The Ruins of San Francisco
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The prolific author and geologist Simon Winchester has an interesting article on the BBC today about the future of San Francisco (and other “doomed” cities such as New Orleans, Phoenix and Las Vegas). While giving a speech in San Francisco, he receives an anonymous letter asking him (and other geologists) to stay away from the city. When the crowd starts getting restless, he soothes them by talking about how Japan has managed to survive thousands of years despite being one of the most earthquake-prone countries.
If I remember correctly, we have discussed Mr. Winchester’s book “The Professor and the Madman” (about the creation of the OED) in this blog. His latest work is about the 1906 earthquake in SF called “A Crack in the Edge of the World”.
Last weekend, I did some driving around New York and Philadelphia and have to concur with Winchester’s imagery. Those cities look like they’re made of solid blocks of iron, bolted or riveted together. The color is overwhelmingly gunmetal gray, earth matching winter sky, and the whole city presents a weary, weather-beaten but very solid look. The guts of the city are out in the open, the train tracks, the factories, the smoke stacks. In contrast, San Francisco seems so delicate, precious and yes, fragile. Its beauty is sensual, almost ethereal. Maybe Winchester is right, that it’s stupid to build a city on the hills along a fault-line, but ahh… what a city it is!
I agree with you in that San Francisco is truly one of the most beautiful cities on Earth. But its beauty is not because of the architecture. For that, Manhattan, Chicago, London, Paris, Barcelona, Istanbul etc., will have it beat.
So why then, is SF beautiful? The topology and climate? How would you compare SF’s looks to Boston?
The location. The views. The hills. The “smallness” (Disneyworld is bigger). The Golden Gate. And of course the climate (in spite of Mark Twain).
Boston is very old world. Plenty of history and of course character. I still like SF way better. It is my favorite city in the US but then again, I haven’t really lived close to any other big city in the US (Phoenix doesn’t count in this comparison.)
Allow me to add Rome, Berlin and Sydney to the mix. What does Mark Twain have to do with the climate?
This is with reference to the chilly winds that assault the unprepared in SF - I’ve experienced it once near the wharf. A quote which is attributed to Mark Twain in this regard is