The Missy Mowse and I just came back from a week in San Francisco. Let me tell you it has to be the most concentrated city of Minis in the world. I mean they were EVERYWHERE! After going "there's one" about a hundred times we started to count and hit 65 in half an hour!!

I wonder how many were automatics with the insane hills there?

You all would have felt right at home.

 

hahahah so dig this: we weren't even EARLY on the MINI thing, waiting until the 06 model (couldn't afford it when they launched, bought a GTI instead... and anxiously awaited until the combination of $ and kinks-ironed-out allowed us to get the MINI we wanted)... and so back then, there WERE still several MINIs in SF, more than most places, but it wasn't like every day you saw one. We waved, they waved, lights were flashed. We especially saw very few pepper white/whites and I think only one PW/W with aero.

But once the second gen came out, I don't know if it's a production-ramp-up or just a greater cultural zeitgeist or what, but we started seeing more and more and more. Now we see them EVERYWHERE, like you did. And many aren't MINI enthusiast drivers per se, more like small car drivers. Less waves or nods, more tuned out putting around in traffic. But when you see another enthusiast you can pretty much tell. Maybe it's vinyl or mods or whatever. But we still find each other. MINIdar!

 

SF (expensiveness,political and cultural zanniness aside) has got to be the most beautiful part of the US. What a blast it must be to cruise around in a Cooper!

We rented a 2011 Mustang (6 banger) and loved it. The GT must rock.

 

People who have never been to the bay area can talk smack and get snarky all they want but you have to experience it to appreciate it. I moved from there almost 2 years ago and I miss something about it every day. It's beautiful, chock full of MINI's, and everybody lives and lets live for the most part. Love San Francisco (aka San Franfreakshow) and the bay area...awesome place!

 

I agree with the city being beautiful and it has some awesome food! I was stationed there for 4 years (Alameda & Benica) but I sure could not live there now! I took the wife out there a few years ago and it is just too expensive, too crowded and way to out there. That said, I would love to take Sarah Jane out there and hit some of the coastal mountain roads and US 1/101, those curves would rock, not to mention how much fun it would be just to drive out and back!

 

65 of them actually on the road ? That is about what I see in 2 months.....arm must have been tired that day from waving !

They must have an awesome MINI dealer(s) in SF.

 

hahha it's no exaggeration.

Actually early on I was really turned off by the local SF MINI dealership. This was when there was still such a demand that you waited up to a year for your production slot, and paid well over MSRP everywhere PLUS dealer fees. MINI of SF tried to get $5000 OVER MSRP plus fees from me. I was out of there so fast I punched a me shaped hole in their showroom. Fortunately, we have an embarrassment of dealership riches: East Bay MINI, MINI of Mountain View, MINI of Concord and even up in Sacramento. Very lucky to have some competition...

 

I should mention this time around they were competitive in price and easy to work with, so 5 years later things have improved considerably, at least in my experience...

 

I was in a rent Mustang. Waving at a Mini would have been confusing for the "wavee".

SF is so cool. If I had the cabbage and wasn't such a ClevO homeboy it would top my list of places to move followed by Pittsburgh and Seatle(which is SF lite).

Like all cities, SF has issues. My day on Haite that I was SO looking forward to was semi ruined by the indigent types. I'm not cold hearted as I realize some people are down on their luck and/or mentally ill. However, the visibly anebriated/agressive folks were scaring the begeebers out of the Missymowse and she is no whitebread sissygirl. I imagine the people who run the business' there aren't too jiggy with the behavior either as it's not drawing shoppers in.

I still bought a dozen used cds at Ameoba though. Almost bought a Stones concert T from the tour I saw in '81 till I saw it was $125 at a resale shop!!

 

The cops in Berkeley are using them as patrol cars now.

OK, I made that up, but now I'm wondering what a PW with checkered doors would look like. And it would be cool to tie the light bar color into the mood lighting...

 

The crowd on Haight street has been a source of frustration for residents for years. They put in a soup kitchen over by the park end and it drew a lot of folks there from other parts of the city. But the problem isn't as much the truly destitute or ill, as you noted: it's the faux homeless: the teen runaways who hang out and deal and beg, but have other options they choose to ignore. I have seen, I kid you not, someone who looks like a teen runaway girl get up from her little sidewalk encampment, and walk over to the liquor store across the street and use her credit card. It's very disturbing, when one would desire to help those less fortunate,t hat you can't distinguish the needy from the lazy in areas like that.

Fortunately the city is much more than the Haight, and even then, when you are familiar with it, (I loved there for awhile) you are acclimated enough to barely notice the undesirables (not to an unsafe degree, of course) and can focus on the food, some of the shops and of course Amoeba. I have very expensive 6 mo. runs to that shop, more so when I lived closer. And there's a return policy for 75% credit!

 

last time there I bought 32 used cds but the prices were great (under $5 used cd) but now most used cds are $9.98-$14.98! Kinda took the fun out of it. Still bought 8 cds I'm sure I could have found cheaper elsewhere but when in Rome.......

Chinatown. Ate at a place called Nanking that a guy on the plane from Clevo recommended. Different and great