Naysayers insist, "San Francisco is so over." Don't believe it.
As a fourth-generation Californian, I know journalists have been drafting the city's obituary since five minutes after the Gold Rush. The current "doom loop" talk is just the latest version of this negative narrative, often hyped for political purposes.
The good news? On August 3, former SF mayor Willie Brown officially declared that the “doom loop" narrative is dead. Amen to that!
To prove his point, Rich and I go out to lunch in San Francisco once a week, confirming the city is alive and kicking, and still — if you know where to go — remarkably cheap and cheerful.
As a fourth-generation Californian, I know journalists have been drafting the city's obituary since five minutes after the Gold Rush. The current "doom loop" talk is just the latest version of this negative narrative, often hyped for political purposes.
The good news? On August 3, former SF mayor Willie Brown officially declared that the “doom loop" narrative is dead. Amen to that!
To prove his point, Rich and I go out to lunch in San Francisco once a week, confirming the city is alive and kicking, and still — if you know where to go — remarkably cheap and cheerful.
Former SF Mayor Willie Brown (right) declares the "doom loop" narrative officially dead on August 3, 2024. Photo: Benjamin Fanjoy SF Chronicle.
HERE'S THE SAN FRANCISCO I'VE DISCOVERED
The Literary Dive Bar Pub Crawl (What I Remember of It)
Tempest Bar & Box Kitchen, Vesuvio Café, Specs' Twelve Adler Museum Café
Bourdain Took One Look & Cried "Cowabunga!"
The Old Ship Saloon & NOB HILL: Cable Car Museum, Grace Cathedral, Tony Bennet Statue, the Tonga Room
Is the Modern Art World Completely Bananas?
DOGPATCH: The Hard Knox Café, Minnesota Street Project, Marsella's Lasagneria, Dogpatch Saloon, Hells Angels HQ
"Don't worry, there's a shortcut."
Angel Island
I Want to Be That Kind of Woman
Museum of African Diaspora, Yerba Buena Gardens, The Mother of San Francisco, The Grove, and the Official Death of the "Doom Loop" Narrative
Take Off on a Joyride
Carlin's Café, The Pirate Supply Store, Dog Eared Books, Fabulosa Books, Café de Casa
Eat, Drink & Be Merry at the Death Café
Mission Dolores, the Death Café, Death Doulas, and San Jalisco's Seafood Cocktail: Levanta Muertos (Raise the Dead)
We Are Not Yet a Lost Civilization
North Beach/Little Italy, Mara's, Washington Square, Saints Peter & Paul Church, Mama's
Predictions to Live by in the Year 02024
The Long Now, The Interval, Greens.
What? Why Is My Library Sealed Off with Crime Scene Tape?
The Castro, GLBT Museum, Orphan Andy's, Twin Peaks Tavern
My Cozy Lunch with a Short Story Vending Machine
Café Zoetrope in SF's Literary District
The Grit & Wisdom of the Tenderloin
Del's Tenderloin Tour, The Tenderloin Museum, Glide Memorial, and the city's most popular fried chicken
My Driverless Taxi's Meltdown on Telegraph Hill
Waymo, Coit Tower, Filbert Steps, Pier 23
A Surge of Sea Lions in Crazytown
Pier 39, Maritime Museum, Community Garden of Ft. Mason, Chestnut Diner
Could Kindness Save the World?
Presidio Social Club, Swords to Plowshares, Spark Social Food Trucks
"Creativity Is Intelligence Having Fun"
De Young Museum, Foghorn Taproom
Finding the Words That Let You Live Out Loud
City Lights Books, Beat Museum, Public Library, Brenda's Meat & Three
Hi, I'm Artificial Intelligence & I'm Here to Help You
Ippudo's Ramen Noodles, Driverless Taxis, Misalignment Museum
Real Reasons to Love Chinatown
Delicious Dim Sum, Hang Ah, Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory, Bruce Lee
My Cheap & Cheerful Lunch in the Dystopian Hellscape
Red's Java House, SF Ferry Building
Carlin's, a café/laundromat toward the dodgy end of Valencia Street, serves up espresso in style.
These days, everybody keeps telling me San Francisco is spiraling down to the lower depths of hell. “Struggling with rampant homelessness, a drug crisis, surging crime, and several business closures," Newsweek reported last summer, "San Francisco is no longer the thriving city it used to be. Its decline in recent months has led some to say the city ‘is dying.’”
Dying? Really? Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
Yes, the city faces enormous, heartbreaking challenges. Every night 4000 unhoused men, women, and children sleep in the streets. Fentanyl killed 800 residents last year. A total of about 80 square blocks, or just over 1% of the city, is awash with drugs and hopelessness. The city is reeling and struggling to cope. But what major US city isn’t?
Researching and writing this series of articles has given me more hope than ever for San Francisco's future. I hope you'll join me as I continue the journey.
Anthony Bourdain on Red's Java House:
“Any time you begin to doubt the wonderfulness of San Francisco, really, all you gotta do is come here." It's a “wonderful, old school, high fat, high protein, beer for breakfast kind of a place.” Cost of a hamburger: $7.93.
For more, see my post My Cheap & Cheerful Lunch in the Dystopian Hellscape.
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