7X7 San Francisco

San Francisco is a 7 by 7 mile grid, more or less. It’s a new city, and I think one of the safer of the big cities here in the States.
Within this 7x7 grid, there can be a world of a difference, just a few blocks in any directions. For such a small area, it can pack in a lot. Never would I thought that I could be walking around a high end, expensive, and safe part of the city, where just a mile or two away, is an area with high crime, dangerous areas at any time of day, and a lot of homelessness and tent communities. Back home, everything is on the same playing field for miles and miles out, with no change at all. It’ll be farm after farm after farm, then a small town followed by another small town, then more farms, and maybe a ski mountain or two. But I suppose when you have that much more room to spread out on, any changes in the place will be farther apart. In the city, everything is condensed. A lot.

It’s a bit amazing to me that so many people can live in such a small space, and have that be enough breathing room. I supposed I’m just used to not being able to even see my neighbors… (which is a whole different situation…)

Everyone learns the different areas of the city and which ones are good to visit, at what time of day, and for what kind of specific person. There are definitely places where if you fall under x, y, and z categories, and if it’s a certain time, you *don’t* want to go there.

Cities are interesting places, and for me, they’re places I like to visit on occasion, and especially with friends who know the area well, but not places I would want to live. Smaller communities where most things are within walking distance, but everyone still has some elbow room on either side is comfortable to me. Somewhere more spread out, where everything isn’t condensed into one small grid, and changes in the landscape is allowed over several miles. Somewhere where farms and animals have a presence. As I travel around, I’m excited to see what each new place has to offer, from city to rural, and from culture to culture. A city here will be wildly different than a city on the other side of the planet, and I want to know what that is like.

I’ve learned many things about the city, and how to navigate through it, more or less, but I know there is still a lot more I could learn about this complex, small (but still so big) place.