For years San Francisco has served as a gateway to the Pacific and an arrival point for those seeking a new life in America. If the United States had a second Statue of Liberty it might well be placed near the footings of the Golden Gate Bridge.
They say trends start in California and San Francisco has been in a leading position in some of the bigger social struggles of the last half century.
The Haight-Ashbury neighborhood was once the epicenter of the 1960's counter-culture movement and opposition to the war in Vietnam. Today it feels more like a living monument to those days with a museum to Jimi Hendrix and a Ben and Jerry's down the street.
The Castro district served as a safe haven or headquarters of the gay rights struggle. A monument near the Castro Theatre says people from around the country came here to "plant seeds" for a movement that led to greater tolerance and to the eventual acceptance of gay marriage.
The feel of both Haight-Ashbury and Castro remain the same, but both places are now more open to everyone. Neither location feels like a clubhouse for a tribe and that is their ultimate success. Diversity in full. A different flavor of America, but America still.
San Francisco is also one of the most expensive cities to live in the United States. Like other major cities, it struggles to manage the tensions created by the growing wealth gap. Life is good here if you have money. But for the middle class it is a close fought battle over family balance sheets and for the poor it can be crushing.
On my final morning in the city my Uber ride took me past company headquarters at about 9a.m. Young people in their 20's and 30's streamed into the building with their backpacks, sunglasses and expensive coffees. A few days before, another Uber driver complained to me about the break-even nature of his end of the business. He works hard, but he can also see the game is rigged against him.
Nearly all the drivers I met during my three days in town were from Asia or the Middle East. They all spoke English with accents. They all have chosen driving as the first rung on what they hope will be their ladder to success in America.
No matter the odds, San Francisco is still a place where people come to change their lives and maybe even change the world.
Credits:
© Dean Pagani 2019