F I R S TP R E V867NEXTLAST

Sidewalk Cafe, North Beach
Today's post is dedicated to my sister and features one of her favorite things in San Francisco, a sidewalk Italian restaurant on a cool summer night. Patti, here's wishing you a speedy return to the cafes of North Beach.

So today's theme is optimism. Since everyone is down about the recent financial news I thought I'd post about the silver lining that is often hard to spot during tough times. In the late 1940s and early 1950s North Beach saw a dramatic drop in the value of homes and rents. Residents fled the area for the new housing springing up in the suburbs. Into this void of cheap stores and apartments came an influx of poor artists, poets, musicians, and writers.

This gathering of Bohemians led to the creation of the 'Beatnik' culture, a term coined by Herb Caen. Along with these new creative residents, the empty shops and restaurants of North Beach were transformed in to art galleries, nightclubs, and cafes. In fact, much of what we think of today as North Beach was created in part by the post-war economic downturn. So maybe by looking beyond today's worries we can glimpse a better tomorrow.
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