Growing Up in The City

The other night I had a drunken cry session with my boyfriend because we love San Francisco so much. We are both from here and so much of the city has changed before our eyes… It is not the same place we grew up in, and for that calling it home means the world to me.

You see, a lot of people who live in San Francisco are not from here. It is sort of odd growing up in a place where most people don’t. The concept of a hometown is a place you grow up in, with people you grow up with, in a community you grow into. I had no idea once you graduate from high school, pretty much everyone you meet in the City is not a native.

“What high school did you go to?”

If you can answer this quickly with an abbreviated version of a high school located within the seven mile radius of San Francisco, then you are definitely one of us. We love asking and answering this question because growing up here is truly a special thing.

I think one of the most beautiful things about growing up in San Francisco is being so used to diversity. The diversity of people, food, and places. As a child growing up with so many different cultures, genders, sexual orientations, and races I didn’t even know there was prejudice in the world until I got much older. What a beautiful mindset to grow up in, however naive it was.

With all this diversity comes a stubbornness for food and cravings one can really only have growing up being spoiled with so many cultures and cuisines. I remember when I was younger my dad would take my sister and I to get dim sum, char sui, and fried rice for breakfast before school. When I got a bit older and was allowed to walk Clement street by myself, my friends and I would order the Pad See Yew almost every time at the original King of Thai on 8th Ave. I thought these were normal breakfast and afterschool snack foods.

Everyone who lives here can probably tell you of 3-5 different pizza and burrito places they love. (Escape from New York, Zantes, and La Corneta are some of my favorites). I am so annoying when it comes to food for this reason… I eat what I crave, and I crave whatever I want at the moment. Sometimes it’s pizza. Or pho. Or pupusas. Or those pancakes at that hole in that wall place on Market st somewhere. Honestly the more holey in the wall the better.

And as for all the places… Yes there is the Golden Gate Bridge, Golden Gate Park, Alcatraz, etc. However there is SO much more to San Francisco than the tourist spots. Did you know there’s a canyon in San Francisco? Yes it’s called Glen Park Canyon - an actual canyon, with 70 acres of Eucalyptus trees and hiking trails, all in the middle of San Francisco. You can take your dog there and let them off leash. They also just added an indoor climbing area, a new playground, and more picnic tables. I do like these kinds of changes San Francisco has brought.

Did you know the Bay Bridge is used way more than the Golden Gate Bridge? As a child I drove over this bridge so much I really thought it was the Golden Gate Bridge. The Golden Gate is beautiful and iconic, but the Bay Bridge is what we all see pretty much every day. It glitters at night and spans all the way across to Oakland. Coming back home from this bridge and seeing the lit up Coca-Cola sign was the beacon that meant I was home. RIP Coca-Cola sign.

Everyone loves San Francisco. It’s pretty hard not to. Growing up here I have had the honor to experience this city from birth. And I must say… I still hella love it here. I am proud so many others do too.