Reframing a City’s Cost of Living as a Cover Charge

It can be expensive to live in certain places, but sometimes the extra cost is worth it.

I live in San Francisco, a city that’s often in the news as an expensive place to live. It’s only the 25th most expensive city in the world per this reporting, but even so San Francisco is admittedly not a cheap place to live. That’s a given.

But rather that view the cost of living in my city of choice as an outrageous excise tax, I have instead chosen to think of the premium I pay to live in San Francisco as a cover charge that I pay to enjoy a great 365-day event.

What inspired me to write this post was a long walk my partner and I did today through our Castro neighborhood and the adjoining Mission neighborhood. We were walking to a store to pick up something specific we needed, but the walk turned into a wonderful adventure as it often does when walking in this beautiful city.

Everywhere we turned there were people of all types out enjoying the sunny, warm day. If you enjoy people watching like I do, San Francisco or any big urban center is often a great place to do that.

Along the way we bumped into a few friends with whom we chatted, catching up on each other’s lives. This is perhaps my favorite thing about living in a big city, the random connections and reconnections that happen daily.

On Castro Street, a new bakery, Leadbetters Bakery Shop, was launching their new storefront with a soft opening day. We stopped and talked to the owner who had a big crowd of first-day customers. We learned that he’s from a long line of family bakers and he and his wife felt the Castro Street location was perfect for the type of bakery they’ve wanted to open.

We stumbled on a great band playing on the sidewalk to a large crowd that had gathered. Then we heard music from elsewhere. We investigated and it turned out today was SF Porchfest, a day of music on the porches, backyards, and stoops of the Mission neighborhood. We listened to a folk singer, punk band, rock band, and a violinist. It was a bit of music magic on the sidewalks of the city.

Our path took us past Dandelion Chocolate, one of our favorite artisan chocolate shops. We bought some delicious almonds covered in dark chocolate.

After purchasing what we had originally begun our walk to get, we walked back toward the Castro using a different path than we used on the way there. This took us past some shops and restaurants we hadn’t seen before with a couple of restaurants we noted as looking good so that we can return to them for a meal in the future.

Both of us had to go to the bathroom and weren’t sure we could make it all the way home without a bio pit stop. So, we diverted our route toward the facilities in Dolores Park, one of the many fantastic parks in the city. People were everywhere in the park having birthday parties, friend gatherings, or just sitting in the sun reading a book. Having such a park mere blocks away from where I live is a wonderful perk of living in the area.

My partner had to buy something for an office party gift. We stopped in the iconic Cliff’s Variety, a local store that seems to have just about anything one might need. They’ve been in business since 1936 and it is still family-owned and run.

Before walking into our apartment, we decided to visit the corner bodega half a block away to pick up a few things. We chatted with the husband and wife who own and run the store which is always a pleasure.

I could have added more uplifting moments that happened during our walk, but I think you get my point that a simple walk through San Francisco can turn into far more than just a walk to a destination.

Add to the aforementioned that a city like San Francisco has so much else that adds to the quality of life and I hope you’ll see why I think of the cost of living here as a cover charge to a world of vast entertainment, socialization, and useful resources.

As a gay man, I’m willing to pay the premium to live somewhere that respects and welcomes its LGBTQ residents.

As an older person, I like that I can walk or take inexpensive transit anywhere in the city I might want to go. This also allows me to live without owning a car which saves me a lot of money, time, and hassle.

Within blocks of my home are shops, a grocery store, a 24-hour drugstore, and dozens of restaurants, bars, and coffee shops.

I can check local event calendars and there is always something going on every night of the week I might want to attend, some of them entirely free.

My point to all of this is that when assessing the cost of living somewhere, you need to take into consideration the benefits you get for that cost. I could live in a tiny town in the middle of the country paying a fraction of my daily expenses, but I would be miserable. I’m willing to pay the extra cover charge to enjoy a beautiful city that offers so much to me in terms of social life, walkable access, entertainment, food, shopping, and parks.

Each of us must determine what cover charge we’re willing to pay to live where we want to live. Obviously, the cost of living is too high just about everywhere. Rabid capitalism has catapulted costs far beyond where they should be. You’ll get no argument from me that we should do whatever we can to fix wealth inequality and the rampant escalation of living expenses.

But we must live in the reality we’re given at the time. For many of us, that reality is that to live in a place that fits our needs and offers us what we most want in life, and assuming we’re financially able, we must pay a cover charge to enjoy that life. Your mileage may vary in this regard, but this is how I view the premium I pay to live in San Francisco. I have zero regrets about my decision.

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