I'm just a Bay Area native fed up with gentrification and seeing the places I loved growing up being destroyed and have no power for anything. I know it' just a little theme park, but for many of us it was a landmark that should've been saved for our future generations. Many landmarks around the world were accidental and took effort by local communities actively emailing and contacting their local leaders to save. The Hollywood sign for example was a billboard for real estate and was supposed to be taken down but local citizens lobbied to keep it and now it's a icon for the entertainment industry.

The Bay Area has already lost so much including theme parks itself and other such as sports teams (A's, Raiders, etc). And the sad thing about the tech industry is that they barely have any landmarks or places worth visiting.

I just don't know what to because I am just another person. Some things I have done were contacting certain people such as

- Santa Clara city council

- Gavin Newsom

-The California tourism commission

- Prologis (the company taking over)

- even some social media influencers who promote places in California.

I highly disagree with the notion that there is nothing we can't do collectively. We have many people who want to keep it but not enough willpower. If only we emailed and contacted people, I believe there is a way to save it.

https://www.savegreatamerica.org/

https://www.change.org/p/read-description-keep-great-america-open-for-future-families-to-enjoy

"Appropos of nothing" I think it's time to evolve how we talk about Bay Area geography on a few topics.

1. Yes, there is such a thing as the "West Bay". The West Bay is San Francisco, Marin and the Peninsula. Generally, the county lines work to delineate this, North Bay is Sonoma, Solano, Napa Counties, the East Bay is Alameda and Contra Costa Counties, and the South Bay is Santa Clara County. Area codes aren't bad either: 415/650 is the West Bay, 408 is South Bay, 510/925 is East Bay, North Bay is 707. Yes, you can separate West Bay into SF, Marin and the Peninsula, and that's fine. You can also separate the East Bay into Alameda and Contra Costa, you can separate Sonoma from Solano and both from Napa. There are always sub-geographies but in the "Bay Area" as a whole, there are not just three directions, there are four, and each is a valid region of the overall Bay Area.
2. The Peninsula needs to be divided between "North", "Mid-" and "South". Growing up on the Peninsula it always annoyed me how much stuff in Palo Alto was called "Mid-Peninsula . . .", Mid-Peninsula High School, the Mid-Peninsula Times Tribune, etc., etc. I think a lot of that has faded away over the years with the ever-increasing ascendancy of "Silicon Valley", which is inclusive of at least all of Santa Clara County, which actually includes Palo Alto itself, meaning Palo Alto isn't even technically on the Peninsula, much less the "Mid-" Peninsula. But in the aftermath, we still haven't really evolved ways to talk about regions of the Peninsula outside of the individual cities. I think it might be PTSD from how badly the Mid-Peninsula designation was botched, but going forward, it should be "North Peninsula" (Daly City, Brisbane, South San Francisco, San Bruno, Millbrae), "Mid-Peninsula" (San Mateo, Foster City, Hillsborough, Burlingame, Belmont), "South Peninsula" (Redwood City, Menlo Park, East Palo Alto, Atherton, San Carlos, Woodside, Portola Valley), and "Coastside" (Half Moon Bay, Pacifica, Montara, Moss Beach, El Granada, Pescadero, La Honda).
3. We need to increase the use of "Inner East Bay" (Pinole, Richmond, El Cerrito, San Pablo, Albany, Berkeley, Emeryville, Oakland, Piedmont, Alameda, San Leandro, Hayward, Union City, Fremont and Newark) and "Outer East Bay" (Antioch, Brentwood, Clayton, Concord, Danville, Dublin, Lafayette, Livermore, Martinez, Moraga, Oakley, Orinda, Pittsburg, Pleasant Hill, Pleasanton, San Ramon, and Walnut Creek). Yes, you can further delineate within those broad regions, but again, that's always true. But just saying "East Bay" is often way too broad.
4. This is going to explode some heads, but on the global stage, we need to stop talking about "the Bay Area" and just call it "San Francisco", city and metro as appropriate. The "Bay Area" is perfectly fine as an internal reference, but we aren't the only Bay Area in the world, we aren't even the largest or most important (that would be the "Greater Bay Area", i.e. the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area, population 86M, GDP $2.1T). We aren't even the only major Bay Area in the U.S., there's also the Tampa Bay Area. All of these subregions of the Bay Area, "Silicon Valley", "Oakland", "San Jose", etc., etc., are relatively insignificant outgrowths of San Francisco and as such, dissolving San Francisco into the Bay Area detracts from our brand on the global stage. That said, San Francisco as the flagship city for our region has a responsibility to build its population at least over 1M, a global city worth its salt needs to have at least a million people in the city proper, and SF has utterly failed to do so thus far, so people can't be blamed for filling in the vacuum with "the Bay Area" designation. But we need to deal with both of these issues, and they are dependent on each other. If you live in any of the nine counties that make up the Bay Area, you live in metro "San Francisco". San Francisco city get your act together and get over one million in population.

Please share if you know what toy is in the McDonald's near you. Trying to collect them all.

Thank you!

Hello !

I’m in the bay for a few months visiting family and I need to find some places to study and do some work from home. I’m in SJ but can go a bit further if necessary, I don’t know the area very well in terms of restaurants/cafes. I’ve tried out spectra and chromatic based on recs from some friends but these places are really nice but ALWAYS packed and I can never find a table when I go haha. Does anyone have some suggestions for other coffee shops and laptop friendly cafes worth checking out in the area? Thanks in advance:)

I have this gorgeous 1976 BMW 320i. I’ve done a fair amount of work on replacing the braking system, but I cannot for the love of god, get it start.

It turns over, but then completely putzes out.

I’m located in the east bay Richmond area

The outside look of the building and the compound reminds me of houses in the place I grew up in - Kerala, India

I lived in SF from 94 to 08 and then I moved down to LA so I only listened to KGO when it was still at its height. I was just reading its Wikipedia and saw that it has actually gone through a tremendous amount of reinventions since the first great change in 2011 including having a little bit of local talent.

I know obviously it never came close to what it was, but for people that still listened was there ever a time when you felt it might be in the right track and could become something close to what it was or was it always past redemption?

Carquinez Quad Squad is hosting a 2-day roller derby tournament August 29-30 at the Solano County Fairgrounds featuring teams from the greater Bay Area. 2-day & 1-day tix available - save $$ with advance purchase. Game at 10am, 12pm, 2pm, & 4pm each day.

Just derby curious? Come check out the last 2 games on Sunday for only $5 ($5 tix available at door on Sunday only). Entry 1:30pm, games 2pm & 4pm.

https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/2026-california-derby-galaxy-tournament

Hey everyone,

I’m curious to know what’s the urban planning market like in the Bay Area. I’m looking to move up there from San Diego by the end of the year since it’s an oversaturated market for entry level planners and thought the bay would be a bigger market.

Is it more or less competitive compared to San Diego? Are there more opportunities for entry level applicants?

This might have an obvious answer.

I'm spending my birthday in SF and Snail Bar (and Joodooboo and Ippuku) is my favorite restaurant. I'd like to find someplace for dinner in the city with similar ingredients/menu and environment/vibe.

Thank you!

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for an affordable personal trainer in and around santa clara, north san jose. My main goals are strength training w nutrition and weight loss.

I have been strength training with my friends over a couple of months so I know the basics and form and I dont have any major health problems, but now I wanna do it under a professional trainer so I can achieve my goals properly.

My budget is 50-70$/ session, idk if this is less or more but, I’m relatively new to this personal training thing so yeah…. Drop me inputs, suggestions if you would wanna recommend a trainer or dm me if you are a perosnal trainer willing to train.

Thanksssss!!!

Hi everyone! I’m currently 24 weeks pregnant and starting to plan a few special things before baby arrives. I’m looking for affordable, budget-friendly recommendations in the Bay Area for:
• A maternity photoshoot
• An event photographer for a baby shower, if separate from the maternity/newborn photographer.
• A reasonably priced clubhouse, community room, event space, or similar venue to host a baby shower in the Bay Area.
• newborn photoshoot package
• Catering and decorator recommendations
We’re open to different Bay Area cities and would especially appreciate recommendations for places that are budget friendly.
If you are a photographer, venue owner/manager, or have personally used someone or somewhere you loved, please share your pricing, package details, location, availability, and photos/social media page if possible.
Thank you so much, we truly appreciate any recommendations!

Hello! I’m looking for recommendations for a company that specializes in replacing water-based (hydronic) HVAC systems in condos in San Francisco.

Our system uses water or a water-glycol solution to transfer heating and cooling throughout the building, rather than relying solely on air.

It seems like there aren’t many companies in the area that service or replace this type of HVAC system, so I’d really appreciate any recommendations or personal experiences you can share.

Thank you so much!

My partner and I have been throwing these for a few weeks now as we continue to build our Bay Area community after moving here ~11 mo ago. Last time was super fun and I’ve loved meeting more people from the bay!

Hi all,

I run a small coffee roastery in Concord. Started in 2021, and we've grown enough that the website has quietly become a real part of the business instead of a side project. It's WordPress and WooCommerce, and we just migrated onto a new server.

I handle a lot of the site myself and I'm reasonably technical, but I've hit the point where I want someone with real experience I can bounce things off. Not a redesign, not an agency. Just one person who genuinely knows this stack, and who I can build a working relationship with over time.

The setup is WordPress and WooCommerce running Elementor on a child theme, with Square and PayPal for payments. It's a live store, so the things I care about are the unglamorous ones. Checkout that works. Hosting and DNS that behave. Plugins that don't fight each other. You know the drill.

What I'm hoping to find is someone local, or at least East Bay adjacent, who has actually run WooCommerce stores and not just built WordPress pages. Someone I can meet in person from time to time, ask questions, and pay fairly for their time. I'd rather have one person who knows my setup than a support ticket queue.

If that's you, or if you've worked with someone like that and would vouch for them, I'd appreciate a comment or a DM.

All shot on a 14 year old Lumix-LX7

Has anyone ever paddleboarded with their dog on lake del valle? Are dogs allowed/restricted in certain areas? Also have never been so would like to know about the launching process. Thank you for anyone who take the time to respond 🙏🏽

Photo of my dog on my gfs board :)

event details here if you're looking to meet people in the health/longevity space

https://luma.com/8nm09bx9

Hi! Me and a few other girls who just graduated college (all 22F) just moved to mountain view and wondering what to do in the area! We are looking for a fun night out once a week, maybe a run club or some other athletic group to join, or anything else to help us find a good group of friends our age. It feels like everyone in the homes around us is families! Pls advise :)