Post #6: "Yuppification"

In class professor Wilson suggested that rather than San Francisco being a hallow city, it’s more of a spectral city. I completely agree with that because the city does have a lot of history and just because it’s been covered up or replaced by consumerism and capitalization, the stories are still there; people who experienced those historic events are still there to tell them. Take for example the Haight-Ashbury. In the 1960’s it was home to the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane, homeless wanderers, had a huge hallucinogenic drug scene and was a prime spot for hippies during “the summer of love”. Today, capitalism has made its way into the neighborhood but only slightly; mainly the stores are still small business owned. I think, as a tourist destination, there will be a “yuppification” of that area because, since it’s a tourist spot, it needs to appeal to a more average person, but that doesn’t take away what the Haight-Ashbury stands for or what it’s been home to in the past. I bet a lot of those small businesses rely on tourists to shop there anyway. And as said before, although there’s a Gap on the Haight, there are also the free spirited people that have always inhabited the Haight-Ashbury, Amoeba music, and the Booksmith.