I took a two month break, and when I emerged from my flight in San Francisco in January it hit home that I was an insider to the Bay Area now. I haven’t been here as long as most people, but I’ve explored more nooks, crannies than I thought possible.
Housecleaning meant going through the art from the past few years and realizing how California has left a mark on me.
Reverse Culture Shock
It’s always shocking when you take a break for two months how wealthy the Bay Area is, and how important it has become. I remember when I first moved here it didn’t feel like I would stay here more than four or five years, but California’s supernova’ed in the past ten years. This was always a sleepy, provincial city, a place where you went to settle down after living life in the big city like New York.
Now people go to New York from San Francisco and crow how affordable life there is. Even London felt manageable.
Machine Cities
Before the virus I was surprised at how people could adjust to an environment that seemed so aggressive to human life. Everything felt as if it were made for machines (cars / trucks) instead of human beings. Crossing the street felt like a life or death dare.
The train, a rarity for most of the United States, was comforting. It felt like people who lived here could see a little bit more reality than those who spend their lives shuffling from parking lot to parking lot.
The Lucky Duck Bicycle Cafe had preserved some old wall murals from the Lobot artist warehouse, and I realized, shocked, that there had been a time when charming artists roamed Oakland and I could show up at interesting parties. Those days are long gone due to gentrification.
The music culture has been sterilized, the punk houses are gone. I feel bad about putting hipsters down.
Missing Foodie Culture
At least the emphasis on food culture never went away from the Bay Area. People still go on coffee dates here instead of bars. But with the virus shutdown, I’m sure drinking will come roaring back.
I’ll never hate on the focus on food though!
