This Saturday and Sunday I did not go downtown at all. I guess that what kept me away from the centre movement was Haight St.

I am sure that enough has been said about the Haight Ashbury hood in the decade of the 60’s and 70’s. People might not know much about SF but they do know about this area of the city. Lots of interesting things are still going on over there today. Of course, the area is very different from  fifty years ago.

On weekends Haight Street attracts young people and  tourists. There are tons of places to choose for dinner or drinks but only by walking around you can have a great time. I visited a couple of clothing stores, food market and spent some time looking at the great movie selection they have at Amoeba music store.

You can see by the food prices at the market, the cars parked on the street and other “little” details around that in general people who live or frequent this part of the city are in a comfortable state financially. Things have indeed changed from fifty years ago.

There seems to be a lot of bar traffic around 7-8pm on the weekends. I still believe that the party starts super early in the city. Bars and restaurants are packed at 7pm! Alcohol prices can be amazingly great ($2.75 per pint)

On one side you see a lot of richness and happy faces but I noticed that there are lots of homeless persons sitting on the street, sometimes alone but most of the times in groups of two or three. There is an old theatre that has been closed after 31 years and the main doors seem to be their gathering place. It is very sad. I had seen quite a bit of homeless people near Powell Station, Tenderloin area and was surprised to see so many on Haight as well. By the end of the night you can see some of them sleeping on the grass at Yerba Buena Park. From what I can observe, the majority of them have mental problems.

I have tried two food places so far. I had chai latte and a quick lunch at Blue Front Cafe. The environment is pretty informal and the food and the drink were tasty. The only problem with the place is that the temperature can get really high and if you do not enjoy hot weather that would not be the place for you on a warm day.

Then, on Sunday night I went to Cha Cha Cha and tried their tapas and sangria. The restaurant is very lovely and has a relaxed atmosphere but for some reason I thought that the place was Cuban and with live music. (it turned out to be Puerto Rican and no live music). I will probably come back, though. 🙂 The food was tasty and having some fried plantain, ceviche and black beans was priceless.