20 years in SF?!

On January 7th, 1991 I arrived in San Francisco and, a few days later, I showed up to work on what I thought would be an 8 month job at an animation studio called Colossal Pictures… I still cannot quite believe that THIS week marks my TWENTY YEAR anniversary of living and working here in this wonderful city.

I had already visited San Francisco in 1988 as a tourist (back-packing my way across the USA, Canada, Mexico and South America) and I remember well that this city was one of those that actually made me stop and think “I’d like to live here someday”. It was a happy turn of fate that led me back here again a few years later but something more than that has kept me here all this time since.

Put simply, I fell in love with this place. Initially, the reason may have been that I was ready to stop moving and anywhere at all would do. I had just spent the previous 5 years-straight living out of a backpack, always in places where I could barely understand the language. So it’s not hard to see why I grabbed onto San Francisco with both hands; just the fact that I could have conversations with strangers (and perhaps make friends with them) was such a pleasant change after struggling to make myself understood in Europe, South America and Asia.

But more than that, from day-one, I felt that I “fit in” here, in this city of misfits. So much so that I have spent more time in this city than any other place on earth, including my own home town. And the obvious reason is that I feel more at home here than any of the many places I have been to (and I have been to a LOT of places). In this city of weirdos and outcasts a foreigner can feel at home.

This town has given me the absolute best moments of my career and some of its worst disappointments. I have made more true friends here than in any of the many places in the world I have lived in and, largely due to their inspiring example, it was here that I finally sat down and created personal projects for MYSELF rather than for THE MAN. This is the town where I fell in love, had my heart broken only to be mended so that I could fall in love again.

Of course, a lot can happen in a span of twenty years and most of these experiences may have happened anyway, had I lived someplace else instead. But I am so very glad that they happened to me here, in SAN FRANCISCO.

26 thoughts on “20 years in SF?!”

  1. I'm definitely glad you made it to The City, otherwise I woulda missed out on meeting such an awesome person! Anyone that can find comedy in a man seed sihouette of Michael Jordan, is "OK" in my book.

    Reply
  2. gosh…time goes fast…i am here 16 years! can't think of anywhere else that is better! great reading your love of SF. Feel like grabbing vicki and others to go out one night? Ashley xoxxo

    Reply
  3. I have wanted to live there since 1984 when a friend of mine invited me to an ILM crew screening of Temple of Doom. I feel in love with the place.

    That is a very cool place to spend 20 years.

    Reply

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