San Francisco is overpriced, over-hped, and most of all OVERRATED.

The folks who diss SF in this 'Quick Topic' are absolutely correct! I've lived on the West Coast since '92, mostly in Seattle, now in Portland, as well as a year in SF (thank god only a year--that was MORE than enough!). Well, what can I say? At least I went there, gave it a go, and got it out of my system once and for all. Ugh. So overcrowded and impersonal. The cost of housing DEFINITELY does not reflect of VALUE of living there. You can easily get the same progressive, cosmopolitan, "left coast" vibe living in Portland or Seattle for a faaaar more reasonable price. San Francisco sucks. Why? Because while it might have been AWESOME for Jack Kerouack et al back in the 50's or 60's, it has long since lost it's lustre and the rabid capitalist scum (read that real estate assholes) have ruined it for counter-cultural artsy types. Let's face it: how can artists who are already totally underpaid in the USA really hope to make art, be in a band, write, etc. when they are ALWAYS having to worry about making rent? Fucking ridiculous, this $1,000/mo for an effin' studio apartment! Fuck that shit. Artists, leftists, and other creatives should leave SF in droves, and they are. I call bullshit on being fleeced by real estate assholes just to live in a huge, stinking, tourist trap that SF is. Overpriced, over-hyped, and over-crowded. Old, cool, awesome SF died back in 1970. That's the SF I will always love and hold dear in my mind. The SF of today is a shadow of it's former, much lovlier self.

--Snazmo

I have spent the last 4.5 years in SF as an art student at the Academy of Art College. While I grew from my time here, SF itself has left me underwhelmed.

What remains of the counter-culture the city is famous for, is more of a jaded, grungy, hippie-fallout that have lost the ideals that once were. Even in an art school, I find the energetic eccentricities to be particularly low. San Francisco is past its prime.

Haight-Ashbury has a GAP and a Ben & Jerry's on the intersection. Downtown is most notable for its abundance of smelly obnoxious bums. Everything costs more than anywhere else in the US (except perhaps NY). The metermaids are vicious to the point of rabid. Oh, and it's cold and foggy all the time.

Really the only reason the "Peace & love" monacker has stuck on SF is that it brings hordes of mulling tourists.

I have often wondered where the progressive cities are today, where the next "big thing" is coming from... I would have loved to live here in the 60's, but this place is only sliding farther from that energetic ideal.

Where are the boom towns of today? I would love to hear about any cool places anyone else knows about...

Thanks