A Visit to the Haight

Yesterday I felt like taking pictures so I walked out to the Haight, the home of 1960s counter-culture and much graffiti.

In case you’re wondering, there aren’t groups of long-haired hippies hanging on every corner. The population seems to be a combination of people who’ve obviously been living there a long time; newer, younger residents (who have no time to wait for me to take a pic, but I do the same thing to tourists in New York); and lots of tourists.

The drivers that day were very aggressive. I jay walked, passing behind a parked car, which waited till I was directly behind it before gunning its engine and backing up. What the fuck? The windows were tinted so I don’t know if the driver saw the dirty look I gave him. Another driver was so anxious to park, she nearly ran over another group of tourists.

I guess the residents must be sick of out-of-towners gawking, but if you live around Haight Street, what do you expect?

Here are a few of my favorite graffiti pics:

Taken through a fence down an alleyway.

Part of a much larger mural that I had to shoot in several pieces.  On Lower-Haight.

Sphinx-y.

I wanted to get closer to the one below, but when I did I spotted 1) a Roto Rooter guy with a mask dealing with brown sludge spewing from a sewer, and 2) a homeless guy getting high.

Oh well.

I didn’t try any of the eateries, but next time I’ll definitely have to dine in the Pork Store Cafe, which comes highly recommended. If you’re interested in other shopping and restaurants in the Haight, this site has a very comprehensive list.

See all my San Francisco pics.

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