ThisDJ

Every January I go to San Fran for business and bring the wife and stay some extra days. We usually stay in the Union Square area. Last time we were there was Jan 2019 and things were noticeably different as we witnessed multiple shoplifting incidents at various Walgreens, an assault inside the Zumiez in Union Square, too much public urination in broad daylight in well trafficked foot area to name a few things really not witnessed before.

We love the city and make a pilgrimage to Telegraph Hill, Chinatown, The Haight, Golden Gate Park, Golden Gate Bridge, Italian food in North Beach etc.. We know a few of our fave eateries have shuttered since 2019 but in the city itself has any normalcy returned? Still worth a touristy experience?

freeagent

Overall, life feels like its back to normal other than having to wear a mask sometimes and less people. The crime you described never went a way and is likely to stay. Downtown SF is still relatively empty people wise, people are still working remote and conferences are slow to return.

MDtR-Chicago

Was in the Financial District today. Seemed like foot traffic was around 2/3 of normal and probably 2/3 of people wearing masks outdoors (almost everyone wearing masks indoors aside from dining) but otherwise "felt" roughly the same as before the pandemic, for better or worse.

Many, many restaurants went out of business but there are still quite a few in business and they seem to be doing fine.

Overall, it was basically 1/3 fewer people and masks everywhere, else you wouldn't really know the difference compared to 2019.

squeakr

We have gone downtown maybe 2-3 times since COVID and it's like a ghost town in the FD, less so in Union Square. But the neighborhoods - the Haight, Cole Valley, Hayes Valley, etc. Are all pretty vibrant. Restaurants are open, shops etc.

gaobest

ditto. I wouldn’t bother going to union square / downtown if possible. It’s just super not pleasant.

in general the city has same challenges as other major cities. I love it and spend most of my time south of market street and even more 24th street and south of it.

Eastbay1K

I've spent much of my time in downtown / uptown Oakland (notwithstanding the anarchy) and things have been pretty full of no anarchy. COVID-era visits to SF have been few and far between, as for much of the time, BART ceased operations quite early with very limited service, UBER/LYFT were unreliable and $$$$$, and not much was open. A recent stop in the Ferry Building including some wine at the wine shop / bar was quite pleasant, with a sense of normalcy, as ironically, this is where I was when the Governor announced that the next day, everything was shutting down.

DELee

So California is shutting down again?

David

Eastbay1K

No. It was a day in March 2020 when I was in the same establishment, and everyone was getting the news while sitting around the wine bar.

DELee

Ah. Your original post confused me:

I guess I misunderstood the recency of "a recent stop" and your conjunction with "the next day".

I was wondering if Grusome had made some announcement this week that I missed and was about to have to deal with.

David

Boraxo

[This report as of Late-October 2021]

It depends on what is important to you. The shoplifting incidents have probably increased since your last visit - many Walgreens and other retailers have closed as the loss ratio was not sustainable. High end stores like Nieman Marcus are not immune and you can find many youtube and other videos of these incidents. Also sorry to report that public urination and defecation are still frequent occurrences, as is consumption of narcotics via smoking, injection etc.. Again this is not my opinion (though I have personally observed all of these types of incidents in the past year) but is well documented in the media and elsewhere.

With all that said I think you can safely visit all of the tourist areas mentioned above. There is much more normalcy in some of our great neighborhoods like Inner Richmond (Clement St), Inner Sunset, Marina, etc. Many restaurants and bars have reopened but proof of vaccination is required and the In-N-Out was recently cited for failure to enforce the vax requirement. Mask are still required indoors in many places though this is a bit fluid as the mayor was caught violating her own health dept rules and is now advocating for changes. I personally would not feel unsafe walking the Marina, Fish Wharf, Telegraph Hill, GG Park - not sure about Chinatown as I rarely visit that area. This summer we parked our car on the street in SOMA a few blocks from the Giants ballpark without incident but I would not do so for any extended period of time.

You will find some homeless, psychos, drunks, addicts and other assorted vagrants wandering the streets though they are mostly concentrated in downtown, SOMA and tenderloin areas. They are generally harmless unless you engage them but of course the behavior is quite unpredictable. The bigger problem (as you've alluded) is theft from vehicles and residences. Leave nothing in your vehicle - we personally know people who had luggage stolen from their unattended vehicle in as little as 5 minutes.

With all that said downtown looks like a neutron bomb went off - it is fairly deserted as most office workers continue to work remotely and the streets are largely populated by the folks described in the last paragraph. A lot of the retail has closed and many restaurants remain closed. So I would avoid walking and parking downtown.

PS - Public transit is not particularly safe - there are frequent incidents reported on BART and MRs. B was on a train yesterday that was boarded by BART PD to deal with a passenger who refused to stop smoking. Usually they have a crack pipe or pot. I would rent a car or uber/lyft.

Eastbay1K

As for Walgreens, the media reports are mostly bunk (not the actual shoplifting, but being the primary reason for closing) Walgreens had planned on substantially reducing its footprint in SF long before COVID. There are over 50 Walgreens in tiny SF..

"Walgreens told shareholders four years ago that it planned to close 600 stores nationwide and ended up closing 769, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. The Illinois-based company said in a 2019 U.S. Security and Exchange Commission filing that it would shutter 200 stores, or fewer than 3 percent of its 10,000 U.S. locations in a cost-saving measures projected to save $1.5 billion in annual expenses by 2022."

Boraxo

Noted, but I am sure it is a combination of factors. Many downtown locations have little foot traffic with offices closed. And the costs of security guards and retail theft is not insignificant. But yes, I am sure no tears were shed to close these losers.

In any case it means that your hotel may not be around the corner from a drugstore anymore, if that is important.

Eastbay1K

True, but your hotel still may be around the corner from a cornucopia of drugs!

Visconti

Chinatown and Northbeach were fine the last time I walked through there a couple of weeks ago. Right now in SF, just use common sense; keep your head on a swivel, have some spatial awareness of your surroundings, preemptively avoid any situation that appears unsafe and utilize private transportation whenever possible.

gaobest

Walgreens is closing their newest shop at cesar Chavez & mission - it’s a new construction building with parking. Meanwhile they’re NOT closing the foot-trafficked shop at mission & 30th, where there are tons of drug-addled and homeless folk who loiter & sleep nearby nonstop. My guess is that they got a great rent rate for cesar Chavez / mission and that the lease ended. It’s a gorgeous location in a modern building with a devoted clientele. Why are they leaving this location while not leaving the other one? It’s a 5-minute walk between locations and one must ask why they even have 2 locations so close. Meanwhile they’re not closing their location in the western addition that’s been a shoplifting victim for many years… that’s near a Kaiser health center where most Kaiser patients get their medications at the Kaiser pharmacy. So that western addition location would be a logical one to close yet it’s still open.

I can believe your wife had a bad bart experience - I took bart home a few weeks ago and it was fine for me. Ymmv.