Central San Francisco
Well, near the geographic center of the city, anyway. Adolf Sutro got rich by building a tunnel in the Nevada mines and then bought much of the western half of San Francisco. Beginning in 1886, he planted an enormous forest there, most of which is long since gone to housing developments. The nearly 60 remnant acres on Mount Sutro are owned by the University of California San Francisco. The aging, nonnative eucalyptus trees are shingled with ivy in most places. The place is at once both lovely and inhospitable.
Medical-industrial complex
I came to San Francisco in 1982 to take care of sick babies at University of California Medical Center Hospital. (This was several years before I started writing for a living.) Prospective students compete strenuously to get into UCSF, one of the best medical schools in the nation. The place is huge. Here is the back side, shot on my afternoon walk yesterday. Careful observers will discover fog softening the buildings to the back, a sure sign that the summer weather pattern is settling in.
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