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Have you noticed an overabundance of worried, clustered, fannypack-sporting heterosexuals roaming the Castro? Yeah, that's not the crystal talking, boys. It seems, according to C.W. Nevius, "large tour buses have begun to park in the area on Thursday and Sunday afternoons, opening their doors and sending hundreds of tourists out to gawk and snap photos of the exotic sight of two men holding hands." Gross! And the mess that spills out from inside said buses "tend to cluster together in large, nervous groups, pointing at residents and taking photos." And Castro residents are none too thrilled. District supervisor Bevan Dufty, though, has an idea: "We'll just get the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence on this .. [a] few blessings from them and those tour buses would disappear." Good call, Bev. Or, better yet, post Bambi Lake at the corner of 18th and Castro. She can have them for lunch. (SFGate, Jameth)
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This thread will be long and insufferable.
Then let me start: what if the tour bus dudes exhorted their charges to, you know, buy something?
Some of the folsom street boys should chain themselves to their buses. In full leather gear, of course. We gotta start promoting now, it's only a couple short months away.
Sorta like in the 60's when the tour bus's would roll down Haight street and all the "squares/normal folks" would gawk at the hippies.
first they came for the DINKS, and i said nothing...
Its all about the parking .... isn't that why they were pissed about the Milk movie production, a few less parking spaces? Parking, parking, parking ... how humorous.
Gayest neighborhood in the gayest city in the world. Yes, this is a photo-op. Stop whining.
Ah, the siren whine of SF neighborhoods, full of people who either got lucky and bought early, or bought late and paid a fortune...and the lawyers get rich in the process.
Look, folks, if you're ticked about the buses, stop asking the City to solve your problems, and find a community based solution that gets rid of those horrible tourists. For example, if you don't like that these people are Gay Gawking, then I say, greet them, and I mean REALLY greet 'em, as has been suggested by other posters.
If they're truly cool, they won't mind and maybe buy something. If their lame people who come to point and laugh, they'll run away like mice. Problem solved.
Of course, the problem that the Castro, like the Haight, has become mostly high-end stores is another issue, but who cares? Can't someone have fun with this situation and do some old fashioned messing with people's heads, instead of bitching to the Chron?
The city's gotten almost insufferably tourist heavy lately; moreso than usual, at least from what I've witnessed.
I just want, like, a week where I can walk two blocks without nearly colliding with some German family walking around with their heads down because they're reading a map while crossing a street.
Also: Anyone else fight the urge to get all pedantic on the ones who point to an electric MUNI bus and exclaim, "OOH, a cable car?"
"The city's gotten almost insufferably tourist heavy lately; moreso than usual, at least from what I've witnessed."
Dear BillyShears......
summer time ='s tourist season.
If your sick of tourist then move to Modesto.
So I have been in 440 and had tourists pull up in their rental, jump out, run in grab a photo "in a real gay bar with a real gay" and run out and leave.
Annoying? to me, hell yeah. But it is the Castro and it is known through out the world as the gayest place on earth.
If they had actually come to the bar, had a drink, and talked to some people it would have been much less annoying, IMHO.
Given all that the problem here is, according to the article the buses are stopping for a grand total of 20 minutes. What else are the tourists supposed to to but step off, grab a picture of whatever is right in front of them and then pile back on the bus?
The neighborhood should be negotiating for LONGER stops, so the tourist have time to spend some cash, a convenient place for the buses to idle, and incentives to attract new business to the multitude of empty store fronts in the Castro.
The problem isn't the tourists, the problem isn't even the neighborhood, the problem is a city that prefers rundown neighborhoods, empty store fronts and vacant lots to thriving businesses and new housing development.
day after labor day (esp. castro street fair) things quiet down here considerably.
"Look, folks, if you're ticked about the buses, stop asking the City to solve your problems, and find a community based solution that gets rid of those horrible tourists."
I agree wholeheartedly. I like the Sisters of PI idea, or how about a kiss-in (make-out-in?) in that disputed coach parking space? Gives the tourists what they want while taking back a parking space!
And while I don't understand the tourist-hating that goes on here (isn't tourism our #1 industry here? And shouldn't we be proud of all the reasons people come here?), if they really bother you, kill 'em with kindness: "free kisses for tourists" and that sort of thing.
also no wearing white after Labor Day!
Uhh.... Sorry gays, but the Castro is like the Upper Haight. Another boutique subculture that no longer stands for what it once represented and only exists to be consumed by 'looky-loos'.
(The Bar on Thursdays is a lot of fun though)
If the issue is tourists not buying anything, local merchants might need to better taylor their products and services to a straight market.
Gay tourists will buy all kinds of crap because they have a rainbow on it, maybe t-shirts with sayings like "I visited the Castro and I all I got was a blow job and this lousy t-shirt" or "Not Gay" in big letters. Maybe tourists would pay for an opportunity to "take your picture with a drag queen"?
Joel, of course, won this thread back at #1.
Let me break this down for the rest of you folks:
Tourists == free money.
Seriously, that's what tourists are: big, walking wallets, who are happy to get picked, as long as you do it with a modicum of humor and respect. They come to a city, they walk around, they take lots of photos, and they spend money constantly. Money that, with a little time and patience invested, can all be channeled into local businesses, local charities and local service organizations.
Instead of bitching about them taking photos (OH NOES! TEH HORRORS!), think about ways that you can channel them into some of the storefronts. Don't send in the Sisters to scare them away: have the Sisters pass around a donation cup.
(Of course, it would help if half the castro's retail space weren't owned by someone who apparently enjoys seeing his properties sit idle and boarded up for years on end, but that's just a local environmental condition that has to be worked around.)
And, of course, if dealing with tourists in any form just drives you up a tree, consider moving to a neighborhood that isn't nationally famous, duh.
I'm thinking organized tourist greeting contingents, every first and third Saturday.
SOPI, leather daddy's, drag queens, drag kings, bondage, suits and skirts, the whole works. *Really* represent.
Even better if they all broke out in a thriller slash rent slash hedwig slash west side story number. It would be just a giggle, don'cha know.
The question is, did the tourists violate the Castro's stated photography policy?
Because I heard the tourists were taking inappropriate and harassing photos.
Photo booth? Pin the tail on the drag queen? Bake sale? Kiss for a dollar? Mustache ride with a real leather daddy?
Come on people, let's get creative!
It's August, and the City is overrun with worried, clustered, fannypack-sporting roamers of all sexual inclinations everywhere. Let's be nice, or at least whine entertainingly, since this place would more or less be a ghost town without them.
we need the tourists to keep our restaurants and shops in business. any spike in tourism is a good thing. especially if you like 1-night stands.
I'm willing to bet neither of those things has ever actually happened to/near you.
With exchange rate favoring the Euro so much right now, you're just going to see more tourists around, and that's a good thing, as they are spending money here, and by and large they don't ride fixies.
I think the answer is what the Haight Street hippies in the 60s did to the square gawkers - hold up mirrors to the passing tour buses: "No you're gay." Sorry.
Also, Jamison is hot. At least from the little square he is on this page.
MI has a crush on jamison! eee!
If you're going to promote the place as a big happy gay place, you can't really be shocked when people who aren't from the same place treat it like an exotic locale.
You can't have things both ways. If you're going to stand out, be prepared to have people notice you and not necessarily for the reasons you're intending.
Like others said, figure out a way to monetize it or get over it. So you moved there expecting one thing and got something else, wah. If the worst part of your new living arrangements is people taking pictures of you and your outrageously awesome lifestyle, boo hoo.
I've got it! Rent-a-fixie!
I live in the Castro and everyday I gawk and point at my neighbors.
Oh, they'll gawk at anything. They often stop me to take a picture of my dog. It's a fucking dog for chrissake! To paraphrase Basil Faulty, "Do you have dogs in your country? Or did Franco have them all shot?"
What fizzandpop said.
I live in a touristy neighborhood that's not the Castro, and one day I plan on asking the tourists why they gawk with awe and wonder at our neighborhood laundromat. A laundromat!
The Castro is my home, and I love it to death, and I *love* flirting with the tourists. It's fun, and I'm glad they're there -- I hope they take back a bit of the openness with them to help make the rest of the country/world a better place. ^^
That said, I *HATE* their buses -- especially when they park RIGHT at 18th and Market and just block the street.
We already have Muni and frankly I think we need to funnel the tourists on that. They can have their pretty ride on the F (I usually advise tourists to take the F once but use the subway the rest of the time). Have a real San Francisco experience and take public transit. ^^
sfhope: I totally get where you're coming from, but railing against tour busses is pissing in the wind. They're efficient and economical, and there's no way that any tour company worth their fees is going to attempt to wrangle a group of 50 or more potentially non-english-speaking clients via Castro Station or god help them the 33.
Better, I think, to agitate for dedicated bus parking, preferably somewhere a block or two off of Castro itself and away from the muni bus stops. It might be possible to fit a few of them into the 18th & Collingwood parking lot; a little hard to tell from the satellite photos...
Well I'll be damned, this thread wasn't nearly as bad as I expected. Forgive me my cynicism, SFisters.
Oh, Brock - don't be silly. My heart belongs to you.
<--- Pee here
Isn't this just too precious! A good number of the "tourists" arriving to Castro are visiting as America's small town oppressed (briefly liberated) gay pilgrims to honor their Mecca before going home to climb in deep dark closets.
Show some class SF, let the usually terrified pilgrims from the boonies have their moment and photo memories.
Tour buses parked at 18th and Market should be immediately towed. Perhaps the tour bus companies could negotiate to *pay* for parking in one of the many privately owned lots in the area?
dried piss, tourists, and queers.
sf would be a barren peninsula without them.