The ineffable numen of a place can somehow define our essence.
San Francisco’s fate may be sealed. Her lovely weather and views, her small size that can be fenced off by a great wall (or uniformly high property values) may finally allow the wealthiest to claim it in its entirety. The new owners will get rid of the trash, the homeless, the poor, and the unsight…
Cohorts and I from the theater wanted to press the envelope further and founded the Diggers, an anarchist group dedicated to imagining and then acting out a culture that offered us more compelling adult options than “consumer” and “employee.” The Diggers decided that those homeless, hungry kids wer…
Young people and freedom seekers of all ages were streaming there from every corner of the country, seeking a permissive social space in which to explore their authenticity. The city capitalized on this hegira by selling bus tours through our Haight-Ashbury neighborhood.
On top of that, the newcomers to San Francisco didn’t love the city like we did. They arrived from around the world to work for companies who seemed only to be creating apps to do the tasks your mom wouldn’t do for you anymore. They worked too many hours and got fed and boozed at work, so they didn…
