Random thoughts on San Francisco...

Just back from a stay in San Francisco, where I haven't been in a few years. Great trip, and I saw more of the city this time out than I had in my previous several trips combined, including a great little excursion up into the Marin Headlands for some great bird-watching (of the raptor variety), watching an unusual water sport that combines flying a kite and wind-surfing and finishing the first draft of my script assignment, which has now been turned in to my producer. Some parting thoughts on LA's northern neighbor...

-San Fran is one of the most beautiful cities physically in the United States.

-People should stop equating Los Angeles with traffic, because the gridlock in SF is just as bad.

-It's hard to think of another city on Earth (Moscow maybe?) where pedestrians are in more danger of being run down by automobiles. For a pedestrian-friendly town, SF drivers sure seem to have a hatred of those on foot.

-The Bay area has smog too.

-It's virtually IMPOSSIBLE to find good Chinese food in SF, which I find really odd since the city's primary tourist neighborhood is Chinatown.

-I hate Pacific Heights. The people, the shops, the whole neighborhood. Now I'm totally not surprised by them calling the cops on Walter for birdwatching in the neighborhood park. Pac Heights residents, y'all suck.

-I still love North Beach. Best walking neighborhood on the west coast. Period. Cafes, parks, bookstores, restaurants, views...just great neighborhood, and the years have been kind to it, because it is still as awesome now as when I first visited years ago. Just lots more gentrified, but not pompous like the aforementioned Pac Heights.

-I love, LOVE SF's great Wi-Fi connectivity. Getting a signal anywhere in the Bay Area is a cinche. And there are even entire towns with free Wi-Fi thanks to "patrons" like Google. I really hope LA gets on that bandwagon.

-The lovely Palace of Fine Arts building is hollow. It might look like stone and marble, but it's not. It's a fugazi.

-Don't fuck with swans. They look pretty, but they bark like dogs, and they won't take your shit.

-Everyone in the Bay Area is an engineer, a software deisgner, or a student. Weird.

-I didn't bother riding it, but I thought it was wild that Cable Car fares are up to $5 ONE WAY! Wow, that seems steep.

One final parting thought...why do people in San Francisco hate LA so much? I've heard rumblings of some kind of "rivalry" between the two cities, but I have to say the rivalry is completely one-sided. Kind of like the supposed "rivalry" between New York and Chicago that only exists in the minds of Chicagoans. Sorry, but folks here in LA don't sit around bitching about San Fran, so why don't folks up in the Bay enjoy their pretty city, have a Coke, smile and shut the fuck up?