Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

How the Internet Ruined San Francisco (1999)

salon.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 62 posts

Re: How the Internet Ruined San Francisco (1999)

#11

Post by WalterSear »

pikachu_is_cool wrote: post #3

I grew up in the Silicon Valley. One of the riches places in the world. The tech hub. Engineers. Soccer moms. Workaholic dads. The sound of leafblowers 24/7. No parties, no night life. Work work work. Money money money. Get a 2400 on your SAT. Get straight A's and go to UC Berkeley, and if you don't go there you're a failure. Go to the gym every day at 7AM. Eat healthy organic fruits. Everything you could ever possib…

Silicon valley almost killed me. Moving north to San Francisco was one of the big turning points in my life.

Re: How the Internet Ruined San Francisco (1999)

#13

Post by bane »

rdtsc wrote: post #9
pikachu_is_cool wrote: post #3

I grew up in the Silicon Valley. One of the riches places in the world. The tech hub. Engineers. Soccer moms. Workaholic dads. The sound of leafblowers 24/7. No parties, no night life. Work work work. Money money money. Get a 2400 on your SAT. Get straight A's and go to UC Berkeley, and if you don't go there you're a failure. Go to the gym every day at 7AM. Eat healthy organic fruits. Everything you could ever possib…

Sounds like the Trainspotting quote -- "Choose life. Choose a job. Choose a career. [...] Choose rotting away at the end of it all, [...] more than an embarrassment to the selfish, fucked-up brats you have spawned to replace yourself. Choose your future. Choose life." I guess if Trainspotting took place in the Valley it would have all the things you listed.

I always liked this version of it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0K-V8ZWyNMs

Re: How the Internet Ruined San Francisco (1999)

#14

Post by pikachu_is_cool »

steele wrote: post #8
pikachu_is_cool wrote: post #3

I grew up in the Silicon Valley. One of the riches places in the world. The tech hub. Engineers. Soccer moms. Workaholic dads. The sound of leafblowers 24/7. No parties, no night life. Work work work. Money money money. Get a 2400 on your SAT. Get straight A's and go to UC Berkeley, and if you don't go there you're a failure. Go to the gym every day at 7AM. Eat healthy organic fruits. Everything you could ever possib…

Everything except for the last part sounds nice.

Then you can take my place.

Re: How the Internet Ruined San Francisco (1999)

#15

Post by walshemj »

stretchwithme wrote: post #7

Living in a desirable place has always been popular. And its popularity fluctuates. Those who rent rather than buy are most exposed to those fluctuations. Those who buy are most likely to profit. That's how it works. Nothing new about it and there's no way to change it, except perhaps stopping the Federal Reserve from creating bubbles with cheap money.

Strikes me that a lot of renters want the advantages of property ownership but none of the responsibilities.

Re: How the Internet Ruined San Francisco (1999)

#16

Post by walshemj »

rdtsc wrote: post #9
pikachu_is_cool wrote: post #3

I grew up in the Silicon Valley. One of the riches places in the world. The tech hub. Engineers. Soccer moms. Workaholic dads. The sound of leafblowers 24/7. No parties, no night life. Work work work. Money money money. Get a 2400 on your SAT. Get straight A's and go to UC Berkeley, and if you don't go there you're a failure. Go to the gym every day at 7AM. Eat healthy organic fruits. Everything you could ever possib…

Sounds like the Trainspotting quote -- "Choose life. Choose a job. Choose a career. [...] Choose rotting away at the end of it all, [...] more than an embarrassment to the selfish, fucked-up brats you have spawned to replace yourself. Choose your future. Choose life." I guess if Trainspotting took place in the Valley it would have all the things you listed.

Yeah but much much more passively aggressive when compared to schemies from Edinburgh.

Re: How the Internet Ruined San Francisco (1999)

#19

Post by smoyer »

I don't want to sound callous but ... market forces shape and reshape cities all the time. When the facets of city-life in San Francisco that initially drew people fade away, people will flock somewhere else and the rents will stagnate or reverse. And if San Francisco is losing its allure as an artist's hub, perhaps other places (such as downtown Detroit) are compensating?

I live in a reasonably affluent smaller city and the problem of affordable housing for the "working poor" is about the same here ... but I still haven't seen what I think is a viable solution (developers were compensated for building low-income housing and maintaining low rent for 10 years, but now the rent for those houses exceeds my monthly mortgage).

Re: How the Internet Ruined San Francisco (1999)

#20

Post by colin_mccabe »

pikachu_is_cool wrote: post #3

I grew up in the Silicon Valley. One of the riches places in the world. The tech hub. Engineers. Soccer moms. Workaholic dads. The sound of leafblowers 24/7. No parties, no night life. Work work work. Money money money. Get a 2400 on your SAT. Get straight A's and go to UC Berkeley, and if you don't go there you're a failure. Go to the gym every day at 7AM. Eat healthy organic fruits. Everything you could ever possib…

I live in Silicon Valley, and we have both parties and night life. It depends on who your friends are. I also knew a lot of people back in Cleveland who were living the workaholic life, trying to get into the best colleges, and so forth. So that they could leave Cleveland behind. It's a state of mind, not a place.

I realize this may not be a popular point of view among San Franciscans, but I think the east bay and south bay are actually better if you don't want to be a workaholic. In SF, unless you bought property in the 1970s, you'll be paying somewhere north of $3500 a month for housing. That kind of money requires you to have a high-end job it sounds like you're not that interested in. There are benefits to living in SF, but they come with costs.

A lot of artists and creatives live in Oakland these days. It has good access to San Francisco and other places via BART, and the housing costs are still reasonable.

On the other hand, the most laid-back place in the bay area is definitely Santa Cruz. It always brings a smile to my face to go down to the beach there.

Post reply on HN