What the hell happened San Francisco?

It was once the Rome of the Pacific!

This photo was taken by Adel Aali, the author of this post, in December 2020 at the south entrance to the Golden Gate Bridge.

It was once thought to be the Rome of the Pacific! It almost became the Geneva of the Pacific! And it once aspired to eclipse New York City.

What do Nordstrom, Whole Foods, H&M, Abercrombie & Fitch, Gap and Crate & Barrel have in common? Care to guess?

They all have left, or are leaving, San Francisco!

This is the story of an imperial city, the story of fabulous wealth, and the story of the enormous sense of belonging and reinvestment in the City by the Bay. But this story is long gone. San Francisco’s story, a city that I once called home, is now the story of abject poverty, manifest homelessness, conspicuous crime, and… wait for it, the elite’s indifference to their City, the elite’s ahistorical outlook, and the elite’s dearth of investment in San Francisco.

I asked my guest, Dr. Gray Brechin, if we are seeing the lowest of the low for San Francisco in its history. A categorical “yes” was his answer! He added that the San Francisco of unforgettable songs by Tony Bennett and Journey is gone.

Dr. Brechin tells the history of San Francisco, from its booms in the mid-19th century to busts and booms again. He explains how the forests of Northern California were sacrificed to build San Francisco…