apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

i'm very happy there's a san francisco version of this site!

I second that!

ok, i'll tell ya. i'm high on a hill, where little cable cars climb halfway to the stars! =)

I appreciate the nods to the peninsula, as I'm down in Mountain View / Palo Alto. Hooray for our local AT!

I'm in the Castro area. And I am SO excited that AT SF is up and running!!

um, I already provided this info in Open Thread 1, but in the interests of generating as much ATSF action as possible:

Reporting in from the biggety biggety M--that's right yall, Millbrae is where it's at!

The Tenderloin, of course -- known to realtors as "Lower Nob Hill," to hoteliers as "convenient to Union Square," and to mendicants as "a warm spot with bargain-priced crack."

Oh, the pressure to come up with something witty about my locale....West Berkeley.

Wende said it as well as I could - to her description I would add, "the last spot to resist gentification."

hmm... I might add the word "one" to your statement Nic. I'm pretty sure the Mission resists everything but itself.

Well, that and a drink.

or rather "one of"

but then you knew that what I said was not what I meant...

boy will I ever be glad when they update the posting system and I can update my posts to fix mi spelin misteaks

The Mission fights gentrification, the Tenderloin passively resists it, and Bayview/Hunter's Point is not offered the option.

SUNSHINE! I literally stood in the living room blinking, trying to figure out why things looked so different. So today is finally time for the Down the Peninsula expedition, as our water will be off again for building repairs.

chocolate baseboards, velvet bell pulls, green wallpaper

a dollhouse for wende in san francisco
in today's NYT print H&H, but not online
Kew Palace replica c.1780
mindboggling miniature decor!

[I put this up on AT NY, but the thread might be going awry (ahem) so I thought I'd visit over here]

Guido, even I have to see a dollhouse like that. I looked online but ONLY in print I suppose. I guess that means a trip to Starbucks and a latte. Darn.

Wende, what is the D.t.P.e.?

Heather, I had this notion to photograph (in a cell phone way, not a professional way) the downtowns of various burgs that were on Jackie's list of potential places to move, whilst running assorted errands that would turn the husband into a Grumbling Middle-Aged Male.

I will take notes on anything that looks AT-ish-ly interesting, though probably just at the level of a tip for you editors to check out in more detail.

And I'm off... (thanks, guido -- will buy NYT to read with lunch...)

(don't ask me why there's a "you" in the second para above -- I'm so wonko this morning that I poured my filtered cold water into my espresso cup)

Ah, true, Wende. But then I haven't been here that long; as a displaced New Orleanian, my experience with the City of Fog is still limited. That just means I'll have to make a point of getting out more.

Enjoy the Down the Peninsula expedition!

Hmm... do we have beginnings of plans for group field trips to new areas?

I won't even tell you the places I haven't been. You'd be horrified.

NYer enthusiastic about SF here . . .

Have you been to the fly casting cabin in Golden Gate Park?
(I have a brilliant tour guide for a friend there...)
It's fascinating - carved wooden shutters with trout motif, a distinctly conneticutty spot hidden in the heart of SF

It's not too far from the area with prehistoric ferns.

does anyone, perchance, have a copy of domino from january or february? purple on the cover, featured an almost-all-white apartment. . .

leslie - i'm sure i've got that issue at home (i've saved every domino since inception).

do you want me to scan/send something to you?

a-m, i'm particularly interested in that article on the all-white-ish house/apartment. i'd love to get a copy of it somehow. . .

there are prehistoric ferns in GG Park?!?

Okay, this thread looks sufficiently quiet that I won't kill it by posting Round 1 of Peninsular Downtowns (the Burlingame & San Mateo edition) for Jackie's amusement.

My photography turns out to be the collision of ineptitude and inadequate equipment, so the results are here but won't tell much: http://tinyurl.com/nvbpo

Since it is traditional to describe California locales by what kind of Barbie would live the good life there, here goes.

BURLINGAME - BROADWAY AVE.
http://www.thebestofburlingame.com/
Broadway Avenue Barbie commutes to the city from the convenient Caltrain stop, where she brags to her coworkers that for the same price they're paying for a tiny apartment in a "transitional" neighborhood, she has two bedrooms and a fireplace.

She loves coming home to a neighborhood where everybody knows her name. She's been known to buy birthday presents for the children of her drycleaner. She once almost hit someone who wouldn't shut up about how Mitchell's is the best ice cream in the Bay Area, when they'd never even tasted Preston's. She takes urban guests to the couple of white-tablecloth restaurants at the California end of the street but has a weakness for the small ethnic restaurants.

For groceries and many household goods, she ends up hiking (or taking the car) to Burlingame Ave.

BURLINGAME AVE. BARBIE
http://www.downtownburlingame.com/
Burlingame Avenue Barbie swore she'd never leave the city, but when she got pregnant with the second baby, her husband (who's probably a fund manager in the Financial District) said it was time to think about a yard and a good school district. (Though there are also nearby apartments.)

Now she really doesn't miss the city. After all, ALL of her favorite name brands are here: Ann Taylor, the entire Gap empire, all the Williams Sonoma brands, and Design Within Reach. And it's so nice to stroll the tree-lined street checking out the stores. And right at the El Camino end, there's Mollie Stone's (and a Safeway, for stocking up on Diet Coke).

Every now and again, she fantasizes about opening a boutique once all three kids are in school, but she's not sure what she'd do that Willo and Tribeca don't.

SAN MATEO BARBIE
http://www.downtownsma.org/
At least once a week, San Mateo Barbie is heard to exclaim, "Isn't this a GREAT place? It's so real." Usually, she's picking up dinner at a tiny ethnic restaurant after a hectic day in the city. (This Barbie works in the city but lives in fear that her next job will be down in Palo Alto on Sandhill Road. At stressful reporting periods, she sneaks home on an early train and goes to one of the numerous spas.)

San Mateo Barbie hasn't quite decided if she's glam or down-to-earth. She means to cook (buying a loaf of artisanal bread and six spreads at Draeger's doesn't count) but tends to eat out because it's so cheap (except on weekends). She will go to the mat on who has the best pupusas. She stops by Ichiban-Kan at least once a week to see what's available in Japanese dollar-store products. She also pokes a head into Scandinavian Design.

It has occurred to her that living above a spiritual bookstore is an excellent way to make sure she never runs out of incense or tea lights. More than once, she has spent more on jelly than on a haircut.

She has resigned herself to owning a car because so many useful stores are spread up and down El Camino Real, and it's likely that she has a hobby that requires going to stores not on the bus line. For brand-name shopping, she alternates between Burlingame Avenue and Stanford Shopping Center.

SAN MATEO - 25th AVENUE
http://tinyurl.com/o7bua
25th Avenue Barbie owns a car, complains about owning a car, and can't do without a car. By Saturday, her nerves are so shattered that she's glad to live in a neighborhood that provides coffee, restaurants, a post office, a few consignment stores, and a place for washing the dog. Her fantasy is to telecommute. But she'd still need the car for basic shopping.

wende, brilliant!!!

wende, your insight(s) are scarily right on! how lucky we are to have you in the bay area!

oh, and by the way, don't you owe lisa and me some cookies? :)

I definitely owe you two some cookies in a big way -- there's so much of my own city that I don't go out and find on my own!

Next week's long-postponed baking project involves spicy urban 7-layer bars. If they turn out, I'd love to bring you some. (All cooking in my home is HIGHLY experimental.)

wende - BRILLIANT post. thanks so much for taking the time, I had great fun reading it! (except now I've got that song stuck in my head: "I'm a Barbie girl/In a Barbie world" etc.)

prehistoric ferns + buffalo!

wende, thanks!!

i know this sort of off topic, + most of you must have been to these places, but as far as must go places go, or, Heather, if you haven't been (i know you mean towns or sights, but) i must plug, for artisan bread lovers, Arizmendi, near 9th + Irving, in the Sunset + Tartine on Guerrero nr 17th.