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Comment by frankhorrigan | Hacker News Reader

I lived in SF for nearly 20 years, though I mostly spend my time in New York now.

And genuinely this made me emotional. Was weird as hell walking around my back yard. Going to the spot in Dolo that I used to haunt in my 20s. My favorite tennis courts and hill bombs, walked the entire disc golf course, etc.

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Happy to hear someone else say this. Similar story. I could never live in SF again but roaming around it was nostalgic in a way going back now just isn't

> I could never live in SF again

Why not?

when the local baker jacks up his prices to leach off the richest man in town, everyone else suffers

Normalize price discrimination

Though actually I’d suspect a lot of that is just rising costs (rent)?

yeah SF is one of the capitals, if not THE capital of NIMBYism. SF needs to relax zoning codes and shift to land value tax (just like any city), but of course that will never happen

The local baker increases their prices because their lease drastically went up. The reason their leases went up is because inventory is low due to NIMBY regulations.

Those greedy bakers that only got into baking for the bread (money).

Probably a testament to how good my life is otherwise – but I feel so much grief from not living in SF / the bay area anymore.

Same. I lived in SF for 15 years, my kids were toddlers in the Marina... this is so freaking awesome and really brings out the nostalgia! It matches my memories exactly.

Exact proportions are crazy. I had the reverse experience doing sim racing... do a track a bunch, finally visit it in person - and it looks the exact same as in your mind.

I’m a ‘serious’ sim racer and I’m gonna get the chance to drive a touring car at BTCC brands hatch in October. I’ve sim raced that layout a million times I’m very excited to experience this. Already had a weird enough feeling at Laguna Seca without driving it!

This made me super nostalgic as well. I've lived in NYC for 20 years, but spent a ton of time in SF early in my career (starting in 2008). I love NYC, but I've been sort of feeling like a change lately and this made me feel like subletting a place for a few months and getting back to the slower pace of SF.

good to know your feelings, but how different it is from using google maps?

The free will of walking. I walked around the city using certain routes, and I can freely replicate those walks in this. I did walks I did when my kids were 3 years old. Google Maps isn't fluid enough to do this.

Honestly it’s a good question. obviously a big part is walking through it. But I also think it’s because it’s this weird, dreamlike version. Because it’s low res and a little broken, it’s like walking through a place you know really well in a dream. Little truths pop up, like a certain taqueria right where you expect it. But it’s almost a Silent Hill version of the town, so your mind fills in the blanks for you.

Maybe this is a common experience, but the first time I left SF for six months, I would have these sort of flashbulb memories of certain intersections and locations. Not even particular memories there. I think because I moved there right out of college and my late adolescence and all that it entails took place there, there are a hundred little corners where I’ve got a thousand more memories.

It being like a half-remembered scene particularly triggers the nostalgia. Also probably because I’m not there right now.

I found my own Vespa!

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