San Fransisco is a gorgeous, picturesque city, no matter what some asshole on Twitter or some unnamed news pundit will tell you about its citizens. Its hilly geography offers hella (see what I did there?) vantage points to view the historic architecture, with its pastel-colored row houses as far as the eye can see. Attempting to car spot in San Fransisco, I accidentally made a wrong turn and ended up on a dead-end street. My lack of navigation skills rewarded me with a gorgeous view, accompanied by a sweet car, casually parked against the curb.
- Car: Porsche 911 Turbo (993)
- Location: San Fransisco
- Photog: me (Kevin Williams)
- Camera: Canon EOS M
I know more about San Fransisco than I do about Porsches. While SF is pretty it’s also deeply flawed — the tech boom, textbook gentrification, and lack of options for not-rich citizens to live have exacerbated class stratifications present in all of California.
But that’s all sad shit. I’m not going to do a structural and class analysis, especially not on a feature photo post of some random person’s Porsche parked on the side of the road. And yet, I couldn’t help but feel like I was behind some velvet rope checking such a pristine classic Porsche just sort of casually parked on the street next to homes that are millions of dollars. Just around the corner, working poor people eke out an existence next to homeless people who have nowhere to go.
Every city has class stratification and some form of gentrification, but San Fransisco’s feel uniquely pronounced. In a typical midwestern city, I can’t imagine a car like this, casually parked on the street, in a patchwork neighborhood of what I assume are rich tech people and their families, at odds with longstanding residents who are largely fighting to stay where they are. On some level, that battle definitely exists elsewhere, but it’s a lot less obvious. In SF, it’s about as subtle as a shitting horse on fire, galloping full speed down a busy road.
Whatever, this is a cool car, with a cool view.
