McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft
San Francisco sci-fi...location help needed!!
arianne:
So...I'm working on a sci-fi tale at the moment, and it's set in San Francisco (why set it in a city I have never been to? No idea. But Muse says San Francisco, and when Muse talks, I do ;D)
I'm hoping that someone who lives in the city or has been there many times can help me out with this. My questions are:
1) which area of San Fran would clubs (night clubs) be likely to be located in?
2) which is an area where the poorer people live (one of the characters is unemployed, where would he be likely to live?)
3) which is an area that you would NEVER walk through after dark, even if someone PAID you, because chances are you would get mugged. And re-mugged. And maybe mugged some more. Like rough neighborhoods are what I'm after.
4) which is a more suburban-y place where you see nice houses with four floors and an attic, and a nice front yard, and driveway and all. I'm hoping for somewhere slightly secluded, too. Don't worry about the price range--the characters are rich, they can afford it :D
5) a nice coffee shop that most people would know and go to (and please not $tarbucks. Please)
6) a mall or shopping area located close to the place where the poorer people live (I know, why would someone build a mall near people who don't have the cash to buy stuff? But just close-ish would be good enough. Maybe biking distance?)
7) and, not really a location question, more of a culture question--is Wiccan/magic type of stuff widely accepted in San Francisco?
I know that's a lot of questions!! It would be cool if you could answer just one; you don't have to answer all of them in one go!!
Deepest thanks in advance to anyone who can help ^^
meg_evonne:
well, it sounds like ROAD TRIP time! Enjoy! Even if you get this information from someone, it will be sketchy at best. To make it ring true, I really think a visit is in order. San Fransisco is an incredibly rich and diverse place. It has its own flavor and feel--like DC or New Orleans or Vancouver. The cultural differences alone would be incredibly difficult to write about unless you've at least brushed up against them, i.e. China Town. It's also a 3D city...as much of your description would be looking up at the hills, Coit Tower, etc or looking down on Alcatraz, the bay, the Golden Gate bridge from the nearby hill tops. Read that to mean that even satellite research isn't going to give you the right San Francisco taste... Then there are the weather descriptions.... believe me, in San Fransisco it FEELS different minute to minute from location to location!
I wish you well on your research--because the road trip will be a blast!
Quantus:
I grew up in Oakland, but haven't been back for more than a week in 10 years. So I can help you some, but not with everything.
In general, San Fransisco is kinda like the Manhattan borough of the metropolitan area, usually just called The Bay Area. The Phone Books all just say West Contro Costa County. Lots of ridiculously steep hills, cold fog every morning. Oakland is the slightly rougher (or maybe just less touristy) part across the Bay Bridge (think Brookland). It is buoyed by the fact that it blends straight into Berkeley to the north, which is an ultra liberal college town with an above average share of hippies and the occasional nudist out for a walk. North of that is Richmond, which is the middle class suburban area I grew up in. Well, technically I grew up in Pinole, the tiny town to the north that hasn't visibly changes in 20+ years and is known for its "timelessness" (which is the nicest way I can put it). That town ends rather abruptly into hilly graze-lands. The average resident would be aware of a painful commute from there to any of the main parts of town using either a parking lot of an interstate, or taking the back way around the hills to the Caldecott Tunnel straight into berkely.
North of SF there is some sparce-ish stuff on the inner side, and hilly park lands between you and the beach, but is more the stereotype california beach town type stuff than anything SF specific. South of SF I have much less experience with. Its got the main airport for the area (there is one in Oakland too, but its a pain to get in and out of). Past that it trickles out into various smaller towns and suburbs along the bay as most large cities tend to do, but I cant tell you much more than that.
If you go to SanFransisco and don't go to the Exploritorium, you've done something wrong that you will regret for the rest of your life. A giant hands-on museum. Lots of perception illusions etc. You know those Plasma Balls you see in Spencers and every mad scientist's lab? Invented just as a hands-on demonstration for this place. Loves me that place, and have never heard of somebody having less than a blast there, even when initially forced to go.
1)Was too young when I was there
2)Depends on mobility. There are some low income places in oakland, some slightly better ones nearer the university, or else a drive or Bart ride (what they call the above ground subway system) from the more fringe areas like richmond.
3)Downtown Oakland comes to mind. There are probably some areas in SF proper as well, but too much walking up and down those hils tends to suck quick.
4)Richmond. Anywhere works for middle class. Country Clubs in East Richmond Heights/Kensington up on the hills, and the Richmond Golf Club to the north, near the water.
5)Couldn't tell you, need a more specific area. There are tons of little corner coffee shops etc, but no widely famous ones i know of.
6)Definitely Hilltop Mall in Richmond for an actual Mall. Most other shopping is more street, storefront, or boardwalk type setups. Or you know, the Costco.
7)As a rule sure. Like I said, they have nudists casually wagging down the street, so a little wiccan twist isn't going to raise eyebrows. Last time I was there fairy talismans were common wall hangings in the bookstores and such. That being said, they are not nearly as much the laid back live-and-let-live sort of hippie as you'd expect, especially for a town with such and open and nearly legal pot industry. Far more often you get the cause-head activist hippies, which are by nature more forceful with their opinions and beliefs. But it would be more a personal level friction, rather than a group movement of belief. Unless they think you are going threaten the bunnies with mascara, or sacrifice that poor chicken, or something that set em off. Then they can get just as idiotically close-minded as any other mass of people.
Enjorous:
1) which area of San Fran would clubs (night clubs) be likely to be located in?
Don't know off the top of my head
2) which is an area where the poorer people live (one of the characters is unemployed, where would he be likely to live?)
Tenderloin is pretty rough, smells like urine half of the time. Lot's of porn shops and strip clubs down here.
3) which is an area that you would NEVER walk through after dark, even if someone PAID you, because chances are you would get mugged. And re-mugged. And maybe mugged some more. Like rough neighborhoods are what I'm after.
See above
4) which is a more suburban-y place where you see nice houses with four floors and an attic, and a nice front yard, and driveway and all. I'm hoping for somewhere slightly secluded, too. Don't worry about the price range--the characters are rich, they can afford it
Richmond works,
5) a nice coffee shop that most people would know and go to (and please not $tarbucks. Please)
City Light books, it's one of the most popular private book store with cafe.
6) a mall or shopping area located close to the place where the poorer people live (I know, why would someone build a mall near people who don't have the cash to buy stuff? But just close-ish would be good enough. Maybe biking distance?)
There are a few of what your talking about near Market Square, which does have a mall bordering on the Tenderloin there are also a few other big department stores like Macy's a few blocks up surrounding Union Square.
7) and, not really a location question, more of a culture question--is Wiccan/magic type of stuff widely accepted in San Francisco?
arianne:
As always, I am AMAZED by the great, detailed replies I get here. ;D Thank you all sooo much!!!
Unfortunately road trip is out of the question as I live on the other side of the globe. So unless I win the lottery or something, I'm not going to be able to get out there anytime soon! :(
Just wanted to ask...is Richmond the type of place where you are likely to have a house that has no other house around it for at least a few miles? In my mind's eye I'm thinking of a house kind of halfway up a hill, and it's a big, "stately" sort of place that might be able to pass for a mini castle, or maybe a private school, something like that?
And about the weather...Quantus mentioned "cold fog every morning". Is it like early morning, five am fog, or like real morning fog that lasts until nine or ten in the morning? And does the fog mean that it tends to rain a lot too?
Again, thank you, thank you, thank you!
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