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Your Stories: Why I Love the Bay Area

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The Bay Area has caught a lot of bad press lately.

A cable TV news network recently ran a five-part series called American Dystopia focusing on San Francisco. Headlines from other news outlets have read: “San Francisco City Streets Strewn With Trash, Needles and Human Feces”, “Bay Area Has the Highest Income Inequality in California” and “Bay Area Traffic Delays Rank Second Longest in Nation.”

It’s true that this region has some serious problems we need to come together to solve. But as the bad news rains down, a few of us on the Bay Curious team started to worry, “What if we lose sight of what we’re fighting for? If we forget all the things that make this place wonderful — where does that leave us?”

So, we set out to capture your stories about when your Bay Area love began and pieced together many of them for our Feb. 13 episode. We want to keep the love fest going and will air more of your stories at the end of podcast episodes over the next few weeks. Want to contribute? Learn how.

Your Stories

“One of the first times I visited San Francisco I was walking on the waterfront by the Ferry Building. I looked down and saw a ray swimming along the sea wall! I took it as some kind of sign, and asked a friend if I could move in.”
– Judy Viertel

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“There was a day where I took my dog Matisse for a walk through Crissy Field. I looked all around me at the birds, people, dogs, and beautiful sky with the Golden Gate Bridge in view. I tried to appreciate how lucky I am to enjoy the bridge in view when so many come from all over to see it covered in fog.”
– Roger Huntsinger

“I moved here from New Orleans in 2005. I love the fact I live in one of the most progressive areas of the world. Being from Louisiana, I always felt in the south my boundaries were set. Here I can run as fast as I can, fly as high as I could and be whatever I am destined to become.”
– Robin Patin

“Packing the car to go to Giants games when I was a kid. I lived in San Jose, and it would be 80 degrees, but my mom would pack winter clothes so we could survive freezing cold Candlestick! Did that make me love it? I don’t know. But it’s a vivid memory!”
– Kateschat

“I actually was walking Lake Merritt one day, and they were having a women’s march. It was seeing how a variety of women from all different backgrounds were coming together, not just women, there were also men there as well. It was powerful to see how passionate and deep people feel about equality, especially in our current political climate … how certain groups and certain people get marginalized. You want to be somewhere where people are powerful and they’re passionate about that.”
– Maurice

“When we first came to America, you know, we left Nicaragua for political reasons, and we got a cheap apartment in the Mission. I didn’t know this was going on, but I woke up to all these sounds on Saturday morning. I looked outside, and my dad was already looking outside, and there’s all these beautiful girls, half naked. So he was like, ‘We made the right choice, coming to America.’ I was still too young to understand, but I saw how happy he was. I thought, ‘OK, This is a good thing.’ Every year now we go to Carnival. I haven’t missed one.”
– Juan Lopez

“When I became a mom of two in one year I realized S.F. is a wonderful place to raise children.”
– Callen Taylor

“I went all the way up to Nick’s Cove, went kayaking at night. It was pitch black. As we start going out more and more, as my eyes adjust to the dark, the water around my kayak starts glowing blue. The water up there is bioluminescent. And, you know, I’m just enjoying this amazing water that was literally radiating. And it made me think of all the times I’ve had that also were awe inspiring.”
– Alim

Want to add your voice to the mix?

Tell us the story about a moment that made you love the Bay Area. (Pro tip: Be specific. Describe the scene. Explain how you felt, and why.)

Call us
Leave us a voice message at 415-547-0046.

Write us
Send an email with a written response to baycurious@kqed.org

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