So that's my gut reaction to Hunter's Point. I hope it wasn't tedious and I truly hope it didn't come across as snobby. I'm an ex-con who has lived in his car, briefly (not at the same time obviously). I tend not to look down on anybody.

That's a lie. But I'm not going to inject politics into the discussion. Even that's not a matter of looking down on someone. It's more a stunned, disbelief of support for what seems to me to be a glaringly obvious deception that some people are willing to go along with for what I can only think as tribalism or a disdain, or hatred, for what they see as the other "team". Sorry, I went a little beyond what I intended.

I find it both sad and a little amusing that people would be snobby about you living in the Tenderloin. Especially given what you're paying in rent. According to the guy from GA you'd live in a 8000 sq/ft mansion there. With utilities and probably a live-in maid and butler.

Oh, let us go off on another tangent, shall we? Back in, about aught five/six, or so, I traveled for my job to Colorado Springs frequently. I'd say I was there for a total of five months over an eighteen month period. I took a liking to the area. Especially the closeness to the Front Range.

The city itself was a little too fervent, if you will, in their religiosity. My hotel of choice looked out, at the time, directly at the New Life Church. That'd be the home of Ted Haggard. Don't remember him? Do a little Wiki search. It is also the home of Focus on the Family.

I have ATVs (somewhere in a barn in Petaluma, as well as a KLR in a storage unit on Treasure Island, I think.) and there are hundreds of miles of trails for fair-weather riding that go though some of the most beautiful country in the US. I was also looking to buy a couple of snowmobiles for the rest of the year.

My point, and I swear I have one. Back then I was paying $1350 for my little apartment at Clay and Polk. As much as I loved the City, and still do (best city in the US, though I love Manhattan too. And Boston. But only if I got to live in the city proper, like I do here.) , I love the outdoors. Especially the Rockies. I used to run a little restaurant way up on the top of a ski resort in Colorado when I was much younger. Top five times in my life.

Back to my point... My, God, is anyone still reading this? Or are you just down-voting in abject disgust at my inability to stay on track or at least STFU? Hey, I'm with you. I love to write. If only I could do so in a linear fashion, not veer off constantly, and stick to the subject. I cannot and I apologize.

My DAMN point. For what I was paying in rent in SF, $1350 for 600 sq/ft, I could have rented a three story, 3000+ sq/ft, beautiful house, on a golf course, in a gated community (not sure why it was gated in CO Springs, not exactly a hotbed of crime except for unhinged fervents that want to shoot up Planned Parenthood facilities. And the earlier shooting at the aforementioned New Life Church, which was a different, yet related kind of outraged, insane, fervency. Politics slipping in again. Once more, I'm sorry.) It came with a membership of sorts to the golf course. It was a public course, I believe, not a country club. If I recall it was discounted greens fees and a priority opportunity for your desired tee times. I used to be an obsessive golfer until my hip decided to decommit not just for golf but life in general.

Back to the Tenderloin. It's a neighborhood. A rough one. But it's not like you made it that way. You didn't, right? ; ) In a way I think you're kind of bad-ass for it.

I'm 6'2", a bit over 200lbs, and know how to scrap (r/iamverybadass here I come!). But I'm not walking around the Tenderloin unless I have to after dark.

I drive an open-topped Jeep and the few times I ended up down there late at night caused me some brief anxiety. I carry bear spray in an handy place due to my camping all over this land. From Pismo and Pozo, to Shasta, Mendocino, all up and down the PCH south of Monterey when I was able. Smith River, of course Yosemite, Lassen, and so many others. Not that I wanted to spray anyone. Not that I wanted to play pistol versus bear spray, but I did put it in my lap more than once when the attention was quite pointed while at a red light.

I got plenty of attention from the people on the sidewalks and the people in the middle of the street. And why not? I was obviously out of place. Jeeping in the middle of the if not the worst neighborhood, one of them, at 4AM. Just listening to Joe Purdy, Tegan and Sara, or maybe Yeah, Yeah, Yeah's. My musical taste is just another reflection of my lack of focus.

Leaded gasoline was still a thing when I was a child. And growing up in the drug importation capital of the US in the 70's and 80's probably didn't help. I didn't want to smoke all that pot, I felt I had to. I didn't want to eat all that acid, I felt I had to. I didn't do all that cocaine, and yet I got an adamant invitation to prison cell in a state I'd never even been to. Long story. Would you like to hear it?

I can hear the chorus of STFU from everywhere from the City to, Omaha, to, Florida, and all points in between.

At one time I lived on the west coast of Florida, right across the street from my triple-wide trailer, was a huge cattle field. It was nothing to get there, except wading through a ditch infested with water moccasins. Aggressive fuckers they were. Like snake-sharks. I can't count the number of times they'd appear and come streaking towards you. It made you hurry out of the ditch. But then it was just a matter of walking about to bag fungus. All the while keeping an eye out for the ranchers. They took exception to our being on their land. It was fun, but it must have contributed to my inability to think linearly. Then again, there's so many thing I can say caused that, like my birth.

ing to mention that you do have a rocking restaurant scene going on. I've always assumed it had to do with the commercial rents in other parts of the City and not some kind of, hey, come on out to the Loin! Great food and potential feBack to people wandering the traffic in the City.

How much do you hate me right now? If there was a thread, a single coherent line from A to B in this story it was lost so long ago. I'm a veg, Danny. But a well-meaning one. I'd grab the thread if I cold find it.

That always half amuses me and half freaks me out for the person wandering through traffic, sometimes aggressively, sometimes out of their skulls. The freaks me out part is because I really don't want to see anyone get run over. 10th Street. Between about Harrison and Market, it seems like they've made a sport out of it. I'm not talking about someone moving quickly between cars trying not to get hit like some video game. I'm talking, step off the curb without regard to traffic, walking at a deliberate pace while glaring at everyone with malicious intent.

Oh, look, I went all tangential again.

But look down on someone, or get snobby about it for living in the Tenderloin? Pshaw! This is a great city, albeit, an absurdly expensive one. So you take what you can get. Or even if it was a deliberate choice to say, let's move to the Tenderloin! Go for it. You do you and everyone else can pound sand.

BTW, it's a nice looking apartment. Like another poster I was tying to guess where you lived by the view out of your window. I didn't guess it was the Tenderloin.

I'm not sure about u/rkoloeg's assertion of gentrification. Hey, not looking to argue, rkoloeg, I'm just not sure I agree. Then again, I haven't been down that way lately. I'm a bit home-bound these days. It could be they're pulling entire blocks out stump and root. I've seen it happen all over the City. Huge holes in the ground where a big building once stood. Or a bunch of small buildings. And you've got a point about the location. It's potentially prime real estate given its proximity to the FiDi, etc. But, this city does seem to have proponents for affordable housing and not allowing wholesale bulldozing of blocks upon blocks that would further push out the poor.

Again, another qualifier. u/toasties rent and nice looking apartment may go some ways towards invalidating my argument.

To wrap up my ramble, no disdain or snobbery from these quarters. Like I see you've posted below in response from someone else, I was goar!

Good luck to you and yours. Do stay safe down there.

I hope at least, in part, this was an okay read. Like I said at the top, I do go on. Be well and to heck with anyone that snobs on you for living in the Tenderloin. That's just silly.