At dinner the other day, A— quoted someone saying:
“San Francisco. 14 square miles surrounded by reality.”
I thought that was rather clever as I seem to like a slight self-effacement now and again. I bothered to look up the full reference. It turns out the quote was by our very own Mayor McDreamy and he really said:
“San Francisco, a wacky wonderful place, a place of dreamers and doers. I think someone described San Francisco as ‘49 square miles surrounded by reality.’ I kind of like that.
—Mayor Gavin Newsom, Speech at the Sierra Summit
I guess they didn’t have Google in San Francisco in 2005, because Gavin is quoting a saying about Madison, Wisconsin—the Left Coast of Wisconsin.
Sometimes, reality is a big old let down.
Parting shot. I love this city.
I think reality is more prevalent in SF than any other place I’ve visited. The realest people live here.
Actually it was said by Paul Kantner of Jefferson Airplane in 1967 – does your attestation pre-date that?
@nigel: Thanks! I was looking for the original reference.