Yep, that’s been my experience as well. This might actually turn downtown around if it’s forced to convert more to residential.

With its hills, access to green space, forests, ocean, waterways and culture it’s a fantastic city to live - up there with the best in the US in my books.

I’ve even grown to love the fog and wind, it feels amazing to come back to in the summer when everywhere inland from the coast is baking in 100+ degree weather.

> love the fog and wind I think that the original perception of California in general and San Francisco in particular as having good climate is based in the pre-air conditioning era, when no effective artificial climate control existed.

Downtown SF is weird. I love the neighborhoods, but the downtown feels like a movie set without enough extras in the background. Maybe if developers converted more of downtown to residential it could help the city have some night life as well because that was the other odd thing that struck me about SF.

Downtown is also dark and gloomy in an already gloomy city. I’ve been to many cities but have never seen a downtown like SF. Too many tall buildings may be? But other than offices, conference center and office lunch places there’s just nothing to bring people in. The bars were usually empty, not many good dinner places…etc. It was always weird and depressing.

SF’s downtown was a dead zone in the 70s and early 80s. Market street was boarded up.

Times change, and then change again.