The Bay Area through European eyes

Published on December 9, 2024

I spent two weeks in the Bay Area. Just enough time to get past the tourist photos, but not long enough to get used to the crazy contrasts. Coming from Europe, it felt like stepping into a Black Mirror episode about cities - fascinating, disturbing, but somehow addictive.

First impressions

Look, I've lived in several cities, and nothing prepared me for the Bay Area. It's not just different - it's a whole other way of thinking about cities. The first thing you notice is how everyone seems to accept the absurdity as normal. And somehow, after a few days, you start to get it too.

San Francisco reality

My first week in SF was a constant double-take. You'll see a row of Teslas parked outside a multi-million dollar Victorian, then turn the corner to find people living in tents. The stats say top earners here make over $384,000 a year, but numbers don't capture how weird this feels to European eyes. We're used to cities with problems, sure, but not this kind of extreme.

Tech money is everywhere. You can feel it. The $7 coffee shops (that's ok, as a Parisian), the endless construction, the private buses. It's like someone dropped a chunk of the future into a normal city and didn't bother smoothing out the edges. But there's something exciting about it too - you can feel the energy of innovation everywhere.

What really got me was how people just adapt to it all. You'll see tech workers wearing $400 Patagonia vests casually stepping around homeless people to get their morning coffee. In Paris or Berlin, this would cause riots. Here, it's just Wednesday.

The city feels like it's running two parallel realities. In one, there's the tech utopia with its amazing restaurants, pristine parks, and endless networking events. The food scene is incredible, and the optimism is contagious - these people really believe they're building the future. In the other reality, there's everyone else, hanging on by their fingernails to whatever's left of the old SF. Both versions of the city are fascinating in their own way.

Oakland

Cross the bridge to Oakland and things get real in a different way. Forget what you've heard about its cultural renaissance - that's happening, but it's complicated. Yes, there's amazing food and art. But this isn't some kind of urban fairy tale.

The locals I've talked to are pretty clear: Oakland is changing fast, but change doesn't always mean improvement. Some blocks feel like they're trying to be SF-lite, while others remind you this is still a tough American city. As a European, you need to adjust your expectations and awareness levels accordingly.

I spent a few days exploring different neighborhoods, and the contrasts within Oakland itself are just as stark as those between Oakland and SF. You'll find hipster coffee shops next to check-cashing places, art galleries near liquor stores. The difference is that Oakland doesn't try to hide its contradictions behind a tech-money veneer.

What it means

Here's what gets me: these two completely different worlds exist just minutes apart. In Europe, you usually get some kind of gradient between rich and poor areas. Here, it's like someone drew a line in the bay.

The BART ride between the cities tells the whole story. You'll start in SF's sleek stations filled with commuters staring at MacBooks, then emerge in Oakland where the infrastructure suddenly feels decades older. It's like crossing between different eras.

Bottom line

The Bay Area isn't trying to make sense to European visitors. It just is what it is - a place of wild contrasts and rapid change. SF pretends its problems don't exist, Oakland can't hide them. Neither city is what you expect. But that's part of what makes it special - it's raw, real, and completely unique.

If you're visiting from Europe, drop your assumptions at the airport. Keep your eyes open and use common sense. Don't try to compare it to anything you know from home - it won't help. Just accept that you're seeing a preview of what happens when tech money and inequality collide at full speed. It's messy and uncomfortable, but also exciting and full of possibilities.

And yeah, maybe pack some comfortable shoes. You'll want to walk around and see it all for yourself. Just make sure to ask locals about which areas to avoid, especially after dark. Despite all its contradictions (or maybe because of them), there's something magnetic about this place.

Two weeks wasn't enough to fully understand this place, but it was enough to realize that maybe nobody really does. It's changing too fast, in too many directions at once. All you can do is watch and wonder if this is what the future looks like for all cities, even our European ones. And despite all its problems, there's something weirdly hopeful about seeing a place that's not afraid to reinvent itself, for better or worse.