino? i can only think of possibly one: the flynt center.
>>There are cultural events, art, music, etc here as well. You just
>>have to pay attention I suppose.
yeah, exactly… you have to dig *real* deep to find anything going on.
>>What’s so pretty about this area? Well it has trees and gardens and
>>hill for example. It’s not covered in graffiti, piss, shit, trash,
like i already said, you are totally generalizing. sure the warehouse districts and the mission are all concrete and dirty… that’s because they are industrial centers. they are not meant to be pretty. but the rest of the city is clean and respectable.
PART 2:
>>Golden Gate Park, which is nice, but it doesn’t offer much in the
>>way of natural settings and beauty. Just about everywhere I go in
not true. golden gate park… first off is *huge*. it’s several miles in length, has waterfalls, japanese gardens, a golf course, live buffalo, a flower conservatory, and much much more. i dont think cupertino or sunnyvale would have anything that even closely compares to it. *and* golden gate is just the beginning. Sf is *filled* w/ parks both large (the presidio) and small. there are tons of places filled w/ both natural and man-made beauty like the area surrounding the exploratorium, the area near the legion of honor, the cliffs on the waterfront, etc etc. not to mention, as far as nature goes, the city is *surrounded* on two sides by beach. there are sweeping dramatic ocean views all over the city.
>>this area offers some natural beauty. SF does not.
hardly.
and everything i mentioned is just the tip of the iceberg. this is not even going into famous national landmarks that everyone in the country wants to see like the GG bridge, historic Chinatown, etc.
>>You don’t like this area, that’s cool. Live in the city. But I
>>happen to like this area and know that it has an endless amount of >>things to offer. Plus it is close to everything that I might want to >>enjoy. So I have a right to defend it and express my opinion.
oh definitely. you have every right to voice your opinion. but honestly i think calling SF an “armpit” is completely ridiculous. especially when comparing it to the southbay. sure, city life is not for everyone, and i dont expect everyone to want to live in the city or anything like that, but it’s just obvious that it is still an incredible place. dont get me wrong… i dont hate the south bay. i lived there my whole life and i will always have some feelings for the place. but overall, i just think it’s pretty mundane and devoid of culture etc… it’s just another cookie cutter suburban town. drop somebody off there who has never been there, and looking at the mcdonalds, taco bell, Applebee’s, etc and the endless stretches of identical houses and they could just as easily assume they’re in Tracy or whatever. it has very little character.
-v
Again, Golden Gate is a great place, but SF in general doesn’t offer much in the way of natural beauty. There are places to go within the city that do, but you can’t find it just about everywhere you go and you can here because it is blocked by endless towers and walls of concrete, filth and graffiti.
Golden Gate Bridge is ugly. The entire world can want to see it, but it doesn’t make it any less of an eyesore. It is not golden, it is rusty orange. The surrounding area, as in the natural settings are nice, but the bridge itself is ugly.
It’s obvious to you that it’s not an armpit and is an incredible place, but to many people it is the opposite. I think any place that has such a high crime rate, countless crackwhores and homeless freaks, the stench of shit and piss almost everywhere you go, filth, trash and graffiti, etc. is an armpit.
I personally don’t think you have really looked at the south bay with open eyes. It has plenty of character. Houses are very different most places you go and there is a lot of culture here and things to do. To me the city is rather cookie cutter itself. The buildings/houses look very much the same all sharing similar architecture. I see just as many fast food places everywhere there as I do here, frequently more since I have known of several areas that have more than one Starbucks on a city block.
It’s just a matter preference really, people are often only going to see what they want to. They are blinded by the love for something which often disallows them to see the bad in it or the good in other things.
I never said the city doesn’t have some good things to offer, I think it does. I love Golden Gate, the Exploratorium, some of the theaters (especially the Orpheum), Japantown, Chinatown and a few other places. Unfortunately, all the things I mentioned about it being an “armpit” keep me away. That place leaves me feeling unsafe and filthy. It’s chaotic and I don’t like chaos.
</i>i’ve lived in sunnyvale for years… and there really was hardly anything to do. other than what you do in your own home. oh yeah.. i guess you could go bowl or to the mall.</i>
There is so much more to do than that, but if that’s all you saw here, then I am sorry to hear that. There are numerous gardens, fine restaurants, cultural hotspots, comedy clubs, museums, theater events and more around the area.
<i>i dont think you can call a place an “armpit” or whatever based on the fact that it has homeless people. homelessness is a sad reality and lots of people who are stuck w/ no jobs or are mentally incapacitated from working end up on the streets.</i>
Yes I can. Crime, filth, and bums are exactly what makes me decide if a place is an armpit.
A large majority of the homeless people are not truly homeless, mentally unstable or jobless. Studies have been done. A lot of them do it because the money from panhandling is good. Many do it because they are drunks or drug users. They have options to help themselves, but they’d rather live life as they do – no responsibilities, no job. Sure, there are those that really did lead hard lives and have no other choice, but plenty do, they just don’t want it. Those are the criminals, the filthy, the drug users, the whores, pimps, etc.
<i>also, the areas of SF that are “sketchy” and filled w/ homeless and “crackwhores” are: the mission, the tenderloin, and maybe a few other isolated pockets. most of the city is clean, and completely 100% safe.</i>
Not in my and a number of friend’s experiences. Criminals, crackwhores and homeless have been run into most everywhere.
<i>maybe you got a crap impression of SF because you only went there at night and only to neighborhoods in the ghetto where people could throw raves or whatnot. that is completely not representative of what most of SF is like.</i>
No, actually, I get that impression from all the countless hours I spent in the city *not* raving. Sure, way back in the day when I was raving, I spent a lot of time in the city at night in shady areas, but I also spent plenty of time there during the day in better areas.
<i>SF has a *ton* more to offer than just bars and clubs.</i>
I never said it didn’t. It’s just that’s a big focus of the city’s lure and something you commented on, so I responded to it.
<i>it means that there is stuff going… some kind of city life that is happening, instead of the desolate cities of the southbay.</i>
These areas are hardly desolate. Everywhere you go it’s crowded and it fricking sucks. I want all these damn people OUT. This is my home dammit and all these foreigners (read any non-native whether Wisconsin or Uzbekistan) need to bail. I used to live in a friendly and safe environment, hell the city used to be as well. Nowadays there are too damn many people resulting in too damn much crime, retarded drivers and filth. The city once upon a time was a great place, but these days it’s getting worse and worse. Other areas, are as well.
<i>>>There are cultural events, art, music, etc here as well. You just
>>have to pay attention I suppose.
yeah, exactly… you have to dig *real* deep to find anything going on.
</i>
Not true at all. That’s not what I was saying and I think you know that. There are always events going on. I have been to countless cultural events here; street faires, parades, festivals, temples, museums, comedy clubs, concerts, fine restaurants, etc.
<i>like i already said, you are totally generalizing.</i>
In your opinion, I am. However, I am not generalizing any more than you are about the South Bay. In my experience, that is the city. I have been all over that city and everywhere I have been it has been pretty much the same.
Again, I never said the city doesn’t have anything to offer. There are things there I enjoy doing, I just think in general, it’s a filthy, crime ridden armpit.