During the fall 2017, Henri and I stayed for a month in the San Francisco Bay, thanks to the generosity of friends I’m incredibly grateful I met in NYC. I had visited the SF Bay thirteen years ago, back in the days when my English was very broken, I was traveling without a phone and moving here from a foreign country for work wasn’t really a concept yet. I fell in love, of course. After my second visit, I finally decided that I will never, ever live in San Francisco. But I will visit it at least every 13 years.
In San Francisco, you can still take a nice picture in front of the Ladies. There are just many more people than in 2004 and a tower grew up in the skyline.
You can still feed and pet the cats in exchange for a bed.
You can still practice your people watching skills.
You can still have a lot of fun for a quarter or two.
You can still hike that bridge and hike that mountain and see that view, for free.
You can still witness the beat spirit here and there.
You can still pay a visit to Jack. Allen. Lawrence. Gregory…
You can still walk for hours, and hours, and hours, uphill, downhill, then uphill again.
There are some VW Combis, but they’re much harder to find than thirteen years ago. They hide.
You can still do some house-porn, but you can no longer live inside.
You can chill in the park… but paper became a screen.
You can still find that light.
2004 – 2017: Pipe Dreams is still here. I have a better camera.
You may have to lean forward a little bit.
You can still enjoy the best audio tour in the world. 
San Francisco has changed. But find a cheap bed, wander around and trust me: it hasn’t really changed.