Today, The Bold Italic gives us an insider's look into Excelsior, the hot new Hipster neighborhood famous for being near the Mission:

When I decided to search for my first home, it quickly became clear that I would be unable to buy a place with the amenities I was craving in an established, cool neighborhood. I searched through the Mission, Western Addition, and Hayes Valley for a pad within my price range that included parking, a yard for the dogs, and good closet space (although I already had a fabulous little boutique, BellJar, to live out my collecting obsession, my purchases were still overflowing into my home). The results were bleak.

I started exploring other options. The Sunset? No one would ever accuse me of being a beach girl. Bay View? Too isolated. Then I found the Excelsior. Near a huge, gorgeous park? Check. Streets named after European destinations? Check. Located on a hill with a view of the city and a straight shot into the Mission? Check. This would be my new hood.

I’m not going to lie. There was an adjustment period. For the first time since living in San Francisco I longed to see a fixed gear bike or a tattooed girl walking down the street. Then again, I now had an entire extra room dedicated to my wardrobe and an in-law apartment I could use to house my records. I began telling myself, “It’s all about the Excelsior; everyone else just hasn’t figured it out yet!”

So what makes the Excelsior San Francisco's best kept secret?  Amazing breakfast burritos, ponds for dogs to swim in, and going to The Broken Recrod to talk about neighborhood issues such as “boys, dating in San Francisco, and how fabulous we looked in our fancy outfits.”  Well, my bags are packed.

Take the full tour over at The Bold Italic.

(photo by Eric Heath)

Pic via Google Maps, because I doubt anyone with a Flickr account has ever been to this part of town.

Christopher Forsley wrote into The Rumpus to tell the world what it's like living just off Mission Street at the edge of San Francisco and Daly City:

My next door neighbor, Johnny Mac, didn’t go to university. He went to The Tenderloin and brought back a whore and a forty. The forty is long gone, but I can hear the whore over there right now. The hoarder around the corner didn’t go to university either. The only place she ever goes is to the park to leave amphetamine-pumped fish for our feral cat colony. The rats have vanished, but the raccoons are eating the fish too and will tear your eyes out if you look at them wrong.

Whenever I see a raccoon, I look the other way where the Mickey Rourke-faced lady is usually looking at her reflection in a car window. She went to university but came out vain. The obese man who waddles around repeating, “Masturbation and Doritos,” also went to university, but he didn’t come out the same. He came out insane.

Read the entire tale over at The Rumpus.  Scroll down until you see a picture of a fish with a needle stuck in its back.