Thursday, July 31, 2008

HOW WE VIEW THE CITY



This was a note sent by a young friend recently about her neighborhood.


So, funny story having to do with where I live. I have told some of you about the "marina girl" reputation. (The Marina is the district of San Fran that I live in). My friends and I were out on Tuesday night in North Beach (only about a mile away from the Marina) for the North Beach Jazz Festival. We went to this bar called Mojito's (like the drink), kind of a dive bar, but has really great live music and great drinks. So, I'm standing at the bar ordering a drink, and these 2 guys sitting next to me ask my friends and I where we are visiting from. I said..."we live here, why would you assume that we are visiting?" He told me it was because we were really dressed up for a bar in North Beach. My friends and I always get dressed up (and you all know how I usually dress), I was really only wearing jeans and a tube top, but had on heels, whatever... we were all pretty much dressed the same. I told him, we like to get dressed up, b/c when you look good, you feel good, and why not. So then he asks, the dreaded question (for me). "where do you guys live?" and I always reply with the same answer...I always have to stall, but eventually say that "I live in the Marina, but don't judge me, I just moved here from Philly. So no, I'm not a marina girl, I'm a Philly girl, and my apartment is the first and only apartment that I looked at when I moved here, and had never been here before. " (which is true).

So we get to talking about how EVERYBODY that lives in the marina says that, because we are all embarrassed or ashamed for some reason to admit we live in the Marina. He told us that there is this article out there (written in like 1990) that talks about living in the Marina, and the reputation still holds true till this day. Anyway, my friends and I found this quite amusing and we had this guy email us the article. If your interested in reading, it is quite funny, and if you ever come to visit, you will definitely witness this first hand. You can usually spot marina girls walking into any bar/restaurant from a mile away....we just have good style :) (it is no longer the khaki look as the article states, but "trendy" shall we say).

On a side note, the Marina is the most beautiful part of the city to live in. I am 4 blocks away from the Bay and Golden Gate bridge, and it really is just absolutely amazing!

http://www.sfweekly.com/2001-01-24/news/forgive-me-for-i-live-in-the-marina/full

--
amy

This is so interesting as I have such views about the City, notice I said, City, which the natives call it. I often call it Frisco, just for meanness. I actually had not heard that much about the Marina. What I think is so true of the City is that it really is like a bunch of little neighbourhoods stuck together. And, you can find mostly what you want in the neighbourhood you choose. What story I thought you were going to tell is the classic one about the Marina Safeway. I was telling a single guy the story not long ago and he said something like, "I don't believe it. I go into the Marina Safeway all the time and never see where there is any action." Maybe it is just a myth.

Of course, what I think is that you can find pretentiousness about anywhere anytime, even in Philly. My idea when we moved into the City was to live in several different neighbourhoods; we've tried two now. My wife's idea was somewhat different than mine, however. The first one in lower Pacific Heights, close to Laural village was way to white bread and yuppie for me. I love where we live now on Anza. A buddy and I had a run on the beach this week and then went for a Buffalo burger and he said, "This is the real world." And, I think so, on Anza which is right at USF (University of San Francisco)--within four or five blocks of where we live is every imaginable type of ethnic restaurant you could imagine. For instance, my favourite is Korean, quickly followed by Ethiopian. There are a dozen Korean and at least three or four Ethiopian.

But, then it is all what you like. We are so lucky to live in such a beautiful place. My usual line is that when the politics and zaniness of the City get overwhelming, I always think about the beauty. Amen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!