# If you're going to San Francisco **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 13, 2011, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-going-to-san-francisco/571241 "2011-02-13T20:14:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![wevets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9a140/32.png) [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-going-to-san-francisco/571241/81 "2011-02-15T21:05:30Z")
> [@Jake](#): > > Ah, Chinatown. As teenagers we went there to by firecrackers! Cheap and available… Cir. 1957. Forget about it, **Jake** , it’s Chinatown. [sub]Thanks for the setup![/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Jake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-going-to-san-francisco/571241/82 "2011-02-15T21:26:40Z")
You’re welcome wevets, but I don’t get what I set you up for?? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![SmithCommaJohn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@SmithCommaJohn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmithCommaJohn)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-going-to-san-francisco/571241/83 "2011-02-15T21:58:20Z")
> [@moejoe](#): > > Why/how are you writing a story that takes place in a city you’ve never been to? How would that even work? It worked for the lady who wrote the “Twilight” books. She just Googled “rainiest place in the U.S.” and Forks, Washington was one of the first results. She wrote the first book without having visited Forks, I think. ---
**Author:** ![wevets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9a140/32.png) [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-going-to-san-francisco/571241/84 "2011-02-16T01:14:36Z")
> [@Jake](#): > > You’re welcome wevets, but I don’t get what I set you up for?? 🙂 Me misquoting a great noir film - _Chinatown_. ---
**Author:** ![Kamrusepas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8c91f0/32.png) [@Kamrusepas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamrusepas)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2011, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-going-to-san-francisco/571241/85 "2011-02-19T15:56:06Z")
Can I mark a spot on Google Maps and then give you the link? I have a couple of locations I’d like to suggest. ---
**Author:** ![moejoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@moejoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moejoe)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2011, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-going-to-san-francisco/571241/86 "2011-02-19T17:01:16Z")
> [@Kamrusepas](#): > > Can I mark a spot on Google Maps and then give you the link? I have a couple of locations I’d like to suggest. You could, sure, but for locals it’s probably enough to just mention town or neighborhood names. Also make sure to take a look at Sausalito, it’s beautiful and has plenty of nice big homes. Plus you can get great views from there and still get the feeling of solitude since it’s wooded and hilly. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2011, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-going-to-san-francisco/571241/87 "2011-02-19T17:42:28Z")
> [@moejoe](#): > > You could, sure, but for locals it’s probably enough to just mention town or neighborhood names. Also make sure to take a look at Sausalito, it’s beautiful and has plenty of nice big homes. Plus you can get great views from there and still get the feeling of solitude since it’s wooded and hilly. Or the Tiburon Hills, in the same general vicinity. Or if you want to convince your readers you have some local knowledge, you might research Point Richmond, an upscale neighborhood of Richmond, which is a mostly an East Bay heavy industrial city with urban crime problems and violence. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2011, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-going-to-san-francisco/571241/88 "2011-02-23T01:23:01Z")
Just watched the weather forecast, and there is a possibility of snow in SF on Saturday. At any rate, it’s going to be cold (for here in Feb) and we’ll probably get snow at 500 ft at least, which would mean much lower in the hills than we usually see. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2011, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-going-to-san-francisco/571241/89 "2011-02-23T01:56:04Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Just watched the weather forecast, and there is a possibility of snow in SF on Saturday. At any rate, it’s going to be cold (for here in Feb) and we’ll probably get snow at 500 ft at least, which would mean much lower in the hills than we usually see. I’m ready with my snow shovels. (For the ten flakes or so we’ll get in the best case.) And I can see snow on the mountains visible from my kitchen window. Hey, the Weather Channel is covering our weather for once, which makes my wife, a Weather Channel junky, happy. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2011, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-going-to-san-francisco/571241/90 "2011-02-23T02:02:50Z")
There was a light dusting of snow on some of the hills around here last weekend, and my sister went up to Mount Tam and there was actually a few inches. She and her friend made snow angels. ---
**Author:** ![Hedda\_Rosa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hedda_rosa/32/1204_2.png) [@Hedda\_Rosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hedda_Rosa)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2011, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-going-to-san-francisco/571241/91 "2011-02-23T02:17:44Z")
I live in the North Bay and the hills east of the Alexander Valley had a foot or more. Sledding and snowmen and everything. OP I think you should set your story in the hills above Tiburon. Then to be really authentic have them eat Sunday brunch at Sam’s. If you really want to have them live in a house with great views and be in SF, there are nice views in the houses above UCSF. Not mansions with grounds but if they live on the east side of Edgewood Ave, they’ll have great views. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2011, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-going-to-san-francisco/571241/92 "2011-02-24T00:53:48Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Just watched the weather forecast, and there is a possibility of snow in SF on Saturday. At any rate, it’s going to be cold (for here in Feb) and we’ll probably get snow at 500 ft at least, which would mean much lower in the hills than we usually see. Here in the Bay Area our snow forecasts aren’t in inches, they’re in _feet_! That’s because out here, snow is incredibly rare near sea level, but we have enough big hills/mini-mountains that are tall enough to get snow at the higher elevations. So while in many parts of the USA you’d have a TV weathercaster saying: \*“Chance of snow tonight. Possibly up to 3 inches.” \* …In the Bay Area they would instead say this: _“Chance of snow tonight. Possibly down to 500 feet.”_ :eek: “Like, craaaazy, Daddy-O!” :eek: ---
**Author:** ![psycat90](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@psycat90](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psycat90)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2011, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-going-to-san-francisco/571241/93 "2011-02-24T01:07:14Z")
[Awesome slide show with pictures of snow in and around SF over the last century or so.](http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2011/02/23/MNB81HS40O.DTL&object=%2Fc%2Fpictures%2F2011%2F02%2F23%2Fba-Poop_Snow_San_0503030059.jpg) I’m looking at Mount Saint Helena’s snow covered peak from my office window right now. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-going-to-san-francisco/571241.md?page=4)