I love a good day in the Haight! There is something dirty and dingy about the area at parts...Haight and Fillmore to be exact...but not in the dirty "I'm scared" kind of way...more just in the homeless "I'm too crazy to mess with you" kind of way. There's great brunch spots like Kate's Kitchen, Memphis Minnie's and the Pork Store to tide you over before a day of raiding racks of vintage clothes at shops like Crossroads, Wasteland, Aaardvark's and Buffalo Exchange. It's cheap and you'll find everything you need to make you stand out from the hipster lined streets of the Haight! One never needs to buy another pre-packaged costume again if you have access to the Haight's shopping! I love it! And then you can end the day with some snacks (or I mean drinks) at Citrus Club, Cha Cha Cha's, Hobson's choice....the list goes on and on!

Most of the hippies are long gone (most of them moved up here into rural northern California), but there is still an alternative feeling even among the rash of trendy dress-in-black-and-carry-an-attitude shops. Still, there is Bound Together Books, The Red Vic, and a few decent bookstores. Plus, Amoeba Records moved in. SF being the most generous city to the homeless, and the Haight being one of the more generous neighborhoods in the SF, the neighborhood is inundated with beggars. And drug use is a serious issue there, with meth and booze replacing acid and grass as the drugs of choice. Makes for some less than productive incidents. And parking is horrible (I recommend looking next to Buena Vist park even if it means a walk). But I still try to visit whenever I'm in the area.

I hate hippies and liberals, but I did walk through this place and some of the stores are interesting for a Dead Head like myself. However, I was accosted by a homeless woman I bumped shoulders with during my last visit.

Full of left-wingers and liberals.

I like it mainly because of its very unique shops and its wonderful older residences, and especially Ashbury Heights. But the main shopping area could use more supervision so that innocent shoppers and residents do not get hassled so much by aggressive drunks and panhandlers. Also the transportation could use a speedy underground MUNI or a BART extension instead of having to rely on slow ol' above-ground MUNI buses.

In high school and college I read books like "Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test" and became fascinated with the hippie culture that peaked during the summer of 1969 and seemed to have its epicenter at the intersection of Haight/Ashbury. So when I visited San Francisco for the first time I made a point of visiting the Haight, expecting to find neo-hippies and lots of counter-culture stores. Well, the neo-hippies were certainly there, but I was surprised to see a Gap clothing store right on the corner of Haight/Ashbury - not exactly counter-culture, and more than a little ironic. Now that I live near the Haight, I've had a chance to get to know the area better, and I like it. Great people-watching, interesting dive bars, good restaurants. But the pan-handlers get annoying, and it kind of bums me out to see all the dazed-looking street kids who all seem to have dogs. Any chance they take those dogs in for regular vet appointments?

The Haight is fine during the day, but turns ugly at night...overrun by homeless and aggressive young panhandlers.

The very first apartment that I looked at in SF was on the corner of Haight and Ashbury - right in the center of it all. The apartment was beautiful, but as I was leaving some guy who was obviously pretty altered by some substance grabbed me and yelled something unintelligable. While the Haight is cool and fun and hip, I don't like dealing with the drugged out folks, the panhandlers, and the general scruffiness. Fun to hang out there, but would not want to live there.