[doktrin]

San Francisco is slightly unusual among major American cities in that what could very well be areas of prime real estate downtown along Market street are in fact kind of seedy or even dangerous. It's kind of like what I imagine some parts of Manhattan or downtown DC were like in the late 80's, complete with the run down front-and-center strip clubs and weirdly anachronistic porn theaters.

I don't have a particularly good explanation for this. However, most of what defines SF as a city isn't really along Market St, or even downtown for that matter. It's a city of neighborhoods, and without venturing out from downtown you haven't really experienced what the city has to offer. I moved away last year, and still think of SF as one of the world's most interesting cities.