Last week I was in San Francisco and stayed at my first airbnb. My hosts made me feel welcome in their individual and cutely unique ways. I met Apoorva the night I arrived--he grew up in Hong Kong and finished a graduate degree at Michigan rather recently. He is a lovely guy who works for Electronic Arts on the peninsula. Apoorva told me how great Courtney's was across the street but I was not actually clamoring to go. After landing in SFO en route to their modern day pensione, I stocked up at Whole Foods for a couple of days. On the run I finally went to the tiny corner store and bought some carrot/ginger juice. I was addicted.
The last time I stayed in a pensione was with my sister in Italy. That summer we studied art in Florence. We learned an old print making technique called itaglio and the history of classical art during the Renaissance right there in the epicenter. A comparison of San Francisco the west coast art capital in America, to Florence the birthplace of Renaissance art is apt to me even though they are centuries apart. Europeans always say that SF is as close as you can get to a European city in America.
The second day I met Carl, the main airbnb host. He rents out his room in this charming flat in the Duboce Triangle which is close to Buena Vista Park and next to the Castro. He works for google traipsing the globe so it makes more than enough sense to airbnb his place when he is out of town. I found the room charming with a spectacular view facing south--cool and hip but not too.
Anyway, I loved the European feel of the flat, the location and the sun. On one of my previous trips, I stayed at my friend Justin's in Duboce. He airbnb'd his place last summer and recommended it to me this time. Was ideal…I could explore a totally different part of the city and keep costs down because I had just started up my business again. The small triangle called Deboce is a part of town that is booming with young tech kids, other professionals of all shapes and sizes and locals who have been there for years. Honestly, as a fashion/style person I love the inspiration provided by the street and it's youth culture. You can get the pulse of what is happening now.
Urban back packing #marcystyle
