Founders, Silicon Valley investors, and executives are returning to San Francisco after fleeing during the pandemic almost four years ago.

Technology founders even boasted about their success in securing funding outside the Bay Area and pushed for remote work among their employees. 

But despite the city suffering high levels of crime and homelessness, virtually rendering parts of downtown a no-go area, slowly but surely those involved in the tech industry are making a return to the City by the Bay.

Notable tech figures, like Elon Musk who has long criticized San Francisco’s political culture, has been back in the city since October 2022 when he purchased Twitter, now X together with its headquarters. 

Entrepreneurs and investors are returning with the city now at the forefront of the latest revolution in emerging tech, as AI slowly becomes more mainstream, according to the Wall Street Journal. 

Notable tech figures, such as Elon Musk , who has long criticized San Francisco’s political culture, has been back in the city since October 2022 when he purchased Twitter, now X together with its headquarters.

The headquarters of X occupies a pride of place position in San Francisco’s downtown area

After a pandemic-induced exodus from San Francisco by founders, Silicon Valley figures, and tech execs, there is a notable return to the city, driven by new tech. Pictured, the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco

Companies like OpenAI, which run ChatGPT, are leasing new buildings in the city while other Bay Area tech companies are reinforcing return-to-office mandates, with Robinhood Markets and Chime now implementing stricter policies for staff.  

OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, has his main home in San Francisco’s Russian Hill neighborhood. 

Tech institutions like Y Combinator are also expanding their presence in San Francisco, while some co-founders, like those of fintech startup Brex, have returned after initially moving to other cities during the pandemic.

In 2020, venture capitalist Keith Rabois encouraged startup founders to leave San Francisco altogether for Miami, citing the latter’s safety, lower taxes, and tech-friendly mayor.

OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, has his main home in San Francisco’s Russian Hill neighborhood

Companies like OpenAI which run ChatGPT are leasing new buildings in the city

The city’s longstanding tech reputation, proximity to renowned universities for engineering talent and a recent AI boom are all factors drawing people back

Rabois, now at Khosla Ventures, but who has had significant success with Airbnb and DoorDash, described San Francisco as ‘miserable on every dimension’ in a tweet.

But now that strategy has changed and it appears the tide is turning with several of the startups he supported now relocating or establishing offices back in San Francisco in order to improve their  ability to attract engineering talent. 

Rabois, an early executive at PayPal recognized in Silicon Valley for both his outspoken opinions and successful investments, relocated to Miami a year after joining Founders Fund. 

In Miami, he purchased a $29 million waterfront property and established a new office for the firm. 

This move coincided with a period of low-interest rates, fostering a surge in startup funding and prompting various venture firms to expand their presence nationwide.

Miami’s mayor, Francis X. Suarez, even declared the city as the world’s crypto capital.

But last year, venture investment in Miami saw a massive 70 percent plunge with just $2 billion invested last year.

Keith Rabois, now at Khosla Ventures, but who has had significant success with Airbnb and DoorDash, had previously described San Francisco as ‘miserable on every dimension’ 

Howie Liu, CEO of enterprise startup Airtable, has increased his time in San Francisco to meet with sales customers after spending a significant part of the pandemic in Los Angeles

Henrique Dubugras, co-founders of the fintech startup Brex, returned to San Francisco 

One AI startup, Delphi, secured funding from Rabois in Miami and has moved the HQ to San Francisco.

Traba, a contracting startup also initially backed by Rabois three years ago, opted to open an office in New York, where a majority of its employees now operate. 

Similarly, OpenStore, an e-commerce venture co-founded by Rabois in 2021, established a new engineering hub in the Bay Area last year, although Rabois notes the  majority of the startup’s workforce remains based in Miami.

Nevertheless, Silicon Valley leaders are beginning to engage in local politics once again and looking out for the safety of families and businesses moving back to the area.

Despite a 12 percent decline in investment for Bay Area startups to $63.4 billion last year, San Francisco has demonstrated resilience compared to smaller tech hubs like Austin (27 percent decrease) and Los Angeles (42 percent decrease).

Plenty of others are also returning. Mo Koyfman, the founder of venture firm Shine Capital, believes San Francisco has staying power having had its tech businesses built over the last several decades with the pandemic being a mere blip in terms of time. 

Ben Horowitz, co-founder of venture firm Andreessen Horowitz, chose to reside in Las Vegas during the pandemic, where he continues to live

Peter Thiel, a billionaire investor and founder of PayPal, Palantir Technologies and the Founders Fund, has made Los Angeles his home

Erik Torenberg, an investor in startups Scale AI and Figma, recently moved from Miami to San Francisco, where he is working on a new media company

Last year, Henrique Dubugras and Pedro Franceschi, left, co-founders of the fintech startup Brex, returned to San Francisco after coming under investor pressure

Prestigious universities such as Stanford are a key reason as any why top-tier venture firms must maintain a presence in the Bay Area, Koyfman believes.

Shine opened an office in San Francisco this January despite its HQ being in New York City.

Last year, Henrique Dubugras and Pedro Franceschi, co-founders of the fintech startup Brex, returned to San Francisco under investor pressure after relocating to Los Angeles, New York City, and then Miami during the pandemic. 

Despite the company’s valuation soaring to $12 billion, Brex laid off 20 percent of its workforce earlier this year.

Howie Liu, CEO of enterprise startup Airtable, has increased his time in San Francisco to meet with sales customers after spending a significant part of the pandemic in Los Angeles. 

Erik Torenberg, an investor in startups Scale AI and Figma, recently moved from Miami to San Francisco, where he is working on a new media company.

Elon Musk temporarily moved Tesla’s headquarters to Austin from northern California during the pandemic but he has been spending time in the city overseeing X and xAI, the artificial intelligence startup incorporated last year.

Max Gazor, a general partner at venture firm CRV and board member at Airtable, emphasized that the intellectual talent in San Francisco remains unparalleled, particularly in the field of AI, where companies have innovated at lightning speed.

In recent weeks, Bay Area tech companies have been enforcing return-to-office mandates with stricter measures. 

Trading app Robinhood Markets announced in January that managers would monitor employees’ office attendance based on badge swipes after an earlier policy failed. 

Fintech company Chime also implemented return-to-work policies, requiring local employees to come in two days a week.

But not all tech leaders who left San Francisco in recent years have returned. 

Ben Horowitz, co-founder of venture firm Andreessen Horowitz, chose to reside in Las Vegas during the pandemic, where he continues to live. 

Peter Thiel, a billionaire investor and founder of Founders Fund, has made Los Angeles his home.

San Francisco owns one of the worst crime rates in the nation, and is ranked as safer than just 1 percent of US neighborhoods, according to crime tracker Neighborhood Scout 

San Francisco is reeling from soaring crime, an emptying downtown, and residents moving away to safer, cheaper areas 

Despite CEO’s and investors showing they’re open to return, it is a different story when it comes to retail.

One recent snap, taken in the heart of the city’s famed shopping district earlier this month shows tourists wandering down a gutted Powell Street.

Instead of being graced with an array of shops, cafés, bars, and restaurants, the party is seen encountering countless shuttered storefronts.

More shots from photographer Erica Sandberg show more of the same, and how the thoroughfare that runs adjacent to the city’s Downtown, all the way from Market to Fisherman’s Wharf, has become a shell of its former self.

The sights, while startling, should come as no great surprise to anyone keeping up with the now-years-long saga of the crime-ridden, homeless-overrun city, which recently had two nets installed around its seminal bridge to prevent suicides.

One snap, taken in the heart of the city’s famed shopping district , shows a group of tourists wandering down a gutted Powell St – a way once bustling with businesses.

Instead of being graced with an array of shops, cafés, bars, and restaurants, the party is seen encountering countless shuttered storefronts

‘This pic infuriates me,’ wrote Sandberg, a self-employed San Francisco correspondent, in an impassioned post to X that laid bare the city’s current state

‘Tourists, who do a little thing called SPEND MONEY, walking down a gutted Powell St.’, she continued.  

‘[It] should be buzzing with shops, cafes, bars, restaurants, theaters, venues.’

Sandberg, in turn, categorized the fruits of her effort as both ‘depressing [and] embarrassing’ – not to mention a blow to the city’s still-struggling shopping scene.

A homeless camp is pictured in San Francisco’s Tenderloin district in December 2023

More shots from independent commentator Erica Sandberg show more of the same, and how the thoroughfare that runs adjacent to the city’s Downtown has become a shell of its former self

The sights, while startling, should come as no great surprise to anyone keeping up with the now-years-long saga of the crime-ridden, homeless-overrun city, which recently had two nets installed on both sides of its seminal bridge to stop suicides.

A short walk through the area will reveal how there are more closed storefronts than open ones, as businesses continue to flee due to high rents and diminished foot traffic

As mentioned, the 1.4 mile thoroughfare connects Market Street (seen here in this map of store closures) – once one of the most photographed spots Downtown – to Union Square, North Beach, Nob Hill, and Russian Hill before ending at the bay

That said, the district is merely one of many left a husk by the city’s continued homeless and crime crises, which took a turn during the pandemic and have since persisted.

The 1.4 mile thoroughfare connects Market Street – once one of the most photographed spots Downtown – to Union Square, North Beach, Nob Hill, and Russian Hill before ending at the bay, making it a prime destination.

Moreover, its southernmost point is only a stone’s throw from another famed shopping area, the Bay Area’s Mission District, which was recently rocked by a slew of restaurant closures on the equally iconic Valencia Street.

The roadway, located right on the cusp of the city’s embattled Downtown, was once considered one of the most sought-after strips of real estate, but today, like Powell, is reeling from store closures brought on by high rents and diminished foot traffic.

In comments to the San Francisco Chronicle, restaurant owner Rafik Bouzidi explained how he had seen a seemingly endless stream of terminations since opening his eatery in April. 

‘If you took me back before I signed the lease, I would have opened somewhere else,’ he told the paper in a recent interview.

‘Before COVID there was no way in hell you could find an available space on Valencia Street. Now, it seems like another restaurant shuts down every week.’

A few blocks away, restaurants on one of San Francisco’s Valencia Street, also one of the most storied in the country, are closing at an alarming rate – and owners say it’s because of crime

In comments to the San Francisco Chronicle, business owners recently explained how high rents and high rates of homelessness have led to a seemingly endless stream of terminations 

Homeless are seen returning to the streets in the Tenderloins district close to San Francisco’s Moscone Center where the APEC conference was recently held

A homeless encampment is seen along Leavenworth Street in the Tenderloin district, only a few blocks from Powell

Headlines featuring the phrases ‘garbage city, ‘ruined city’ and ‘fallen city’ capture how crippling drug issues and widespread homeless problems continue to remain an issue for residents.

The street then runs more than a mile north along some of the city’s most problem areas, which, as the photos of the stripped storefronts show, are continuing to affect businesses

There, right outside the Nancy Pelosi Federal Building, drug dealers set up shop in full view of the public on a daily basis, with users injecting and smoking with no interference from law enforcement 

The famous thoroughfare runs for more than mile along the city’s embattled Downtown, where open-air drug use is rife

Meanwhile, the situation at Powell – set on one of the stops of the so-called ‘Doom Loop’ of Union Square, City Hall, and Tenderloin and Mid Market – is even worse, with Union currently serving a hive of unsavory, post-pandemic activity, particularly on the street’s terminus on Market Street.

There, right outside the Nancy Pelosi Federal Building, drug dealers set up shop in full view of the public on a daily basis, with users injecting and smoking with no interference from law enforcement.

The street then runs more than a mile north along some of the city’s most problem areas, which, as the photos of the stripped storefronts show, are continuing to affect businesses.

Crimes like robberies and homicides, meanwhile, are on the rise, statistics show – and the city stands to lose $200 million a year in revenue through its business exodus – which has seen major hotels and retailers flee the city center.

Retail stalwart Old Navy announced they would be shuttering their flagship store in the area In October, after Nordstrom also announced they would be closing all of their locations in the city. 

Last April, Whole Foods announced it was closing all their locations, with Anthropologie and Office Depot having also made the same decisions leading some analysts to predict that the city has entered a ‘doom-loop’ of permanent decline.

The situation at Powell – set on one of the stops of the so-called ‘Doom Loop’ of Union Square, City Hall, and Tenderloin and Mid Market – is indicative of the current state of the city, with Union serving a hive of unsavory post-pandemic activity on the street’s terminus on Market

Late last year, the city was widely mocked by Chinese media as it prepared to host its President Xi Jinpingat the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit – spurring it to clear out its encampments in the notorious Tenderloin and South of Market neighborhoods.

US Chinese Radio used the headline ‘Ghost town San Francisco to have major blood exchange as APEC will bring the safest week in history to the city.’

Other headlines featuring the phrases ‘garbage city, ‘ruined city’ and ‘fallen city’ capture how crippling drug issues and widespread homeless problems continue to remain an issue for residents.

The post San Francisco’s huge tech revival: How embattled CEOs are shifting BACK after fleeing the Democrat metropolis – with the Bay Space nonetheless holding its place as ‘brainpower’ of AI regardless of booming investments in Texas and Miami appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

• After a pandemic-induced exodus from San Francisco by founders, Silicon Valley figures, and tech execs, there is a notable return to the city, driven by new tech 
• There are still challenges such as crime and homelessness but some CEOs and founders are returning after initially relocating during the pandemic
• The city’s longstanding tech reputation, proximity to renowned universities for engineering talent and a recent AI boom are all factors drawing people back 

Founders, Silicon Valley investors, and executives are returning to San Francisco after fleeing during the pandemic almost four years ago.

Technology founders even boasted about their success in securing funding outside the Bay Area and pushed for remote work among their employees. 

But despite the city suffering high levels of crime and homelessness, virtually rendering parts of downtown a no-go area, slowly but surely those involved in the tech industry are making a return to the City by the Bay.

Notable tech figures, like Elon Musk who has long criticized San Francisco’s political culture, has been back in the city since October 2022 when he purchased Twitter, now X together with its headquarters. 

Entrepreneurs and investors are returning with the city now at the forefront of the latest revolution in emerging tech, as AI slowly becomes more mainstream, according to the Wall Street Journal. 

Notable tech figures, such as Elon Musk , who has long criticized San Francisco’s political culture, has been back in the city since October 2022 when he purchased Twitter, now X together with its headquarters. The headquarters of X occupies a pride of place position in San Francisco’s downtown area After a pandemic-induced exodus from San Francisco by founders, Silicon Valley figures, and tech execs, there is a notable return to the city, driven by new tech. Pictured, the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco

Companies like OpenAI, which run ChatGPT, are leasing new buildings in the city while other Bay Area tech companies are reinforcing return-to-office mandates, with Robinhood Markets and Chime now implementing stricter policies for staff.  

OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, has his main home in San Francisco’s Russian Hill neighborhood. 

Tech institutions like Y Combinator are also expanding their presence in San Francisco, while some co-founders, like those of fintech startup Brex, have returned after initially moving to other cities during the pandemic.

In 2020, venture capitalist Keith Rabois encouraged startup founders to leave San Francisco altogether for Miami, citing the latter’s safety, lower taxes, and tech-friendly mayor.

OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, has his main home in San Francisco’s Russian Hill neighborhood Companies like OpenAI which run ChatGPT are leasing new buildings in the city The city’s longstanding tech reputation, proximity to renowned universities for engineering talent and a recent AI boom are all factors drawing people back

Rabois, now at Khosla Ventures, but who has had significant success with Airbnb and DoorDash, described San Francisco as ‘miserable on every dimension’ in a tweet.

But now that strategy has changed and it appears the tide is turning with several of the startups he supported now relocating or establishing offices back in San Francisco in order to improve their  ability to attract engineering talent. 

Rabois, an early executive at PayPal recognized in Silicon Valley for both his outspoken opinions and successful investments, relocated to Miami a year after joining Founders Fund. 

In Miami, he purchased a $29 million waterfront property and established a new office for the firm. 

This move coincided with a period of low-interest rates, fostering a surge in startup funding and prompting various venture firms to expand their presence nationwide.

Miami’s mayor, Francis X. Suarez, even declared the city as the world’s crypto capital.

But last year, venture investment in Miami saw a massive 70 percent plunge with just $2 billion invested last year.

Keith Rabois, now at Khosla Ventures, but who has had significant success with Airbnb and DoorDash, had previously described San Francisco as ‘miserable on every dimension’ Howie Liu, CEO of enterprise startup Airtable, has increased his time in San Francisco to meet with sales customers after spending a significant part of the pandemic in Los Angeles Henrique Dubugras, co-founders of the fintech startup Brex, returned to San Francisco

One AI startup, Delphi, secured funding from Rabois in Miami and has moved the HQ to San Francisco.

Traba, a contracting startup also initially backed by Rabois three years ago, opted to open an office in New York, where a majority of its employees now operate. 

Similarly, OpenStore, an e-commerce venture co-founded by Rabois in 2021, established a new engineering hub in the Bay Area last year, although Rabois notes the  majority of the startup’s workforce remains based in Miami.

Nevertheless, Silicon Valley leaders are beginning to engage in local politics once again and looking out for the safety of families and businesses moving back to the area.

Despite a 12 percent decline in investment for Bay Area startups to $63.4 billion last year, San Francisco has demonstrated resilience compared to smaller tech hubs like Austin (27 percent decrease) and Los Angeles (42 percent decrease).

Plenty of others are also returning. Mo Koyfman, the founder of venture firm Shine Capital, believes San Francisco has staying power having had its tech businesses built over the last several decades with the pandemic being a mere blip in terms of time. 

Ben Horowitz, co-founder of venture firm Andreessen Horowitz, chose to reside in Las Vegas during the pandemic, where he continues to live Peter Thiel, a billionaire investor and founder of PayPal, Palantir Technologies and the Founders Fund, has made Los Angeles his home Erik Torenberg, an investor in startups Scale AI and Figma, recently moved from Miami to San Francisco, where he is working on a new media company Last year, Henrique Dubugras and Pedro Franceschi, left, co-founders of the fintech startup Brex, returned to San Francisco after coming under investor pressure

Prestigious universities such as Stanford are a key reason as any why top-tier venture firms must maintain a presence in the Bay Area, Koyfman believes.

Shine opened an office in San Francisco this January despite its HQ being in New York City.

Last year, Henrique Dubugras and Pedro Franceschi, co-founders of the fintech startup Brex, returned to San Francisco under investor pressure after relocating to Los Angeles, New York City, and then Miami during the pandemic. 

Despite the company’s valuation soaring to $12 billion, Brex laid off 20 percent of its workforce earlier this year.

Howie Liu, CEO of enterprise startup Airtable, has increased his time in San Francisco to meet with sales customers after spending a significant part of the pandemic in Los Angeles. 

Erik Torenberg, an investor in startups Scale AI and Figma, recently moved from Miami to San Francisco, where he is working on a new media company.

Elon Musk temporarily moved Tesla’s headquarters to Austin from northern California during the pandemic but he has been spending time in the city overseeing X and xAI, the artificial intelligence startup incorporated last year.

Max Gazor, a general partner at venture firm CRV and board member at Airtable, emphasized that the intellectual talent in San Francisco remains unparalleled, particularly in the field of AI, where companies have innovated at lightning speed.

In recent weeks, Bay Area tech companies have been enforcing return-to-office mandates with stricter measures. 

Trading app Robinhood Markets announced in January that managers would monitor employees’ office attendance based on badge swipes after an earlier policy failed. 

Fintech company Chime also implemented return-to-work policies, requiring local employees to come in two days a week.

But not all tech leaders who left San Francisco in recent years have returned. 

Ben Horowitz, co-founder of venture firm Andreessen Horowitz, chose to reside in Las Vegas during the pandemic, where he continues to live. 

Peter Thiel, a billionaire investor and founder of Founders Fund, has made Los Angeles his home.

San Francisco owns one of the worst crime rates in the nation, and is ranked as safer than just 1 percent of US neighborhoods, according to crime tracker Neighborhood Scout San Francisco is reeling from soaring crime, an emptying downtown, and residents moving away to safer, cheaper areas

Despite CEO’s and investors showing they’re open to return, it is a different story when it comes to retail.

One recent snap, taken in the heart of the city’s famed shopping district earlier this month shows tourists wandering down a gutted Powell Street.

Instead of being graced with an array of shops, cafés, bars, and restaurants, the party is seen encountering countless shuttered storefronts.

More shots from photographer Erica Sandberg show more of the same, and how the thoroughfare that runs adjacent to the city’s Downtown, all the way from Market to Fisherman’s Wharf, has become a shell of its former self.

The sights, while startling, should come as no great surprise to anyone keeping up with the now-years-long saga of the crime-ridden, homeless-overrun city, which recently had two nets installed around its seminal bridge to prevent suicides.

One snap, taken in the heart of the city’s famed shopping district , shows a group of tourists wandering down a gutted Powell St – a way once bustling with businesses. Instead of being graced with an array of shops, cafés, bars, and restaurants, the party is seen encountering countless shuttered storefronts

‘This pic infuriates me,’ wrote Sandberg, a self-employed San Francisco correspondent, in an impassioned post to X that laid bare the city’s current state

‘Tourists, who do a little thing called SPEND MONEY, walking down a gutted Powell St.’, she continued.  

‘[It] should be buzzing with shops, cafes, bars, restaurants, theaters, venues.’

Sandberg, in turn, categorized the fruits of her effort as both ‘depressing [and] embarrassing’ – not to mention a blow to the city’s still-struggling shopping scene.

A homeless camp is pictured in San Francisco’s Tenderloin district in December 2023 More shots from independent commentator Erica Sandberg show more of the same, and how the thoroughfare that runs adjacent to the city’s Downtown has become a shell of its former self The sights, while startling, should come as no great surprise to anyone keeping up with the now-years-long saga of the crime-ridden, homeless-overrun city, which recently had two nets installed on both sides of its seminal bridge to stop suicides. A short walk through the area will reveal how there are more closed storefronts than open ones, as businesses continue to flee due to high rents and diminished foot traffic As mentioned, the 1.4 mile thoroughfare connects Market Street (seen here in this map of store closures) – once one of the most photographed spots Downtown – to Union Square, North Beach, Nob Hill, and Russian Hill before ending at the bay

That said, the district is merely one of many left a husk by the city’s continued homeless and crime crises, which took a turn during the pandemic and have since persisted.

The 1.4 mile thoroughfare connects Market Street – once one of the most photographed spots Downtown – to Union Square, North Beach, Nob Hill, and Russian Hill before ending at the bay, making it a prime destination.

Moreover, its southernmost point is only a stone’s throw from another famed shopping area, the Bay Area’s Mission District, which was recently rocked by a slew of restaurant closures on the equally iconic Valencia Street.

The roadway, located right on the cusp of the city’s embattled Downtown, was once considered one of the most sought-after strips of real estate, but today, like Powell, is reeling from store closures brought on by high rents and diminished foot traffic.

In comments to the San Francisco Chronicle, restaurant owner Rafik Bouzidi explained how he had seen a seemingly endless stream of terminations since opening his eatery in April. 

‘If you took me back before I signed the lease, I would have opened somewhere else,’ he told the paper in a recent interview.

‘Before COVID there was no way in hell you could find an available space on Valencia Street. Now, it seems like another restaurant shuts down every week.’

A few blocks away, restaurants on one of San Francisco’s Valencia Street, also one of the most storied in the country, are closing at an alarming rate – and owners say it’s because of crime In comments to the San Francisco Chronicle, business owners recently explained how high rents and high rates of homelessness have led to a seemingly endless stream of terminations Homeless are seen returning to the streets in the Tenderloins district close to San Francisco’s Moscone Center where the APEC conference was recently held A homeless encampment is seen along Leavenworth Street in the Tenderloin district, only a few blocks from Powell Headlines featuring the phrases ‘garbage city, ‘ruined city’ and ‘fallen city’ capture how crippling drug issues and widespread homeless problems continue to remain an issue for residents. The street then runs more than a mile north along some of the city’s most problem areas, which, as the photos of the stripped storefronts show, are continuing to affect businesses There, right outside the Nancy Pelosi Federal Building, drug dealers set up shop in full view of the public on a daily basis, with users injecting and smoking with no interference from law enforcement The famous thoroughfare runs for more than mile along the city’s embattled Downtown, where open-air drug use is rife

Meanwhile, the situation at Powell – set on one of the stops of the so-called ‘Doom Loop’ of Union Square, City Hall, and Tenderloin and Mid Market – is even worse, with Union currently serving a hive of unsavory, post-pandemic activity, particularly on the street’s terminus on Market Street.

There, right outside the Nancy Pelosi Federal Building, drug dealers set up shop in full view of the public on a daily basis, with users injecting and smoking with no interference from law enforcement.

The street then runs more than a mile north along some of the city’s most problem areas, which, as the photos of the stripped storefronts show, are continuing to affect businesses.

Crimes like robberies and homicides, meanwhile, are on the rise, statistics show – and the city stands to lose $200 million a year in revenue through its business exodus – which has seen major hotels and retailers flee the city center.

Retail stalwart Old Navy announced they would be shuttering their flagship store in the area In October, after Nordstrom also announced they would be closing all of their locations in the city. 

Last April, Whole Foods announced it was closing all their locations, with Anthropologie and Office Depot having also made the same decisions leading some analysts to predict that the city has entered a ‘doom-loop’ of permanent decline.

The situation at Powell – set on one of the stops of the so-called ‘Doom Loop’ of Union Square, City Hall, and Tenderloin and Mid Market – is indicative of the current state of the city, with Union serving a hive of unsavory post-pandemic activity on the street’s terminus on Market

Late last year, the city was widely mocked by Chinese media as it prepared to host its President Xi Jinpingat the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit – spurring it to clear out its encampments in the notorious Tenderloin and South of Market neighborhoods.

US Chinese Radio used the headline ‘Ghost town San Francisco to have major blood exchange as APEC will bring the safest week in history to the city.’

Other headlines featuring the phrases ‘garbage city, ‘ruined city’ and ‘fallen city’ capture how crippling drug issues and widespread homeless problems continue to remain an issue for residents.

The post San Francisco’s large tech revival: How embattled CEOs are transferring BACK after fleeing the Democrat metropolis appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX) — Scientists, researchers, and volunteers are working on an Olympian quest – to restore the Olympian oyster to once-historic levels at a coastal wetland along the Monterey Bay, an effort that may help to curb the impacts of the warming climate.

At the legendary Swan Oyster Depot in San Francisco, the line forms early. If you’re lucky to get a seat at the seafood counter, you’re in for a treat: the restaurant just got a fresh shipment of the only oyster native to the West Coast of North America.

The Olympia oyster, native to the Puget Sound area and named after Olympia, Washington, is as small as a silver dollar but big in flavor. They are described as slightly briny with a coppery finish.

“I grew up eating these oysters and I think they’re just fantastic,” exclaimed Swan co-owner Steve Sancimino

Olympias are not endangered, but their once-abundant numbers have dramatically declined, largely due to overharvesting and mining practices during California’s Gold Rush, as well as persistent problems of pollution and loss of habitat.

Scientists, researchers, and volunteers are working to restore the Olympias to their historic levels in the wild. At this point, the Olympia oysters are not able to reproduce at numbers that can be self-sustaining.

One Bay Area restoration site is located at one of California’s largest estuaries.

“We are here to bring back oysters to Elkhorn Slough where they have lived for millennia,” explained Dr. Kerstin Wasson, who heads up the pioneering restoration project at the slough and works for NOAA’s National Estuarine Research Reserve. “We’re doing it with optimism and hoping that if we can bring back a million oysters to Elkhorn Slough, they’ll be self-sustaining. And today is one step towards that goal.”

In the slough, because of agricultural runoff from the Salinas River, the restored oysters won’t be harvested. But their intended role is big and critical: to filter water, stabilize the shoreline, sequester carbon, and provide habitat for other creatures – all big benefits as the planet warms.

“It’s really important that we help to restore this population,” said Dr. Luke Gardner, who works for California Sea Grant as an aquaculture extension specialist. He also works for Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, which is administered by San Jose State University.

At the lab’s aquaculture hatchery, specialists “borrow” adult Olympias from the wild at Elkhorn Slough and bring them back to the hatchery to breed baby oysters that will be involved in the restoration effort.

“In a hatchery, we can control a lot of the environment and we can make sure those little babies make it through to being juveniles,” noted Gardner.

The baby oysters require tender loving care: micro-algae for food, the right temperatures, protection from predators, and plenty of fresh water.

“They’re very needy and very dirty so they are really fun to take care of, but they need a lot of attention,” said Moss Landing Marine Lab scientist Jacob Harris.

Harris told CBS News Bay Area that when the baby oysters are ready, they attach to hard surfaces, including large clam shells that are also collected from the slough. Gardner and Harris carefully gather the oyster-encrusted clam shells, put them in special mesh bags, and pack them in a cooler.

They also collected baby Olympias from their water-filled silos and put them in plastic tubs to be loaded into the van headed to Elkhorn Slough There, scientists and volunteers enthusiastically jumped into action to unpack the precious cargo.

California State University, Monterey Bay student Taylor Garcia is aware of the world’s warming change and says she wants to be part of the solution.

“There always has to be optimism when it comes to this line of work,” said Garcia. “I guess because without it, you really wouldn’t get anywhere.”

The work is unusual but makes a lot of sense. Each volunteer is tasked with counting each baby oyster stuck to a shell or floating in a small container of water. They then measure the largest one that they can spy on each shell. They then record their findings on an iPad and secure each clamshell to PVC pipes tagged with a unique identifying number.

Once all the oysters are counted, secured, and tagged – there were about 80,000 baby oysters on all the shells – the volunteers picked up the PVC pipes, and now clad in rubber boots, caravaned with their treasures down to the estuary. There, the volunteers formed a brigade, carefully passing the pipes down to the scientists, who planted them into the muddy goop and low tidal waters of Hester Marsh. The scientists will continue to monitor these sites and record what happens with each group of oysters.

“The oysters have been here for 7,000 years and on my watch, I don’t want to see them disappear from Elkhorn Slough,” said Wasson, as she lined up the pipes.

Back at Swan’s, patrons thought the effort was well worth it. If they can restore the oysters in the wild at Elkhorn Slough, perhaps they’ll see more of all kinds of oysters growing in the wild.

“I think it’s a great initiative. It benefits not only the environment but also folks who truly love oysters. So, I think it’s a win-win for everybody,” said customer Phirun Pheap.

It didn’t matter to Sancimino that these oysters were not intended to be harvested and eaten. He said that was not the point, and applauded the scientists and researchers involved.

“I’ll be honest with you, if what they’re trying to establish down in the slough works, that’ll be one step closer to reviving a native species and putting it where it belongs in this state,” declared Sancimino, as he offered fresh Olympias to his happy customers.

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When the TV series “That’s So Raven” premiered on Disney Channel in January 2003, protagonist Raven Baxter (played by Raven-Symoné) lived in a white Victorian house in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood. The quintessential San Francisco home used for the show’s exterior shots was classic, with bay windows, peaked gables and ornamental decorative trim — it was even actually located on Ashbury Street. 

Two decades later, the beloved Disney Channel franchise is having a revival with “Raven’s Home,” a spin-off that debuted in 2017. The comedy reintroduces Raven Baxter and her best friend Chelsea (Anneliese van der Pol) as single moms raising their kids together in a Chicago apartment. After four seasons set in the Windy City, Raven and her son Booker (Issac Ryan Brown) relocate back to San Francisco to help her father recover from a heart attack. 

Raven is home, kind of

Most of the filming for the show takes place on a set in Los Angeles, but the show’s creative team made sure audiences still felt like they were in San Francisco. The former house exterior from “That’s So Raven” was unavailable for “Raven’s Home,” so they chose a building that was similar enough that the viewer would feel they were entering the same place. 

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“Architecturally, they wanted everything the same because they wanted it to be very recognizable. They wanted people to come back to San Francisco, into the Baxter house and go, ‘OK, we’re back in the Baxter house,’” says production designer Kelly Hogan, who modernized the “That’s So Raven” plan originally created by Lynn Griffin. “But Disney and Raven and the executive producers wanted that nostalgia and that recognition, with also just the ability to see that this family has progressed.”

(Charles Russo/SFGATE)

(Charles Russo/SFGATE)

2522 Octavia St. has a white painted facade featuring gabled roofing and ornate molding with floral patterns and gold ornamentation — just like the former Ashbury Street location. Designed as a single-family home, the house was built in 1894, survived the 1906 earthquake, and was later split into apartments. The house includes six units now, and in the 1990s, it transitioned from apartments to condominiums.

“They did a lot of work. They updated plumbing, electrical. They kind of brought the building to [the] 20th century,” real estate agent Yulia Mitchell, who recently sold one of the condos, says.

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Nicolas Baudru, who purchased a one-bedroom in the building in early 2023, has a stunning bay view out his living room window. He removed the unit’s carpeting and installed oak floors, and the focal point of his bedroom is a brick fireplace (not functional, but stylish). He watched “Raven’s Home” and thought Haight-Ashbury (as seen on the original “That’s So Raven”) was “more the vibe” for this TV family than his quiet corner in Pacific Heights was. He also noticed that the Baxters’ home was more colorful than a lot of the units at 2522 Octavia — the real-life building has plenty of white walls. “That’s So Raven” and “Raven’s Home,” however, outfit the family’s spaces with lots of bright colors. 

Though Baudru wasn’t yet living there when 2522 Octavia was filmed for establishing shots, Mitchell says “every owner in the building, they had a lot of pride in it.”

Modernizing the Baxter residence

In a Season 6 episode released this summer, Booker opens his attic window to talk to Neil (Felix Avitia) and Ivy (Emmy Liu-Wang), who stand outside a similarly designed window at Ivy’s house. Hogan imagined Booker’s window would be on the side of the house not seen from the establishing shot. “In an effort to kind of tie it into just general Victorian architecture, we did that fish scale siding, tried to do as much Victorian detail without blowing the budget,” she explains.

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A view of the house on Octavia Street in the Marina where shots for the show “That’s So Raven” were filmed, as seen on Thursday, July 27, 2023. 

Charles Russo/SFGATE

The interior set brings back Baxter family memories but is updated for a new chapter in the family’s life, including taking care of their young cousin, Alice (Mykal-Michelle Harris). Hogan says she kept a pop of purple in the kitchen, at Raven-Symoné’s request, by designing a custom-made tile backsplash. As seen on “That’s So Raven,” a red vinyl booth in the corner serves as a warm family dining area. Amid the living room’s familiar green walls and dainty design on the glass front door, the window seat area has a fresh leafy green wallpaper print. Raven’s old attic bedroom eventually becomes her son’s room. It’s all a far cry from the condos actually inside.

The Bay Area becomes more involved in the Baxters’ story

On “That’s So Raven,” establishing shots of Coit Tower, the Palace of Fine Arts and the Golden Gate Bridge facilitated scene changes, even though the series didn’t typically place San Francisco landmarks at the center of its stories. Victor Baxter (Rondell Sheridan) opens The Chill Grill early in the run of “That’s So Raven.” This fictional SF eatery is reintroduced on Raven’s Home as a hangout where Raven also has a design studio loft. Booker attends Raven’s old fictional San Francisco high school, Bayside, and stops by the restaurant with his friends often.

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Establishing shots on “Raven’s Home” show cityscapes for day and night, including the Salesforce Tower, the Transamerica Pyramid and the Ferry Building. The current series draws much more on Bay Area tourist activities, too, like Alcatraz, which was recreated for the sitcom for one episode. 

A view of the house on Octavia Street in the Marina where shots for the show “That’s So Raven” were filmed, as seen on Thursday, July 27, 2023. 

Charles Russo/SFGATE

It was safer and more cost-effective to build most sets in Los Angeles and use special effects than it would have been to film on location in San Francisco, though. Raven is known for getting into unbelievable situations, and when she stops and starts a cable car to try to have a serious conversation with Booker, it wasn’t in San Francisco at all. In another episode, Neil and Ivy hoist a giant burger statue onto the car and then chase their burger down the street — an LA set. “[The cable car] was on a gimbal as well so that it could rock and roll and throw them around,” Hogan says.

In an episode of the fifth season, characters go to Muir Woods and drive across the Golden Gate Bridge to get there. They also go sailing on San Francisco Bay. All three of these activities were included in one single episode — but none were filmed in SF. 

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“We have an incredible greensman, and we have an incredible construction crew. So those trees, majority of them are real trees, but the big thick trunks that you see that look like redwoods, those are actually not real. They’re fiberglass trunks … they’re sculpted and painted to look like trees,” Hogan told SFGATE. 

The finished products were about 12 feet tall. When the executive producers also asked for a replica Golden Gate Bridge set, the team painted a thick hemp rope red, made rivets for the posts, “and painted the floor to look like the street,” Hogan says. “And then we drove six cars onto the soundstage. Yeah, it was wild.”

The San Francisco home is the place the Baxters always return to, and it’s a deeply nostalgic place for fans of the franchise. But whether they live in Pacific Heights or Haight-Ashbury remains a mystery. “I don’t know if I should say,” she says. “I think it’s intentionally left up to the imagination.”

Allison McClain Merrill is a freelance reporter who has written for Vanity Fair, Today and Glamour.

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Welcome to Curtain Call, our mostly queer take on the latest openings on Broadway and beyond.

The Rundown:

With a multigenerational cast of 21, some particularly labyrinthine Sondheim lyrics, and one of the more unorthodox narrative structures in Broadway musical history, it’s taken follies over a half-century to hit the boards in San Francisco. The Bay Area’s first-ever professional production of the 1971 backstage psychodrama about a late middle-age reunion of Ziegfield-style showgirls decades after their days in the kickline marks a major achievement for The San Francisco Playhouse and its artistic director, Bill English, who so helmed the show.

There are plenty of goosebumps in store for audiences, not least of which are those raised by the grand ambition and determination required to mount this near-mythical colossus in the midst of a pandemic: The production not only had to recast multiple roles as its run was repeatedly rescheduled from a planned 2020 debut, but even this week’s official opening came after two postponements due to COVID in the company.

Related: In Broadway’s ‘The Kite Runner,’ redemption drifts in the wind

No tea, no shade:

The anginal heart of Follies is the relationship of two struggling married couples — former chorines Sally (Natascia Diaz) and Phyllis (Maureen McVerry) and their husbands, Buddy (Anthony Rollins-Mullens) and Ben (Chris Vettel) — who effectively provide a musical theater counterpart to the quarrelsome quartet of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? All four characters are brilliantly played with palpable neuroses, each unpredictably swinging between comic and creepy extremes. McVerry, a stalwart of stages on both coasts, provides a running subtext to her lines with perfect wrist flips and eyebrow arches. And Rollins-Mullins undergirds unfaithful Buddy with empathic humanity that shines through even his nastiest outbursts.

A younger actor shadows each of the central foursome, playing earlier more idealistic versions of the same characters, frequently on stage alongside their elder selves. It’s a tricky concept, but director English not only keeps things clear but along with choreographer Nicole Helfer, leverages these duos to create some of the evening’s most moving moments. When Buddy and his younger self (Chachi Delgado) dance with imaginary partners while singing “The Right Girl,” the self-realizing romance between man and boy across time feels more honest and rewarding than either’s fantasy of coupledom.

“Who’s That Woman?” from Follies. Photo by Jessica Palopoli

Sally, Phyllis, and three other former showgirls perform a Busby Berkeley-esque stopper with time-warped mirror images of their own in “Who’s That Woman,” the younger actresses in costume designer Abra Berman’s spectacular white-feathered headdresses and sparkling bodysuits.

Each of the secondary characters — among them those three other women, the impresario behind their long-ago spectacle, and the emcee who warmed up their audiences in the 1930s and 1940s — seems eager to share their own story but, for the most part, offers just the slightest summary. In combination with some redundant (though terrifically executed) late-in-the-evening novelty numbers about the main foursome this makes the show feel somewhat lopsided, a problem long noted by critics — and a lesson that seems well-learned by the show’s original co-director and choreographer Michael Bennett, who four years later would stage the more tidily democratic A Chorus Line.

Let’s have a moment:

Two phenomenal Sondheim soliloquy songs that many audience members will likely be familiar with but may not realize come from “Follies” earned admiring gasps and clenched fists of emotion from the crowd: “I’m Still Here,” delivered with jaded panache by Cindy Goldfield in the role of movie star Carlotta; and Diaz’ ​​spookily unhinged rendition of Sally’s “Losing My Mind.”

The Last Word:

To see Follies is like spotting the Bigfoot of Broadway history. It’s the stuff of legend, even when it lumbers a bit. The San Francisco Playhouse produces more than does justice to this elusive classic of the Sondheim canon.

Follies plays at the San Francisco Playhouse through September 10, 2022.

The post Flawed however nonetheless superb, ‘Follies’ revival opens in San Francisco appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

If you want a handy guide to the small-scale interventions that are in vogue these days for urban America — from parklets to pop-ups to cultural programming — a newly released “action plan” for downtown San Francisco is a valuable place to start.

If you also want a document that offers a realistic blueprint for bringing the city’s Financial District back to life, keep looking.

That’s the challenge in trying to gauge the merits of the often-inventive Public Realm Action Plan released this week by Downtown SF, a business nonprofit that provides services to 43 blocks stretching from Jackson Square south past Market Street almost to the Embarcadero.

It’s a smart assessment of how streets and outdoor spaces in the tower-studded terrain could evolve in coming years. It also concedes that, 28 months after we were all told to go home and shelter in place to ward off the coronavirus, barely half of the district’s workforce has returned to their offices.

A pedestrian walks past a building for lease inside a sunken public plaza surrounding One Bush Street at the corner of Market and Sutter streets in San Francisco.

Jessica Christian/The Chronicle

And that’s the problem: what frames negative perceptions of the Financial District right now is empty storefronts and mostly vacant high-rises, not the lack of shady trees or lunchtime concerts.

To their credit, the people behind the plan acknowledge that their vision to activate dormant sidewalks is just one piece of a much larger puzzle.

“This is not going to solve all the issues downtown; we know that,” said Claude Imbault, deputy director of the nonprofit. “This is a tool to start the conversation.”

The plan draws heavily on what’s known in planning circles as tactical urbanism, where the aim is to jump-start an area’s potential with small enticements rather than wait for large-scale investments. The idea is that plenty of people working and living nearby are eager to explore the civic landscape, if they have a reason to do so.

A pedestrian walks past a staircase leading to a sunken public plaza surrounding One Bush Street at the corner of Market and Sutter streets in San Francisco.

Jessica Christian/The Chronicle

Of the six areas targeted by Downtown SF as potential spots to focus on short-term, the so-called Market Oasis gives a taste of what upgrades are envisioned — and the challenge of pulling some of them off.

The oasis would transform the north side of Market between Sansome and Front streets, a concentrated dose of what sets the Financial District apart from other neighborhoods. Ignore the vacant storefronts, look up instead, and the 29-story Shell Building thrusts skyward with 1920s aplomb directly across from One Bush St., 20 stories of bespoke midcentury modern.

For history buffs there’s the Mechanics Monument, a muscle-bound iron celebration of labor by sculptor Douglas Tilden from 1901. The shell of a 1910 banking temple holds one of the district’s most prominent privately owned public spaces, which are required by the city in new commercial development projects.

The action plan would enliven the scene via “an improved experience of significant public spaces” — one that would include colorful tables and chairs, planters filled with flowers and trees, light projections at night and lunchtime concerts or other events throughout the week.

As for the zone’s prominent but empty retail spaces, including a circular pavilion rising from the sunken plaza at One Bush, it’s suggested that a “buzzy lunch spot” could go into one, while “a collection of short-term pop-ups” could fill another. The pavilion is envisioned as holding “a highly visible downtown destination.”

An empty walkway leads through a sunken public plaza surrounding One Bush Street at the corner of Market and Sutter streets in San Francisco.

Jessica Christian/The Chronicle

But the plan is vague on how this happens, much less spell out where the money might come from to jazz things up. The goal instead is to take the plan and its pilot projects — starting with Leidesdorff Street, a short alley that ends at the Transamerica Pyramid — to gauge what interest there might be from building owners and public agencies.

Even if workers were clocking in upstairs at pre-pandemic numbers, there’s no guarantee that “Market Oasis” would magically blossom. The plan envisions a string of buoyant spaces within two short blocks, including the sunken moat-like plaza and the city-owned Mechanics Plaza on the east side of Battery Street, where Tilden’s sculpture resides. There are only so many workers to go around — you can imagine one or two spaces coming alive, but not all of them at once, on an ongoing basis.

So, what happens when the novelty fades? The city’s Public Works department freshened up Mechanics Plaza back in 2014, replacing tattered wooden benches with bright metal street furniture while adding stands for people to recharge cell phones or fill their water bottles. The vitality ebbed within a few years. When I stopped by Monday, a grand total of one person was eating lunch on a granite block next to an empty planter.

The plan’s creators acknowledge that while snappy designs and short-term pop-ups can generate buzz, they aren’t enough.

People eat lunch at the foot of a statue inside Mechanics Plaza along Market Street in San Francisco.

Jessica Christian/The Chronicle

“Whatever we do has to be a campaign,” said Laura Crescimano, whose Sitelab Urban Studio crafted the plan for Downtown SF with John Bela and Fehr & Peers. “These things happen in layers. People want to go to ‘a thing’ that’s a series of things.”

Ultimately, the value of the “action plan” might be as a tool kit to draw on, whether in the Financial District or other commercial districts.

“I appreciate the thoughtful approach they’ve taken … it’s a wonderful resource,” said Kate Sofis, director of the San Francisco Office of Economic and Workforce Development. Her office has the task at City Hall of finding ways to revive the larger downtown scene. “Some of the things they want to do are exactly the things we want to do.”

San Francisco’s Financial District won’t be returned to its bustling heyday by a more humane concept of public space. But small moves can add up — and with luck, some of the ideas offered by Downtown SF will help to move things along.

John King is The San Francisco Chronicle’s urban design critic. Email: jking@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @johnkingsfchron

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