Saturday March 4, 2017
by Vinnee Tong, KQED
sfgate.com

 

FRISCO.

Just try dropping that word into conversation these days and see what kind of response you get. Chances are good the nickname will be met with a healthy dose of side-eye, a grimace or even a slap on the wrist.

Frisco is the nickname we love to hate.

Bay Curious listener Rena Yang, a native of Oaktown (people seem fine with this one), asked us why she can’t say “Frisco” without someone’s head exploding nearby.

Growing up, Rena relied on her friends to learn the local lingo, since her family spoke Chinese at home. One of the slang words her friends taught her was Frisco. She used it for years, until one day she slipped it in while talking to a co-worker.

“She stops me or she kind of looks at me, and says, ‘Wait, I thought people don’t like that name.’ And I said, ‘Really? I don’t think so,’ ” Rena recalls.

Suddenly, even though she’s a Bay Area native, she felt like an outsider. Ever since she’s wondered: Why all the hate?

If you ask around, people say it’s because it’s disrespectful, truncated, ugly-sounding or icky. Basically, they don’t think the name does the city justice. But we had to find out where these arguments originally came from.

A Mysterious Birth

Let’s start with some history. (Read a great timeline from Mother Jones here.)

Author Charles Fracchia, the founder of the San Francisco Museum and Historical Society, tells me nobody knows exactly where the word originated, but he thinks Frisco got its start in the late 1800s — potentially from some drunkard making a contraction out of San Francisco.

He thinks one of the first written uses was maybe on some sheet music, like this example from 1897. Other people say it may have come earlier, perhaps during the Gold Rush.

Frisco’s use was probably in its heyday when the ports were strong here, around the time of World War II in the 1940s.

“It was kind of a working man’s period of time,” Fracchia says. “The port was thriving, you had lots of small manufactories here. Frisco is kind of a working man’s word.”

A Trashy Name for Classy City?

The other thing to know: Not long after people started using it, other people started hating it. They said only out-of-towners used it. Tourists, basically.

San Francisco’s self-proclaimed emperor — the Brit Joshua Norton — supposedly banned the use of Frisco in 1872 and said whoever used it would have to pay a $25 fine. But that has not been verified.

One person we do know hated the word: Herb Caen, the revered columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle. When he wrote about the city, people listened.

“Herb Caen made San Francisco into almost a village,” Fracchia says. “By the fact that his columns were very popular. There was kind of a lingua franca about them.”

Caen came along after the city had grown from a dinky West Coast outpost into a Gold Rush boomtown with saloons and debauchery, and later into a city that looked more like the East Coast and European cities it wanted to imitate.

Caen wanted San Francisco to be more classy, more chic.

His book, “Don’t Call It Frisco,” came out in 1953.

The opening paragraph:

“Don’t call it Frisco — it’s San Francisco, because it was named after St. Francis of Assisi. And because “Frisco” is a nickname that reminds the city uncomfortably of the early, brawling, boisterous days of the Barbary Coast and the cribs and sailors who were shanghaied. And because Frisco shows disrespect for a city that is now big and proper and respectable. And because only tourists call it Frisco anyway, and you don’t want to be taken for a tourist, do you?”

Fracchia says Caen’s book ruined the nickname for a lot of people. People wanted to seem proper, and cultured, so they listened to Caen and shunned it.

“That’s when I think it became controversial or contentious,” Fracchia says.

Frisco is Loved, Too

Now, many people associate the word with an earlier generation. And rightly so.

Take Joey Wilson, co-owner of a tattoo shop in the Mission called … yep, Frisco Tattoo.

“My parents always called it that,” Wilson says. “They were blue-collar workers. It was just something that was instilled in me as a kid.”

Wilson remembers Frisco as a part of his childhood.

“When I was a little kid, I think I was 12 or 13, there was a bike shop called Frisco Choppers,” Wilson says. “I’d race down there on the bus, down Valencia Street, just to buy a T-shirt that said Frisco in big, bold letters because that was the coolest.”

Today he’s in the Hells Angels — the Frisco chapter.

His wife, Lilah Wilson, says they have lots of friends who love Frisco as much as they do.

“A lot of our friends are kind of small-business owners in the city here actually, and really are owners of the name Frisco,” she says. “We had Frisco Boxing, we have 415 Clothing, we had Frisco Choppers years back. Just kind of the root and background of that name and took it far, with T-shirts and tattoos and blew up that name.”

And now Joey Wilson wants to know why Caen’s opinion should matter more than his. After all, Caen was born in Sacramento.

“So that’s the question — why does it upset you to call it Frisco?” he says. “Give us a reason. And who are you to tell us what we can and can’t do? I’m from here. I’m born and raised here, so I think I got rights to call it whatever I want.”

Working on this story one day, I grabbed a Lyft and got to talking with the driver, a guy named Lorenzo Beasley.

“I grew up on the bottom of the city, a small neighborhood called Visitacion Valley,” Beasley says. “I think more of the urban community, like blacks or Hispanics in the city, those people always grew up using that word.”

Beasley says you hear it in Hunters Point, Lakeview, the Fillmore, Potrero Hill and especially the Mission.

I asked him who doesn’t like Frisco.

“It’s like a higher class of people, I guess,” Beasley says. “People who stay in Nob Hill and stuff. They look at it like slang, so they’re not really with it. It’s definitely a bit of snob thing involved.”

For Beasley, whether you use Frisco says what neighborhood you’re from.

Stanford linguist Teresa Pratt echoes that. She says that when you’re talking about language and word choice, like nicknames, you’re virtually always talking about money and power.

“Institutions or people who have power have an interest in maintaining that the way they speak is the right way to speak,” Pratt says. “Because it helps them. Because it’s coupled with this ideology that’s really widespread, that there’s a right way to speak, that there’s a way to speak that gets you ahead.”

Pratt says word choice is like a signal.

“Language as cultural capital, right?” she says. “It’s something like knowing exactly where to put your forks at the end of a meal.”

Nicknames are even more like that. Knowing which one to use and which one not to use tells people where you belong. Which brings us back to Rena, our question-asker, who suddenly felt out of place because she was called out for using Frisco.

“For someone to correct you on that, it’s kind of like, ‘Ugh, did I have it wrong this whole time?’ ” she says.

Well, we have some good news for Rena. The famous Herb Caen eventually flip-flopped on Frisco a couple of times in the 1990s. It turns out we’ve built our anti-Frisco bias on some shaky ground.

And, there are a some admirable bootstrap efforts to bring it back.

SFGate predicted awhile ago that the young and hip would revive it. Joe Eskenazi wrote for SF Weekly that it’s mostly old white people who don’t like it. And Buzzfeed launched a “Call It Frisco” campaign last year.

Join the movement?

January 23, 2017
by Adam Brinklow
sf.curbed.com

Mayor’s administration tired of plaza’s current look, suggests “thoughtful design” replace it

 

Courtesy City of San Francisco

 

 

January 23, 2017
Rachel Ward
wheretraveler.com

For many, the start of a new year is an ideal time to focus on staying active and spending more time outside. In San Francisco you can easily accomplish those goals while getting in all the requisite sightseeing at the same time. This city is blessed with mild weather for outdoor pursuits year-round and is surrounded by an inspiring natural landscape. Here’s your guide to guide to combining the city’s best sights with fresh air and exercise.

Attraction: Lyon Street Steps

Activity: Stairclimbing

San Francisco is a city defined by its steep hills and spectacular vistas. Sharp inclines in many parts of the city required the construction of staircases instead of streets. Many of the climbs lead to dramatic views of the urban landscape, like this palatial staircase connecting the Cow Hollow and Pacific Heights neighborhoods. The 288 steps, are steep but broad, with lush landscaping. At the peak, you’ll be rewarded with a sweeping vantage point of the city and the bay. Stick around awhile to snap photos of the surrounding mansions, Presidio forest and the Palace of Fine Arts. Lyon and Green sts.

Attraction: The Bay

Activity: Kayaking

If you want to get out on the water, several local outfitters, including City Kayak, cater to both beginner and advanced paddlers and lead tours from downtown San Francisco. You’ll see spectacular views of the city skyline, and you’re likely to encounter some wildlife as well—harbor seals, pelicans, bat rays, porpoise, herons and egrets are all a possibility. On a windless day, you can paddle under the Golden Gate Bridge. Another option is to paddle from South Beach into the famous McCovey Cove behind AT&T Park (where you might catch a fly ball during games).

Attraction: Lands End Trail

Activity: Hiking

You don’t have to leave the city limits to get in a heart-pumping, nature-filled hike. As its name implies, Lands End Trail is located in the outer reaches of the city on the Pacific Coast, and it feels somewhat like the edge of the earth. The well maintained 3.5-mile out-and-back trail is packed with photo-worthy vistas. Jagged cliffs covered in windswept cypresses dramatically meet blue sea, with the Golden Gate Bridge and grand Marin Headlands in the distance. If you have energy to spare when you reach the end of the trail, continue on to admire the mansions in the Sea Cliff neighborhood and take a detour to Baker Beach, a mile-long stretch of sand tucked below rugged hills with a famous panoramic view of the Golden Gate Bridge. Back at the starting point, make the descent to explore the Sutro Baths ruins. Before or after your hike, be sure to make time to visit the beautiful Lands End Lookout Visitor Center, which outlines the nature and history of the area and has a nice gift shop and cafe.

Attraction: Crissy Field

Activity: Walking

Crissy Field, a restored tidal marsh that was a U.S. Army airfield in a former life, makes another beautiful walk, jog or bike ride. Take in views of the Golden Gate Bridge in one direction and the city in the other as you follow the wide, 3.5-mile (stroller and wheelchair friendly) waterfront path. You’re likely to spot birds (more than 135 species have been seen) as well as kite surfers attracted by the ideal breezes. The shoreline is also home to sandy beaches, picnic tables, cafes, bookstores and an environmental education center.

Attraction: The Presidio

Activity: Hiking

The Presidio is a former military base located on the northern end of San Francisco that’s covered in pine, eucalyptus and cypress trees. Its 1,500 acres are now a national park that draws visitors from all over the world. The best way to explore the park is via more than 25 miles of trails and scenic viewpoints. Take the California Coastal Trail or Bay Area Ridge trail to the Golden Gate overlook or set off on a hike that passes artist Andy Goldworthy’s four nature installations. Just under a mile, the Batteries to Bluffs Trail is another spectacular walk that winds along the Pacific Coast and follows a flight of stairs down to a sheltered beach.

Attraction: Golden Gate Park

Activity: Dancing, Skating and Yoga

Bigger than New York’s Central Park, the urban oasis known as Golden Gate Park contains countless attractions, including the de Young Museum, California Academy of Sciences, Japanese Tea Garden, Botanical Gardens, Stow Lake, Conservatory of Flowers, Garden of Shakespeare’s Flowers, two historic windmills, a bison paddock, and a rose garden. It’s also the city’s recreational headquarters. Between the museums and landmarks, take some time to join a free yoga or swing dance class or group skating session (rentals available) or play a game of golf or tennis.

Attraction: Golden Gate Bridge

Activity: Biking

There are plenty of scenic routes on the 65 (and counting) miles of bike lanes around the city, but perhaps the finest trip for visitors is the ride from the northern waterfront to the picturesque seaside town of Sausalito. It takes cyclists along the bay’s edge, starting on Embarcadero and climbing up Fort Mason (the arresting views of the bay and Golden Gate Bridge alleviate the steep but brief ascent) before a flat, pleasant ride parallel to Marina Green. Another incline up past historic Fort Point leads to the Golden Gate Bridge, which bikers cross to their final destination. After the seven-mile jaunt, most riders break for lunch, brews or ice cream and opt to take the ferry back. You have plenty of options for borrowing a pair of wheels if you haven’t brought your own. Blazing Saddles is one of several popular rental outfits.