Each month ParentZing! highlights a different city; this time around City “X” is San Francisco. Our guest poster, Helena, lives in the Noe Valley neighborhood with her spouse and two kids. She tells us why she’ll never leave her heart in San Francisco… because she’s never leaving.
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Yes, it’s expensive. There, I said it. Yet I still love raising my family in San Francisco.
Besides, there’s a reason it’s so expensive to live here: It’s great, and deep down inside everyone wants to be here, whether they admit it or not. Read on to see some of the reasons our family loves living here.
1. The mountains. It’s nearly impossible to live here and not be outdoorsy. It’s part of the culture. And it’s part of the culture because there’s so much readily available here. Cross the bridge and there’s Mt. Tam. That place is seriously mystical, and I’m not just saying that because I am a freaky San Francisco hippie. The mist, waterfalls, bending trees. If you didn’t know better you’d think it was a movie set.
2. The water. Spend an hour or two playing in the sand on Ocean Beach with the San Francisco bridge looming in the distance. The water’s too cold and strong to go in, but who cares. Bring a kite and enjoy.
3. Golden Gate Park. Gotta mention it, mainly because it’s big and there’s a ton to do. Aside from the sheer volume of space to run around, there are museums, the Japanese Tea Garden, playing at the renovated children’s playground and carousel and more.
4. Every city has museums. San Francisco has seriously cool museums. Check out the Zeum. It’s an arts & technology museum where kids (and adults) can learn explore animation, video production and other cool artsy-techie things.
5. The built-in exercise. Who needs a treadmill when taking a walk to breakfast and back is a workout in of itself? If you’ve never been here you’ll marvel at the size of the hills you’ll have to climb just to get from here to there. Your butt muscles get a continual workout living here.
6. The ‘tude. People really do take off work early on Fridays just to go kayaking, and they don’t lie to their bosses about it. More often than not, their bosses are going kayaking, too. How great is that when you have kids? People work hard here, but they play hard, too.
7. The history. Admit it, it’s cool for kids to grow up hearing stories about the Grateful Dead living in the house we pass by on our way to the doctor’s, or having pizza near the bookstore where the beats hung out.
8. No air conditioning. Who needs it? Open the windows and catch the cool breeze. Be comforted by the distant sound of the foghorn.
9. The farmers’ markets. So many! They can be expensive, but you’re biting into a farm fresh carrot, not one processed into a baby carrot in some factory.
10. Alcatraz. When the kids misbehave, it’s easy to deal with. Just say, “straighten up and fly right or I’ll send you to Alcatraz!”
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Check out our archives for other City “X” entries.
Are you raising little urban dwellers despite Aunt Irma’s warning that the kids will grow up to be punks in “that” atmosphere? If you love living in your city and it hasn’t yet been highlighted, drop us a line! We feature a different city each month.
San Francisco symphony has good family programs, the children’s art center at Fort Mason tons of activities, JP Murphy playground huge, recently renovated.
SF great place to live with kids but it really is expensive so you’d better be making the big bucks! You can pull off public elementary schools but then it gets dicey. Private school is pretty much a given. So again, if you have the big bucks you can do it and enjoy. Otherwise, stay close in to the city and check out Berkeley or Alameda as places to live with your family. They aren’t the McMansion suburbs but have places to walk to and a more “organic” feel.
Its a great town if you like to go in hills : ()
I’ve visited San Francisco and it is lovely, but you are wrong about everyone wanting to live there. I’m currently taking a geology class and after what I’ve learned, you couldn’t pay me to live there. ( I came across your site because I was doing research on the San Andreas Fault). Good luck to you. =)
I have gone to SF and it’s Alcatraz. Weird enough Alcatraz is beautiful. Too bad it has to be a prison. Yes, it is expensive but it’s lovely. Walking up and down the hills is SOOOOOOO much fun!!!!! Plus the trolley cars-thats not something you see everyday in Los Angeles.SF is FULL of history. Nice and cold during winters(if u like THE cold like me) and nice and sunny near the bay to go shopping at pier 39. Compared to SF Los Angeles sucks!!!!!!I wood LOVE TO LIVE IN SAN FRANSISCO!!!!!!!!