mad maison

San Francisco is known for many things. Cable Cars, sourdough bread, beat poets, hills, liberal politics–I could go on. Of course, San Francisco is also known for challenging parking. Take a city as densely packed as New York City, throw in some wacky hills, and you have San Francisco parking. I know of no other city where at certain times and on certain streets (that I still haven’t figured out) you’re allowed to park in a lane of traffic. Despite this, Mike and I have felt pretty lucky when it comes to parking. We actually have a garage (that’s currently filled with items from the former residents) and a driveway. In addition, we don’t live in one of the more densely packed neighborhoods of San Francisco. For the last two months we’ve been able to keep one car in the driveway and park one on the street. Given that today is our two-month anniversary here in SF, it seems the fates wanted to have some fun with mad. Last night, we came home a little later than usual and there was no parking to be found. No parking on our street, the adjacent street, or even the street two blocks over. I’m happy to report that under battlefield conditions, mad performs with aplomb. We quickly cleared a little spot in our packed-to-the-gills garage so we could park the smaller of our two cars inside. This allowed us to park our second car in the driveway. Most important, it allowed mad avoid a night of sleeping in our car.

Yes, those cars are parked in a lane of traffic. Photo credit sf.streetsblog.org.

After providing Denise with blog assistance for the past month or so, I figured it was time to become a full-fledged contributor. As Denise has mentioned previously, I’m a New York native, but I’m very enthusiastic about our move to San Francisco. I’ve been lucky enough to discover SF’s gorgeous landscape & quirky charms during prior trips, and it’s a nice feeling to be able to trade one world-renowned cosmopolitan city for another.

One of the many things I’m looking forward to in SF is to discover it for the first time as a walking city. To me, one of the sublime & largely unwritten merits of NYC is the ease of walking through the many diverse neighborhoods of the city, and being able to perpetually make new discoveries along the way. It just seems that many times, history & local color are more internalized by walking through the boroughs, rather than passively reflecting out the car window (though that does have its benefits, as well). There’s a unique feeling, strange & warm all at once — when you’re able to see something unusual or discover a new route, alley or landmark you’ve never seen before, and it’s very early in the morning, and you feel like the only person for miles who’s been lucky enough to see this revelation, even though you’re in the middle of a city with over 8 million people.

SF certainly has a reputation for being one of the great walking cities of the world, and I’m looking forward to taking advantage. I’m grateful to have a partner who’s supportive of these endeavors. She’s even gone as far as to procure a SF Biking Map for my benefit, even though I’m not much of a cyclist. This map not only gives a nice, comprehensive overview of the city, but also displays the grades of SF’s famous steep hills. So, not only will we be involved in the adventure of driving cross-country & fixing up an old house, but I’ll be discovering SF’s rich history & varied, colorful neighborhoods, one block at a time.

a treasure map, of sorts