San Francisco
Subtitle: instant city, promised land
By: Michael Johns
Series: Cityscopes; Cityscopes
Publisher: Reaktion Books
Published: 2018
Language: eng
Number of pages: 230
ISBN-13: 9781780239217
Subjects: Social life and customs; Description and travel; History
Description: "No American city has such a broad sweep of staggering views - of the ocean, of a huge bay, of surrounding hills - or such a high opinion of its own worth. San Francisco has always been rich, too: the city's great wealth underwrites the broadmindedness so vital to its charm. Despite its obvious sophistication, San Francisco retains a frontier quality that has always attracted seekers - of fortune, power, pleasure, refuge, rebellion. Yet the city is more than irreverent, independent and a bit outside the law: it's also progressive, innovative and open to all kinds of people and ideas, making it an easy place to be different. Think of the Beats and the hippies, the LGBT community and the left-wingers, the rise of Burning Man and the creation of technologies that make today's San Francisco the world's 'City of Apps'. With its historical narrative, reflections on the city today and treasure trove of images, this book shows that, if history is any guide, there is much more to come in San Francisco"--
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 219-223), filmography (page 224), and index.
Table of contents: title: Prologue: the best place for an easy life; title: History. Instant city ; A town with style ; Ruin, resurrection, resplendence ; The big strike ; Baghdad-by-the-Bay ; Lefties, gays, and hippies ; City of apps; title: The City today. 24th Street  ; The Tenderloin ; Ride tough or go home ; Chinatown ; Gandhi at the farmers' market ; Connecting the homeless ; Street litterature in Lower Nob Hill; title: Listings.