I spent much of my childhood in San Francisco in the 1970s and 80s. I have a lot of fond memories of that time. By the time I was in the 3rd grade I was taking public transit to and from school and keeping myself amused after school till my mom got home. I guess I was around 8 years old. I recall having a good time fighting a huge battle with like 30 kids from the neighborhood shooting finger guns at each other on the stoops with not a parent in sight until the streetlights came on. Spent the weekends riding a bike in Golden Gate park and having stick "sword" fights with the neighbor kids.

The place really changed in the 2000s and became dangerously unpleasant with mentally ill homeless lurking everywhere and crime. And the politics got increasingly deranged. But some of that derangement is really recent, like post Obama / Trump. For instance as recently as 2012 I attended a Ron Paul rally at the SF civic center that was entirely peaceful. Wasn't a single deranged leftist protesting or throwing feces. Impossible to imagine that occuring now.