Thread: San Francisco

So I came up with a new story idea this morning. Its a good idea. And everytime I think of the setting for the story, San Francisco pops to the front of my mind. The problem you ask? I've never been to San Francisco. I lived in San Diego for a few years, but that doesn't mean crap.

Anyone out there live in San Fran? Can I bore you with a few questions. Like, where would a 30 something, semi successful accountant live (neighborhoods). Would he own a house or rent? Take the train or have a car? Basically I'm looking for a hip neighborhood, where this guy is trying to fit into the hip crowd, but just doesn't quite get it. An accountant trying to live the artist loft lifestyle.

Be glad to help if I can, have lived in SF Bay area the last 30 years and visited there since '71. Let's see - if your accountant is basically conservative he might live in inner Richmond district (called The Avenues), in Polk Gulch (upper Polk St), or (if he has a 6-figure salary) in a high rise near the financial district. If he's trying to adopt an artistic lifestyle and isn't quite that affluent, he would probably be attracted to SOMA (south of Market) lofts. Sounds like he's single. If he saves his money, he might be saving to buy a condo convenient to downtown - or might have already bought one, depending on how long he's been in the City (in the Bay area, SF has long been referred to as "The City"). Othewise he would probably be a renter. He might not have a car - parking is either difficult to find or expensive; if he doesn't, he would have considered available transportation from where he lives - BART, bus, cable car, or walking. He would be unlikely to live far enough from town to take the SP (Southern Pacific) train.
Enough for now. If you have any questions, I'll try to answer them.

Thanks Wron. I'm looking for something that will contrast with his conservative suit type of life. Not a hippie/beach culture like Southern Cal, but more of the high functioning, cutting edge, young, liberal type crowd. Good restaraunts, modern art galleries, cool coffee houses, fresh music scene, wild party scene- all of which he tries, but fails to truely understand due to his white bread, bean counting nature. Does SOMA fit that description?

SOMA would work if he's on a limited budget. It's a little less convenient to downtown/Financial District, where he probably works. Polk Gulch, Nob Hill, or Pacific Heights would be more convenient and closer to the downtown action, though more expensive - like I said, if he can afford it and isn't too much of a tightwad he'd want to live in a financial-district highrise. That area has everything (arts, culture, restaurants, work, etc) within walking distance - like mid-town Manhattan packed into a smaller space. To my knowledge, the only hippie culture there ever was in SF was Haight-Ashbury, which imploded and was gentrified long ago.
It has been 11 years since I actually lived in downtown SF, though I visit often from the East Bay. If you want info on current happenings, try these links:

SF Station - San Francisco's City Guide

San Francisco Bay Area — News, Sports, Business, Entertainment, Classifieds: SFGate

Good luck. I'm working on character development myself at present.