Today I went there because the other direction was foggy (including all of Golden Gate park), and I decided to just go in the direction of the sun until I could stand outside without my coat. Lucky for me, Alamo Square happened to be as far as I needed to go for my solar recharge. If you lie on the hill facing the famous painted ladies (which are not at all the coolest painted ladies in SF - check out the super cool houses on Masonic and Waller for some real painted action), the wind is blocked but the sun is warm, and you can almost pretend you're at the beach. It may sound like an ironic thing to do in a city surrounded on three sides by water, including by one of the longest sandy beaches in the country, but anyone who has stood on Ocean Beach with the frigid wind blasting sand in their face, wondering how it can be so incredibly cold in July, will know the deep surprise and joy of being in the city of San Francisco at any location and being able to take your coat, scarf and sweater off and feel the sun directly on your skin.
Having had my San Francisco Summer/Winter (meaning that May until now has been the equivalent of a northern california winter with fires in the fireplace about three times a week while fog pours over the hill and freezing winds blow past the windows), I am now far more appreciative of the fleeting sun available on a weekend afternoon - I feel like I MUST go out and stand in the sun as long as possible. Today the sun lasted for ~4 hours before the fog returned my part of the city to a dim Scottish winter land.
Despite my complaining and an occasional uncontrollable desire to get in the car and drive as far as I have to go to get into warmth, overall I generally like the consistent weather. Here is the silver lining to the cold, windy fog cloud:
- I can feel no guilt purchasing an endless collection of coats - I know I'll get to wear them all year! This is the cold weather equivalent of Singapore, where you could buy flowy cotton and silk dresses and know you could wear those all year. It not only creates a unique fashion playground for me to try out ever new combos for the same weather, but it also means that the overall fashion in the city is quite interesting, because everyone is iterating on clothing for the same weather all the time - the equivalent of the Galapagos islands, where nature got to focus on evolving creatures for one particular environment until they were totally new creatures.
- It's pretty homey to have a fire in the fireplace - and much easier to make a space warm than to cool a space down - speaking of which, we're saving tons on no A/C.
- I have a whole new appreciation for the sun. I feel about the sun now how I felt about snow growing up in Sacramento - like a fun novelty to be visited in far away places for several hours or maybe a weekend, but when you're done being cold (or in this case hot), you jump back in the car and head home where you know your weather will be what you're used to.
- It's super easy to tell who isn't from SF by their short shorts, tank tops, and head to toe goosebumps.
- Because people need places to go in the cold weather, restaurants, theaters, and museums have all evolved to create a massive eco-system of in-door cultural renaissance. With no beautiful sun distracting you all the time, you can really learn to tell the difference between a Picasso blue and rose period and a pink and black Hawaiian sea salt.
I'm sure there are more amazing pluses of living in a frigid foggy place of no sun, but since there's sun peaking through the clouds I have to run outside and soak it up...
