Anyone been to San Francisco lately? The "traveler" population is out of control.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This thread is hilarious, especially the "but . . . but . . . but the DOGS!" posters, and the tourists who apparently walk around handing out $20s to beggars, and than are just SHOCKED that the beggars want more. Go back to Iowa, please.

Seriously. Obviously has never lived near a large city. I've known this stuff since childhood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread is hilarious, especially the "but . . . but . . . but the DOGS!" posters, and the tourists who apparently walk around handing out $20s to beggars, and than are just SHOCKED that the beggars want more. Go back to Iowa, please.

Seriously. Obviously has never lived near a large city. I've known this stuff since childhood.

Yes, obviously.

[Anonymous]

Wow. I was on vacation in SF last summer and didn't encounter anything like this. There were a few homeless guys, I but I don't think they even asked for money. I wouldn't have given out as much money as OP, but I would be alarmed if they followed me.

I guess the DC "cool" quotient isn't sufficient to have a crustie population here.

[Anonymous]

SF has attracted youth counterculture for decades.

I lived there in the 90s--one block north of the Tenderloin on Post Street and close to Polk Street which was known for its hustlers and prostitutes. More run-of-the-mill homeless types lived and worked the Tenderloin and Union Square areas, but the crusty-types primarily inhabited The Haight and SOMA, panhandling and doing drugs. There were a lot of encampments in Golden Gate Park. It's been about five years since I've visited, but I really have little desire to spend any time there. I have far less tolerance seeing the city through my 40-something lens. I've lived in and traveled through many cities and have always thought SF had some of the most aggressive panhandlers by comparison. Even as a brazen 20yo, I had to always be on edge.

It makes me a little sad to hear that things have gotten even worse. It's a lovely city.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow. I was on vacation in SF last summer and didn't encounter anything like this. There were a few homeless guys, I but I don't think they even asked for money. I wouldn't have given out as much money as OP, but I would be alarmed if they followed me.

I guess the DC "cool" quotient isn't sufficient to have a crustie population here.

It's just too cold. Unfortunately, the west coast attracts a lot of freaks because you can basically live outside year round .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Crusty Punks good read....crustypunks.blogspot.com

Oh, god. I want to un-see and un-read this.

[Anonymous]

Travelers are gypsies. We're these people gypsies? Or were they just middle class white homeless kids?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Travelers are gypsies. We're these people gypsies? Or were they just middle class white homeless kids?

They call themselves travelers. They travel from gatherings to gatherings, from place to place on trains.

http://thecore.uchicago.edu/Winter2012/departments/BTQ-trains-and-travelers.shtml

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Travelers are gypsies. We're these people gypsies? Or were they just middle class white homeless kids?

They call themselves travelers. They travel from gatherings to gatherings, from place to place on trains.

http://thecore.uchicago.edu/Winter2012/departments/BTQ-trains-and-travelers.shtml

Interesting that they're ripping off the name of another culture entirely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Travelers are gypsies. We're these people gypsies? Or were they just middle class white homeless kids?

They call themselves travelers. They travel from gatherings to gatherings, from place to place on trains.

http://thecore.uchicago.edu/Winter2012/departments/BTQ-trains-and-travelers.shtml

Interesting that they're ripping off the name of another culture entirely.

What's so interesting about that?

[Anonymous]

How do they afford the tattoos?

[Anonymous]

Have you been to Austin lately?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have you been to Austin lately?

I don't believe in Texas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Travelers are gypsies. We're these people gypsies? Or were they just middle class white homeless kids?

They call themselves travelers. They travel from gatherings to gatherings, from place to place on trains.

http://thecore.uchicago.edu/Winter2012/departments/BTQ-trains-and-travelers.shtml

Interesting that they're ripping off the name of another culture entirely.

What's so interesting about that?

+1

Also traveler has been used to identify train hopping hobos since well, trains.

Plus, punks these kids are not. This is a punk. (My preteen heart just pittered a bit)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow. I was on vacation in SF last summer and didn't encounter anything like this. There were a few homeless guys, I but I don't think they even asked for money. I wouldn't have given out as much money as OP, but I would be alarmed if they followed me.

I guess the DC "cool" quotient isn't sufficient to have a crustie population here.

It's just too cold. Unfortunately, the west coast attracts a lot of freaks because you can basically live outside year round .

Correct.

In the 1990s, the city of San Francisco debated and, for a time at least, passed ordinances prohibiting sleeping in cars in the areas around Golden Gate park and the Haight. Around that same time, the city of Eugene struggled with how to deal with people sleeping/camping in out-door parks.

The term "transient" is applied to younger homeless people who, on the west coast, often carry large backpacks made for camping (the same type carried by youth touring on Eurail passes in Europe). While not all "transients" move from place to place, many do.

I also met young homeless working people in Oregon who worked temporary seasonal jobs; they would sign on to fight forest fires during the summer months, and plant trees in clear-cut pine forests, working either for the timber companies who cleared the forest, or for the forest service. Both types of work were back-breaking and difficult; some of the workers resorted to meth use on their off days/weeks.