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sonacederquist's review against another edition
5.0
SF friends, I highly recommend this book. Each chapter takes you to a small section of the city and provides rich background with anecdotes and stories. It inspires me to explore more areas of the city.
sarahjpape's review against another edition
5.0
Before March 2020, this was more of a coffee table book for me. I would read a chapter here and there about places in the city that I frequented. During shelter in place it became one of the only books I read. If I was forced to stay put in this beautiful place, I wanted to know more about it. Gary Kamiya’s storytelling combined with long walks to neighborhoods I had never been to, made for city adventures that kept me sane.
chicago_chris's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
informative
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
4.0
uberdrive's review against another edition
5.0
Majestic, lyrical panorama from the Ohlone to today. And a chronicle of dozens of hidden gems to visit!
shubhamshetty's review against another edition
Started reading this book when I was planning to move to SF, stopped when that plan fell through. Maybe I will resume again next year when I will inevitably plan to move to SF again.
San Francisco is a beautiful city, but its history is not that interesting. Its not SF's fault - all west coast cities seem to lack any interesting history, especially when compared to east coast cities. But I just don't have the time to go through (what was obviously stretched to meet the magic number) 49 random stories about SF which I would forget almost immediately.
San Francisco is a beautiful city, but its history is not that interesting. Its not SF's fault - all west coast cities seem to lack any interesting history, especially when compared to east coast cities. But I just don't have the time to go through (what was obviously stretched to meet the magic number) 49 random stories about SF which I would forget almost immediately.
bookwormjimmy's review against another edition
informative
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
4.0
49 chapters of 49 neighborhoods in San Francisco.
While Gary Kamiya has lived in San Francisco all his life, there were still many areas that he had yet to explore. So one day, he decided to finally start exploring. Each chapter is filled with interesting tidbits about the history of the neighborhood, from Ocean Beach's Playland to attempts to suburbanize Glen Canyon, from the early explorers entering the Golden Gate to the 49ers panning for gold. San Francisco has got some rich history, and the geography of the land has led to some incredible diversity in subject matter.
I found some chapters more interesting than others. I personally enjoyed some of the more geological historical chapters, as well as how the relatively recent post-war historical period impacted California and San Francisco specifically. Regardless, each neighborhood is presented with a rich and cultured background that Kamiya delivers really well.
Time to start visiting some new neighborhoods. I'd recommend for anyone wanting to learn a little about the history of San Francisco.
While Gary Kamiya has lived in San Francisco all his life, there were still many areas that he had yet to explore. So one day, he decided to finally start exploring. Each chapter is filled with interesting tidbits about the history of the neighborhood, from Ocean Beach's Playland to attempts to suburbanize Glen Canyon, from the early explorers entering the Golden Gate to the 49ers panning for gold. San Francisco has got some rich history, and the geography of the land has led to some incredible diversity in subject matter.
I found some chapters more interesting than others. I personally enjoyed some of the more geological historical chapters, as well as how the relatively recent post-war historical period impacted California and San Francisco specifically. Regardless, each neighborhood is presented with a rich and cultured background that Kamiya delivers really well.
Time to start visiting some new neighborhoods. I'd recommend for anyone wanting to learn a little about the history of San Francisco.
wicked_sassy's review against another edition
5.0
"Every tourist has felt the letdown of being unable to see some world-historical monument because they're trapped inside a guidebook's description of it." - p.82
"Like all fabled cities, San Francisco is in constant danger of disappearing into its own postcard." - p.82
"For like all great human creations, the Golden Gate Bridge reflects and distills and deepens whatever one brings to it." - p.130
"Every time one looks up from a thousand places in San Francisco and sees its mighty orange towers, or its magnificent profile, or the enormous shadow "H" it casts on the Marin hills, one is reminded that the city abruptly ends at an inexplicable gap in the coastal mountains, through which icy ocean waters rush twice a day. Every time one crosses it and looks down, one has a sense of the awe-inspiring power of that ocean, a power so vast that even the omnipotent bridge pales by comparison. And every time one looks back from the bridge at the white city, rising delicately from the sea on its narrow peninsula, one realizes just how fragile it is." - p.133
"Great cities invite you to love them in extreme close-up, to love every inch of them. And the more eccentric, convoluted, broken, and uneven they are, the more there is to love... it is precisely the irregularity of these places that allows your heart to get a grip on them, like a climber finding a tiny hold that will not give way." - p. 221
"For me, everything that is unknown and alluring and intricate and deep and wondrous about cities, especially cities at night, goes back to that flickering neon memory." - p.265
"Like all fabled cities, San Francisco is in constant danger of disappearing into its own postcard." - p.82
"For like all great human creations, the Golden Gate Bridge reflects and distills and deepens whatever one brings to it." - p.130
"Every time one looks up from a thousand places in San Francisco and sees its mighty orange towers, or its magnificent profile, or the enormous shadow "H" it casts on the Marin hills, one is reminded that the city abruptly ends at an inexplicable gap in the coastal mountains, through which icy ocean waters rush twice a day. Every time one crosses it and looks down, one has a sense of the awe-inspiring power of that ocean, a power so vast that even the omnipotent bridge pales by comparison. And every time one looks back from the bridge at the white city, rising delicately from the sea on its narrow peninsula, one realizes just how fragile it is." - p.133
"Great cities invite you to love them in extreme close-up, to love every inch of them. And the more eccentric, convoluted, broken, and uneven they are, the more there is to love... it is precisely the irregularity of these places that allows your heart to get a grip on them, like a climber finding a tiny hold that will not give way." - p. 221
"For me, everything that is unknown and alluring and intricate and deep and wondrous about cities, especially cities at night, goes back to that flickering neon memory." - p.265
poke_it's review against another edition
2.0
I really wanted to like this book more than I did. I enjoyed the premise and I think it's clear that Kamiya loves this city. But I just struggled to get into the structure. I think perhaps I brought an expectation to the book that would have engaged more directly with the history of the city, including more minor personal insight. But I found the actual personal insight to overshadow and diminish the rest of the history of the city. Again, that may be my own fault for not having the appropriate frame of mind to read this, but I think that the personal insight Kamiya offers at times feels too shallow, and thus the historical work that he does gets washed away, like so many ships that were marooned in the Bay during the gold rush.