San Francisco – What’s It Really Like Now?

[music plays]
[Peter] Good morning, guys.
Here in beautiful San Francisco.
-[man] Is that Peter, is it?
-[Peter] How you doing?
-I watch your videos.
-We’re starting a video right now.
-I’ll get out of your way, sorry.
-No, no, appreciate it.
-How are you liking San Francisco?
-Amazing.
-Amazing? Awesome.
-Never been here before.
So, beautiful place.
All right guys, so today’s video
about beautiful San Francisco.
A place that’s been in the media nonstop
for the last few years.
So today’s video is about getting
into as many sides of the city
as we can in one day.
I could be a creator that just shows
the blight in the Tenderloin
or just show the beauty of Presidio Park
with a wealthy neighborhood
but there are many stories
coexisting here at the same time
and there’s an overall feel.
Is the city doing better?
Is it doing worse? Where is it at?
So let’s get down there,
talk to the locals,
get some interesting perspectives,
and get a better understanding of
what San Francisco is currently like
Let’s do this.
[jazz music plays]
[Peter] Here we are, Pacific Heights.
One of the nicer neighborhoods
in the city.
These houses are phenomenal.
Check these out.
I looked on Zillow.
You see numbers
like $15 million, $20 million.
This is the big money here.
All the way down to the bay.
So you’ll see the streets are very clean,
everything’s trimmed,
manicured, taken care of.
So I have a deep history
with San Francisco.
First started coming here
when I was 18 years old.
Lived here.
The last stint was back in 2020
and that was
a very rough period in the city.
Winter of 2020, 2021,
lot of crime, peak COVID.
And so my wife and I left the city.
A lot had to do with just
quality of life issues, smash and grabs,
break-ins, street takeovers.
They’d take over an intersection
and do burnouts.
Not up here in this neighborhood
but in some areas where we lived.
There’d be someone on Fentanyl, a tent
there’d be an RV parked leaking
sewage out into the street
and just a bad overall environment.
So from my understanding, that has been
the absolute low point in modern history.
Now we’re four years later.
Now these neighborhoods
always stay pretty good.
[man] This area here,
you don’t have no problems.
-You have no problems here?
-No, they take care of these people.
Most of the times we’re in the city,
we’re working,
we come into town,
go to the other side of the bridge,
but we don’t have any issues in here.
I’ve been coming to the city
for the last 30 years.
-30 years?
-Yeah, I’m back in Florida now.
I love the city, it’s a blessing.
-That’s great.
It’s my favorite team,
baseball, favorite team, yeah.
Lot of work.
-You guys have plenty of work here?
-Yes.
Yeah, this city’s a blessing
for many, many people.
[Peter] Such a San Francisco shot.
Here we have the driverless car.
Coming to you in just a matter of time.
I mean you can just walk for hours
in these neighborhoods
taking in the beauty.
We’re seven by seven miles here
but the topography is all over the place.
You live in this neighborhood
you go down to the water there.
You can bike along the bay, go to
the Golden Gate, which is over that way,
Presidio Park.
You can live quite a beautiful life
up in these areas.
-[Peter] You got your hands full.
-[man] Oh yeah, I do.
Can I ask you one question?
-Sure.
-Okay.
How is the city right now
versus two years ago would you say?
It’s coming back… coming back.
It’s the world that we’re in.
That’s what I believe, you know?
If you sue the cops,
who wants to be a cop?
If you want to treat the cops more like
criminals then who wants that job?
The city has 500 less police officers
but it’s just like dog walking,
You make it harder to do it,
who wants to do it?
It’s all good. All good.
The city is different.
These have all been clients for 30 years.
-Okay.
-Yeah.
It turns over and all different…
I’ve never seen this many dogs
that well-behaved around each other.
They regulate it.
You can only have eight dogs in the park.
If you have this many on the sidewalk,
where you gonna take ’em?
-Anyway have a good day.
-Take care, you too.
[to dogs] Puppies, pup.
-He was saying back in the day this was
millionaires, now it’s billionaires
and it’s hard to keep employees now.
Just because of the costs.
Like you have to pay so much
to be able to keep them in the city
that he can’t make
any money with employees
so he’s just doing it himself now.
[jazz music plays]
[Peter] This is great, guys.
There is a lot more life down here.
A couple years ago
it was not looking at all like this
as far as people walking out and about,
people going to work.
And this is really good to see.
Okay, first impression, guys,
so keep that in mind.
Just what I’m feeling and what I’m seeing.
This is fantastic.
I used to park my motorcycle here
all the time.
There are less cars down here.
It’s not as busy
but this is a big improvement I gotta say.
-How you doing, sir?
-All right.
-The city looks great.
-Oh yeah, thank you.
You guys bringing it back, huh?
Well trying to keep it clean
’cause it’s a business area.
People want to come shopping
they don’t want to see
dirt all over the place.
I was here a couple years ago,
it didn’t look like this.
-You’re doing a good job.
-Thank you.
This is great to see, the Big Bus is full.
Union Square, for those that don’t know,
this is the center, heart of the city.
During the pandemic
it really got slammed down here very hard.
You can see some of
the storefronts here, empty.
We’ll walk around some of these streets.
I remember what was open
and what wasn’t before.
The famous Westin St. Francis.
Good to see that’s not closed.
I see much more of a police presence.
We got this guy giving it.
[busker singing soul music]
[Peter] So I just read
in the Chronicle this morning
“S.F. down 45,000 jobs from 2019 level.”
A lot of these are tourism jobs.
Services jobs, a lot of tech jobs,
people that commute out of the city,
and you can see here versus the US,
versus California, Bay Area,
and San Francisco.
So the city got really hit hard
during COVID
with people leaving town,
with tourists not coming.
It’s such a big part of the economy.
There’s a point I’d like to make.
Sometimes people say coastal elites, okay?
Now that exists for sure.
People on the coasts doing really well
and sometimes talking for the country
when they don’t know
what the rest of the country is like.
I do want to poke a hole
in the coastal elite label.
Most people out here are not elites,
most people are out here are getting by.
They’re going to their job
at the Westin St. Francis
or could be singing on the streets
or working in construction
and they’re just getting by,
getting through life,
raising their families,
doing the best they can.
So it’s easy to put that label of
coastal elite on places like San Francisco
but most of the city
is not that elite class.
Yes, tons of money here.
That exists
but it’s not a fair label I would say.
[Peter] Okay, so explain that
in the case of San Francisco.
What do you mean?
-The drugs?
-How is it right now would you say?
End of October, 2024,
what are your thoughts?
-But I see less homeless on the streets.
-What year did you move here?
-What do you think about America?
A lot of times foreigners
can understand the country
better than citizens that
were born here I think.
You have something to compare against.
[people chattering]
[Peter] Didn’t expect this here.
That’s interesting.
-You think he’s gonna win?
-Yep.
-You getting much love out here?
-Yep.
San Francisco’s
coming out of the political closet.
Getting lots of support from locals,
lots of foreigners too
but the locals are living in fear
that they’ll lose their job.
Uh, that they’ll get attacked violently.
-They’re gonna get
attacked violently for what?
Just simply expressing their views
or expressing what they see
just in order to be honest
that there’s a cost to pay
and so broken windows in your car,
broken windows in your home,
or physically attacked personally.
-Okay, what about you? Do you have
problems down here doing this ?
Yeah, the first week was intense
but are you force justice or what’s right
and you hold people accountable
it’s just momentum has come
and you shouldn’t have to live in fear.
This is a free country.
You should be able to express yourself.
Especially in San Francisco.
-San Francisco was always the place
to have whatever idea it might be
and that’s accepted.
-Used to be.
-Right, so basically–
It got more conformist.
Yeah, If you look around,
these places are empty.
All of this is empty.
-What do you mean they’re empty?
-It’s a ghost town.
Because no one wants to do business here.
They’re trying to get
the holiday season out,
no more Christmas trees.
It’s just–
[man on megaphone]
Make America Great Again.
[man] Yeah, thank you!
[laughs] And so…
It used to be so colorful,
full of life here.
It was almost like
you had to dance around people
to get here to across the street
and it was just a different situation.
People had integrity
and this is…
Right now what you’re seeing today,
I don’t know if you’re a visitor here,
but they cleaned this all up.
-This is cleaned for visitors.
-Why?
For Fleet Week.
Four weeks, five weeks ago, dude,
crack pipes, heroin needles,
all kinds of stuff all over the place.
-Are you from here?
-Yeah.
-Born and raised?
-In the Bay Area, yeah.
-Did you love growing up here?
-Oh, yeah.
Dude, that’s what I mean. It’s amazing.
Right here is an international spot.
So you have the best of
all the cultures in one spot.
Bro, it was amazing
and this is why immigration is great.
It boosts the economy
but there’s a process to immigration.
We want you to make a pledge to say,
“Hey, I want to do what’s right
with everyone that I’m joining,
a family basically
and I pledge to be honorable.”
And that’s all it is is just like,
“Hey man, you promise to
abide by these simple principles.”
and if you do
then you’re welcome, let’s go.
If you’re not then, dude,
I’m sorry, tough luck.
I appreciate it, thank you.
Thank you for voting.
[woman] Of course,
who else would I vote for?
-Are you from San Francisco?
-Los Angeles.
-Okay, see you guys. Take care.
[woman] You too, thank you.
Okay, before those watching say
you’re pushing a candidate or this is
a political angle on things, it’s not.
It’s what I run into.
If there’s a Kamala stand
I’m gonna go over and talk to that person.
[man shouting]
I’m gonna talk to that person
’cause it’s an interesting take
of what’s going on and this is a way
to access people’s thought processes
and where culture is at,
and if you don’t like what you see
then this is not the channel for that.
[Peter] How you doing, sir?
How’s security these days?
Pretty good.
-How are the city police doing?
They stepping up?
-Yeah, except you hear what happened here?
-No, what happened?
There was an attempt Monday,
early morning at 4:00,
there’s three juveniles
and then they used a stolen
Lexus I 250 to ram the door
but they got wedged.
They weren’t able to penetrate
because SAPD responded right away
and then one car took off that way
and one car took off this way
at 4:00 in the morning.
-So they rammed
right into the Louis Vuitton?
No, they weren’t able to make it in
’cause the car got wedged
’cause the tight squeeze.
It was hella funny.
-[chuckling]
-Oh, the door?
It just got replaced yesterday I think.
So what they started to do is
put armed guard in evening, graveyard.
-Okay, how’s business?
Is it coming back a little bit?
Yeah, tourists are back.
They’re happy seeing us.
-[man] Bro…
-[Peter] Oh, wrong way. Oh, geez.
-Everything’s been quiet.
-It’s been quiet? Cool.
-So things are getting better in the city?
-Way better.
The mayor was here yesterday
and she was suggesting…
Made a little speech.
-See those gray planters?
-Yeah.
I think they want to add more
so no cars can just penetrate like that.
-Did they catch the guys?
-No, they were able to take off.
-Oh, man.
-Yeah, I know.
All right, well keep up the good work.
-Thank you. You have a good day.
-Yeah, take care.
[Peter] San Francisco Police cars
are definitely relics of the past.
[banging buckets and noise]
[man speaking into megaphone]
[Peter] What’s going on, sir?
We’re having a strike
because we don’t have any contract.
Marriott hotel.
-No work?
-No work.
Here… Here.
[noise continues]
We’re just fighting for a decent contract.
[noise continues]
“Room cleaners, cooks, dishwashers,
servers, bartenders, bellpersons,
and others who’ve worked
here for many years.”
Okay.
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Now back to the story.
There’s a driverless car with a passenger.
And you have
a closed store here unfortunately.
This is a tourist hot spot.
We have the Powell Street cable car.
You can see there’s a building there
closed down, one down here.
Some stuff is still open.
How you doing, sir?
-Is business coming back at all?
-Not really.
-Not really.
-Look.
Plenty.
All the convention
don’t come to San Francisco.
They go somewhere else.
-Moscone Center isn’t filling up?
No.
-Better than two years ago, fair to say?
-A little bit better.
-‘Kay.
-A little bit better.
-I’m seeing more tourists.
Okay.
Good luck with everything.
-What’s your name?
-Tony.
-Tony, Peter.
-Okay, Peter.
-Everyone’s leaving, you’re staying.
-Yeah.
All right.
This is pretty bad here.
All these for lease.
This is the heart of the city.
What was that before? I think it was
Foot Locker or some shoe company.
So my theory with this cycle is
things went down really quickly.
Businesses tried to hang on.
They hung on,
many for a while, and then left.
The people need to come back
before the businesses come back.
The safety security situation
needs to be good.
The tourists have to come back
and then someone will invest
in setting up a shop here ’cause I’m sure
the lease is super expensive.
Wow, that’s closed.
I think that was Walgreen’s.
Market Street’s an interesting one.
Down there it’s a bit more financial
and up here it’s always been a bit rough
and then we’re gonna jump into
the notorious Tenderloin
and see how that is.
I’ve never seen it good
so I’m sure it’s not now
but what I’m not seeing
or haven’t seen today
are the tents on the streets.
That’s a huge improvement.
SF Democrat Headquarters over here
and this looks vacant down low.
It’s quite quiet on Market Street.
-How are things going out here, boss?
-Pretty good.
-Making a video on the city
-Okay.
Hitting all sides.
What are you guys, security or something?
No, we out here
for safety and service pretty much
to make sure the community,
people can get through.
Make sure the unhoused guests and stuff
don’t be blocking the sidewalks and stuff
so people can walk where they’re going.
So if someone’s having a problem here
you call in the police or something?
We’ll try to step in and deescalate
before we have to call in the police
but if we can’t do it
we’ll call in and have them come out.
-Cool, what’s your organization?
-Urban Alchemy.
We out here every day.
We keep it clean and peaceful for people
to walk through and get to their jobs.
-Yeah, I don’t see the tents anymore.
-Yeah, naw, that part stopped.
I’m new here
so I don’t know when it stopped
but it’s been stopped for a while now.
They used to have a tent section
for the homeless to go and shower.
-Like on Jones I believe.
-Yeah.
-All right, boss, keep up the good work.
-Thank you. Have a good one.
So if you see those videos
from San Francisco
where people are on Fentanyl or tranq,
tents on the street,
most likely it’s from this neighborhood,
the Tenderloin.
This is what it is.
Okay, I remember a couple years ago,
tents all down this street.
And I’ve never seen
Jones look so good and I’m serious.
-Good job you guys, looks good out here.
-Thank you, God bless.
God bless.
[woman] …big speaker.
The one that smoke all the weed
that has a big speaker.
[old woman laughs]
-You know who I’m talking about?
Have you seen him.
-Ma’am, can I ask you a question?
-Yes.
Jones Street’s doing better
these days, yeah?
-Kinda.
Better here. I’ve been here all my life.
-Okay.
-I’m from the [unclear].
-So what are you?
-I make YouTube videos.
I’m all over the country,
all over the world.
-Put me on ’cause I’m an actress.
No, I’m just playin’.
-[laughter]
-Okay, so you’ve been here all your life?
-Yes, I have.
-I’ve been working here for ten years.
Tell us about Jones Street
and Tenderloin right now.
Um, Jones Street, they have cleaned it up.
You gotta get over there, Sixth Street.
That’s a problem.
-It’s worse on Sixth Street?
-Yes, I agree with her.
-Bunch of problems. Ellis.
-And go by…
-Hyde right here and Eddy.
-Yep, Eddy.
[Peter] What happens
if someone puts up a tent here now?
They take it down immediately
like the Supreme Court said.
-Who does it, the police or who’s coming?
Police and the city, DPW.
-All right, you guys are happy with that?
-Yes.
-Cool.
-I want them to continue to clean it up
-Look, I live right there, new place.
-Yep.
That’s your place? Cool.
-What’s your name, ma’am?
-My name’s Sidney.
Sidney, Peter.
-Hi Peter, Terry.
-Terry.
Hi, Peter.
-Hey, you hit me with that thing.
-Sorry.
That big ass thing.
How you gon’ carry
that big ol’ thing, boy?
-What are you playing, man?
-Saxophone.
-Nice, you pretty good?
-Yeah, tenor.
-How old are you.
-13.
[woman] And keep on.
[woman 3] My son is
ten years older than you.
My son is 23.
[Peter] You play pretty well?
I’m gonna be playing at this park.
-Right now? I’ll go with you.
-Yeah.
-Is that cool? Let’s go.
-Yeah.
[woman] Go ‘head young man.
-You recording?
-Yeah.
-Oh my God, you’re on YouTube?
-Yeah.
-Nice meeting you ladies, thank you.
-Nice meeting you as well.
Hey, YouTube.
-What’s your name?
-Calamate.
Calamate, Peter.
Where we going, Calamate?
Down to Boeddeker Park
This is the tenor, it’s the bigger cousin
and the biggest cousin of them all
is the contrabass and baritone.
How long you been playing for?
-About three years.
-Nice.
-You love it?
-I love it here.
I love playing saxophone.
This kid, I had
a bad experience with it at first.
-Okay.
-‘Cause this kid broke my saxophone.
It was really bad
’cause I beat him up for doing it.
He broke it in front of me ’cause he was
jealous I was playing for girls.
-[chuckles] The girls like it, don’t they?
-Yeah, they love it.
Hey, how you doing, man?
-Good, I’m making a video on the city.
-I know exactly who you are.
You know who I am?
-I been scared of police my whole life.
-Yeah?
-I had to run from them once.
-Why?
I was terrified, I didn’t know what to do.
I ran for my life.
-How was the encounter? Not good?
-Pretty good. He caught me.
I dusted him for a little bit.
-What are you filming today?
-San Francisco, the whole city.
-What’s up man, Brandon.
-I just want to get a pulse on the city.
I’ve been out of it for two years.
Been going from Pac Heights, to here,
and everywhere in between.
What do you think about the city
over the last two years?
-I haven’t been here in two years
so I see it with fresh eyes.
-It looks better.
-That’s the goal.
I’d say looks are deceiving.
I don’t know what’s going on underneath.
I don’t know the crime numbers
per see but…
As you know, this is The Tenderloin.
It’s always gonna be
the Tenderloin, right?
We have officers out every hour
of the day we do our best,
we’re outnumbered.
You can look for yourself
but it’s the Tenderloin, you know? So…
It’s an uphill fight.
-A lot of locals are really happy
about you guys being here.
-Thanks, man. We appreciate it.
-The ones I talked to.
-I’ve seen your videos. It’s pretty cool.
-Oh, thank you.
Colamate, don’t be scared of him, man.
Like I said, I’m Brandon.
-You live in the Tenderloin?
-Yeah, I live in a hotel.
-It’s called Bay Hotel.
-What?
Oh, yeah, yeah. Cool.
I’m playing here nine to five.
-Where at?
-At the park.
-Boeddeker?
-Yeah.
Have you met Officer Franco,
Raguso, and Finnegan?
-No.
-Cops that are assigned to the parks.
Say hi to them. They’re good dudes.
-Great to see you man.
-Thank you.
Thanks for all you do.
[dog barking and chatter]
[Peter] That’s a nice park.
We’re gonna perform up here.
[claps snap open]
Feast your eyes, people.
[Peter exhales with amazement]
-It’s really nice.
I gotta find a song,
I can’t remember the song in my head.
-Do you need the book?
-Yes, sir.
[papers shuffle]
[Calamate plays Jingle Bells]
-[Calamate] That’s’ one.
-[Peter] Jingle Bells.
[Calamate plays Mary Had A Little Lamb]
And that’s it.
-Nice, Calamante.
[man encouraging Calamate]
Peter So this is the Boys and Girls Club
that Calamate goes to.
Nice little park.
-[woman] Don’t get no DUI.
-[man] I’m not. Here we go.
[laughter]
-What’s your take?
It’s getting better or worse?
Well I’ve been gone for four years.
I come out and I’m like, “This is worse.”
-Okay, so you were gone
before the pandemic?
Yes.
I come back… 2022 I came out
and I’m like,
“These motherf*ckers is crazy out here.”
It’s crazy. It’s worse.
-Lot of Fentanyl?
-A lot.
-Tranq?
-A lot.
But it looks clean on the surface.
Yeah, because we got
more workers out here
and I love it.
You know we got the Tenderloin something
and they’re the best,
they pick up the garbage.
I deal with so much sh*t everyday.
-Really? What’s the worst of it?
I got men masturbating
right here next to me.
-It’s disgusting.
I’m like, “What the f*ck are you doing?”
he’s like “Oh, women like this.”
I don’t think guys like it either.
-[men joking and laughing]
-Why do they do that sh*t. It’s crazy.
[Peter] I’ve never seen Jones
look so good. Seriously.
Yeah, well we keep this corner clean.
We sit here and we clean it up every day.
-When I come at 7:30 in the morning
it’s trashed. It’s tore up.
-The whole thing is?
-It’s tore up.
-Every morning?
-Every morning.
So I gotta clean it up or call 311
and get the guys up here.
-Are people sleeping out here at night?
-Yeah, yeah.
I tell them… They break into
our toilets. Just stupid stuff.
We got these toilets out here
for you guys basically.
-You know what I mean? -Yeah.
[man] Messing it up.
And just disrespect, tag all over it.
Like, “What the hell are you guys doing?”
You guys are ignorant.
We let them use the water hose.
We let them do, you know,
we know how it is with homeless.
So we just let them do
what they need to do.
I know why people stop
letting them use their restrooms.
-You know what I’m saying?
-Yeah.
They’ll come in the morning
and they’ll clear all the tents out
’cause there still is tents
early in the morning
and they’ll come clean it out.
It’s the way you talk to these
homeless people,
they’re gonna listen to you.
If you come at them very rude
they’re not gonna do sh*t
but be rude with you.
So the way you approach them
is a big thing, you know?
And even here it’s like,
“Okay y’all, it ain’t no party place.”
You know, like, “Okay,
c’mon, we put that sh*t away.
I ain’t trying to get
high on y’all’s supply.”
So they’ll be thinking it’s funny.
“All right, sis, we got you.”
So it’s the way you approach them,
you know?
-Well thanks for doing what you guys do.
-Yeah.
-You’re making it look a lot better.
-You’re welcome, thank you.
-All the best. Nice nails by the way.
Thank you very much. They’re expensive.
-You make those yourself?
-I went to a shop, did it all by hand.
Are you serious? All by hand?
Let me see that.
-She is the bomb.
-It’s artwork.
Yeah, whatever you want on it,
she can do it.
If you want your own picture on it,
she can do it. [laughs]
-See you, guys.
-All right, see you later.
[Peter] All right, guys.
Police station’s right there.
it’s not looking good over here obviously.
[homeless people chattering]
[Peter] Hold the breath
if you don’t want to smell meth.
That’s rough.
Right across from the playground.
And then literally two, three blocks
up this way and this all stops.
It gets really nice.
Like four or five blocks up.
Very expensive real estate.
Beautiful views of the city
and totally different world down here.
If you don’t know my earlier content here
it’s actually an improvement
but still that’s pretty heavy stuff.
Fentanyl is no joke.
It’s really taken over our city streets
and I don’t know what you do.
It’s not compassion though
letting people rot away on the streets.
[Peter exhales in disbelief]
Not keeping the tents off completely.
You gotta be careful
with what you inhale here.
That’s really sad.
It’s really sad.
[sighs]
Homeless shelter of some sort.
You see in so much of the country
it should really be
issue number one or two
in the conversation.
One of the top issues at least.
[horns and people shouting]
[reggaeton music from speakers]
[Peter] All right guys,
this is the Mission District.
A lot of younger people here,
more of the hipster crowd.
I’d say there’s a pretty big art presence.
Live music, stuff like that.
That’s what it was always known for.
So I’d say in the city,
we’re not gonna go there today
but more of the preppy young
part of town would be the Marina.
Looks more upscale for sure.
It’s definitely a wealthier neighborhood.
And just blocks away
we’re now in Noe Valley.
A nice charming neighborhood.
A bit wealthier
and we’re gonna go up over the hill there.
Over the other side of Twin Peaks
and I’m gonna show you some magic.
Some beautiful
magical neighborhoods here
that you don’t see
on many San Francisco videos
and you can live, like anywhere,
we all live in our bubbles.
I bet I might be
one of the only people today
that’s gone from Pac Heights
to the Tenderloin
or from Tenderloin to Pac Heights.
It’s like those two worlds never mix.
So even in the small city
of seven by seven
you have completely different universes
and outlooks on everything..
depending on your financial situation,
your safety situation,
your education situation.
It really defines
where you’re gonna live in the city
and what you’re gonna experience.
[streetcar passes]
So this is West Portal.
This is a place where
really no tourists are coming.
It’s a world away from downtown.
A lot of the people that live around here
might go downtown
a couple times a year if that.
It’s in a way, a different city.
It’s through the mountain there
on the other side of the tower.
We have the ocean behind us
and if you don’t have to work downtown
and you’re not into the city vibe
then there’d be no reason to go.
Let’s check it out.
Oh, that’s tight, five minutes.
Okay, and they’re serious about parking
in San Francisco.
No joke here. You’ll get the ticket.
-[horn honks]
-Hello.
-Hi.
-How is West Portal these days?
How are things?
-Crazy.
-Crazy? Back here?
-Yeah.
West Portal’s just different
than other neighborhoods.
-I know, I love it.
It’s very incestuous
and it’s hard to leave West Portal.
[Peter ] I was just saying that
on the camera.
I’m like, “I bet a lot of people here
never go downtown.”
Yeah, we call it going over the hill.
You just get stuck here ’cause there’s
just enough of what you need.
-Right, and it’s nice.
-And everyone knows everyone.
There’s a big Irish community
that’s been here for a long time.
-So how’s this part of the city
doing right now, 2024?
Things getting better, worse, same?
Um, well I think we’re doing better
than the rest of the city.
So that’s good because nobody
ever wanted to give us the time of day,
like downtown people.
They’re like, “That’s too far.”
-Nobody knows of you guys.
-I know.
So you don’t deal with much homelessness
or vagrants on the streets?
-We do but not to the extent of downtown.
-Yeah.
-Downtown’s insane.
-Yeah.
-Especially the Tenderloin.
[Peter] I was just there.
So I’m showing Pac heights
to the Tenderloin…
-…and everything in between.
-Okay.
-Because everyone lives in their bubble.
-Yeah.
So the neighborhood from here, that way…
-Yeah?
-They’re all very middle class.
And then behind us, St. Francis Wood’s
a totally different story.
-That’s beautiful.
-Have you driven through?
-Yeah, I’m gonna go right now.
It’s like mansions, beautiful,
their decorations are real nice.
-Cool, what’s your restaurant?
-Spiazzo.
-Okay, good food?
We’ve been here 30 years.
So we have customers
that used to come through here.
-Yeah.
And they still,
they’re like grown up and stuff,
and they come here for prom and stuff.
That’s when we know they really like it.
-You still have a good community?
-Oh, yeah. Totally.
-That’s awesome
-Yeah, we take care of ’em.
-Thank you, take care.
-Yeah.
So I got that right,
it’s a small community feel here
and you don’t have to go to the city
if you don’t need to work there
and it’s just a small
20,000 person town-type feel here.
And then you go right through the tunnel
to the belly of it.
-You were born and raised here?
-Yeah.
What was it like growing up here?
Pretty rowdy.
-It was rowdy?
Bit of fun, lots of sports,
lots of partying,
lots of fighting, lots of mischievousness.
-There are not many of you locals left,
like born and raised here?
Not anymore. Most of them
are out of the city
’cause they all had big families
in the houses in the Sunset.
They were putting
three or four guys in a room.
-Three or four kids in a room.
-Yeah, okay.
Well once they all grew up
and then their parents passed away
the houses had to be split up
between too many kids.
So they sold out.
At least that’s my theory.
-Okay.
Then the Asians started moving in
and renting rooms out
one at a time saving money
to buy more property.
And ultimately they’ve taken over.
-Okay, interesting.
So it was a combination of
some people just didn’t like the fog
in the summer I want to be in the sun.
So they moved over to Santa Rosa
or up to Rush River or down to San Mateo.
-So what is it like now? Many families?
It’s either old people like me
that are hanging on
or small families with the overnight
billionaire type that got stock options
that can afford to pay
these ridiculous prices
or these industrious people that just
save, save, save for the last 20 years
and bought up the property
while it was still good
and now they’re all landlords.
-When you were growing up
it was wild here?
Yeah, there was a group of guys
about four years older than us
that actually had a West Portal gang
and they were tough son of a b*tches.
-Okay.
Everybody thinks of San
Francisco as a bunch of sissies
but back in the day we were all the kids
of World War II veterans
and blue-collar workers, you know?
And this is a pretty…
From here on down to the beach
was a lot of big tough people.
-Who was the beef between?
Was it like the Irish and the Italians
or who was it?
Everybody kind of had their own space
in those days.
This was the Irish neighborhood basically.
The Irish Catholic neighborhood
with a few rich Jews
mixed in for good measure
and then you had
the other side of Ocean Avenue
was a Black neighborhood, Ingleside.
Then you had Mission
which was mostly Hispanic.
-Yeah.
Then when it started blending down
towards the Cow Palace.
There was Whites there.
There was always conflict there
between Hispanics and the Whites.
Some really, really bad people out there
back in the ’70s when I was growing up.
-Okay.
Then there was just the obvious ghettos
which was Bay View, Hunter’s Point,
and the Western addition where–
-Tenderloin was always
like it is now, right?
Uh, yeah.
-When you were growing up?
-Pretty much.
-Where the hookers go, yeah.
-Okay.
Probably worse now drug-wise.
-Because the city lets it happen.
-Oh, yeah, the Fentanyl’s pretty bad.
When I was a kid they were all
big tough Irish cops.
My godfather was a lieutenant
at Taraval Station.
He was a badass, this guy named Bob Marsh.
-So good memories?
-Yeah.
-Cool.
But everybody’s gone now
and guys my age can’t keep that pace up.
We’ll go into the grave soon.
I’ve lost five friends
in the last two years.
-Oh, I’m sorry.
Everybody’s just dying off
’cause of the lifestyle we led
when we were younger.
I was smart.
I quit all those drugs when I was 27.
-How old are you?
-I’m 65 now.
-Okay, okay.
I can still walk around
and I can still do the work on my house.
-You know a lot of the people
walking around here?
No, I don’t.
-They’re not here anymore.
-Not now? Yeah, okay.
Most of them are gone.
-Your name?
-Pat Durnell.
Pat Durnell, Peter Santenello.
-Hey, Peter.
-Yeah, I appreciate it, Pat.
Something like good, and like neutral,
and like understandable to watch.
-I introduce them to your channel.
-I’m trying.
-And they f*cking love it.
-Thank you, bro.
I’m trying to get San Francisco right.
-You’re from here, right?
-I am. I grew up here.
Okay, the point I’m trying to make is
you have the Tenderloin,
you have Pac Heights.
-Sure.
-Two different universes.
Literally 15 minutes away from each other.
-Yeah.
-To capture the feeling of here
is really hard.
It is. I remember when I was 18
I met a Korean kid
who was like, “Can you describe…”
He was making a little documentary.
“Can you describe San Francisco
in one word?” and I was like,
“Dichotomy?” It’s really extremes
next to each other
and it always has been.
When I was younger
there was still a lot of homeless.
My mom worked downtown
and the Tenderloin has
been like that for a long time.
-Yeah.
So the homelessness, yeah,
since COVID things have gotten worse
but it’s not a new phenomenon.
Really, that kind of extremes
next to each other
has been this way a long time.
It’s weird, man.
It’s like very…
I don’t know, like the energy…
-Not to get all hippie-dippy.
-Go for it.
The energy flows in a way
like when you’re wandering around
you just feel it, you know?
-Well you feel all the natural elements,
-The ocean, the breeze.
-Yeah, yeah, yeah.
The micro-climates.
I think that’s a huge part of it.
-That’s right.
-Out in the Sunset it’s a different world
and people out here
don’t ever leave the Sunset.
-People are very in small areas.
-In their worlds?
-Yeah.
-Yeah.
You have to understand
obviously there’s a lot of long history
of different racial groups
coming together.
-A lot of Irish out here.
-Yeah.
The Irish are very…
like my family’s Irish, very insulated.
If they were in Ireland
they lived in…
Ireland’s very much like that too
where there’s a lot of small distances
but completely different worlds
and it’s like you’re
in your little tribe in that area.
It might be a mile away but it’s like,
“They’re different, we’re over here.’
It’s weird ’cause San Francisco’s
very cosmopolitanism
but also extremely local.
-You’ll see that.
-There you go.
Super local.
-That’s how I needed to say it.
-“What high school did you go to?”
What… It’s weird.
There’s a strong
working-class element here
and every time I come back
I see it. It’s still very much here.
-And so many people think
it’s the West Coast, it’s elite.
-Right.
And my point is yeah, there are,
say, elite class. However you define that.
Sure.
But the vast majority of people
are working hard,
not elite in any way, shape, or form.
They’re just getting through their life,
raising their kids.
-Working in a shop, a restaurant.
-Very much.
-They’re just in their world, right?
-No, very much.
And there’s a strong conservative element
here as well that gets understated
’cause San Francisco
has experienced wave after wave
of people coming from the outside
with an idealistic vision
to achieve some kind of utopian thing.
So you had the beat movement,
you had the hippies, the gay movement.
Each decade… there’s the tech wave.
There’s wave after wave
of people coming to seek some…
It’s as far west as you can go, right?
People coming out west
and you hit this and you hit the fog
and you hit the edge of it and this is
where kinda dreams come to die
in a certain way.
Because it’s like this is it
and then there’s people who live here.
I think there’s a certain type of person.
They harden in reaction
to that in a certain way.
-You know what I mean?
-I totally get it.
-You’re defensive of your homeland.
-Exactly.
There’s this localism
and those waves I described
are what people think of
with San Francisco
but it’s weird
’cause I’m also proud of those waves too.
I’m also proud of that broader impact
San Francisco has in that regard.
Right, it’s at the leading edge
of many things and many movements.
Yeah.
Here’s something I noticed,
I was just in Burlington, Vermont.
-That’s where your from, right?
-Where I was born.
I grew up a little bit south of it
and that seems in an odd sense
way more sketch and off-balance
than San Francisco right now
and I feel like San Francisco
a few years ago was really off balance.
Yeah, yeah.
So my friends here said
the pendulum was maxed out.
Yeah.
-And it’s coming back.
-Yeah.
And I feel as San Francisco
leading many things in the country,
that could be a good sign.
Yeah.
Because I feel like it seems way more
well put together this trip
than when I lived here.
Yeah, I completely agree.
So it’s way better
than a couple years ago.
If you go, like on Taraval
you should visit my Aunt’s bar,
Grandma’s Saloon,
it’s a super old school bar
but Taraval when I was here
it was terrible.
I mean also homeless were starting
to come out to this part of the city.
Which was not common
’cause it’s uncomfortable.
It’s cold. You didn’t really get that
as much out here
and it was coming out here,
more graffiti, more crime, more break-ins,
and I think it is getting better.
I think it’s a lot nicer now
and I think I don’t know
what’s gonna happen though.
You know, ’cause people,
my friends have been saying, like,
“This is the time to come back.”
you know?
‘Cause people have been saying
San Francisco is going the way of Detroit.
We lost a main industry
and it’s gonna hollow out.
-I don’t think so.
-But I don’t think so.
It’s beautiful, people want to be here.
-The real estate is just
where it is and the beauty of it.
-It’s a bit of a dream land.
-Yeah.
The closer you get to that ocean,
it’s got that effect.
It really does. I wonder, yeah,
what the next wave is gonna be
for that vitalization
’cause right now with tech
it’s the AI thing.
Some people are coming here
because they want to work in AI.
AI is still… you know that’s a thing
but is that gonna bring…
What’s the next wave
of cultural vitality?
The reason tech people
wanted to come here is because
San Francisco is a fun city, right?
It had that culture,
these different scenes.
It had the hippies.
-You know what it was like.
-Yeah.
There were so many
different things going on
but that has been flattened out
like it has everywhere.
We don’t have as much of it.
So what’s gonna bring
the cultural vitality?
What’s gonna bring young people
and live interaction?
-You know?
-Yeah.
[Peter] This is St. Francis Wood.
Just across the street
from where we were at.
We’re getting at that time where there’s
that magical Pacific California light.
The sun takes on sort of
a dreamy feel to it.
Nice cool breeze coming through.
We have the ocean a couple miles away.
You’re gonna see this video
after Halloween
but I’m shooting right before Halloween.
Check out these decorations.
[spooky noises]
-[Peter] This is yours, sir?
-[man] Yeah.
Oh wow, you take it seriously.
Do you do this every year?
Yeah, we add something new every year.
So we got this one and this one this year.
The boat’s been here for a couple years.
-Do you have kids or you’re the kid?
-I have two kids.
But now they’re off to college.
So they usually help me
but now they’re in college, so…
-I want to retire but…
-[Peter chuckles]
[spooky noises continue]
[Peter] You gotta love this
in a major city, coyote alert.
And most people in this city
don’t even know of this park
I’m not even gonna mention it
but just another example.
San Francisco has got so many cool zones.
It’s so detailed.
Let’s get up to the view.
Pacific off in the distance.
We’re gonna get out there, guys.
The sun is going down.
I just wanted to show you this
because this is one of the most
misunderstood cities I would say
especially in recent times.
This place has always meant a lot to me
and it means a lot to
the people that live here
and a lot of people that lived here
and no longer live here when they
get out into these parts
of the city it’s nostalgia
and just an amazing feeling
and
the past two videos I made two years ago
and then peak pandemic time
came from the heart.
I was just a bit discouraged
with what was going on in the city
and it really feels good
to be back right now.
Right, I’m gonna drive us through the most
beautiful park I’ve seen in the world.
Golden Gate Park.
It’s a monster.
It’s bigger than Central Park.
We’re running out of light
so we’re just gonna go right through it
and get to the ocean.
Yeah, the foresight to put in a park
like this is a beautiful thing
because this is the gem of San Francisco.
And not only do you have
this massive park in this small city,
there’s another one called Presidio
we didn’t even go to today.
All right guys, end of the road today.
and we didn’t even see
a quarter of the city
but the goal was
to show you some contrast.
To show you the rich neighborhoods,
to show you the poor ones,
and always know that
when you’re watching content
the creator has control
of what they show you
and my goal in this video is to give you
as balanced of a look as possible.
And lastly, closing,
for any tourists out there,
you might hear,
“Oh, don’t go to San Francisco.
It’s dangerous. It’s terrible.”
Come to San Francisco right now.
It’s pretty awesome.
Don’t leave anything in your car.
Don’t get a hotel near the Tenderloin
but it is one of the world’s
most beautiful cities
and it’s totally fine to travel
in my opinion.
So thanks for coming along
on that journey, guys.
Until the next one.
[jazz music plays]