Who are you?
I’m a 30ish-year-old resident of the Lower Haight, hoping to explore and expose the many wonders of our peculiar little neighborhood. I’m culling story ideas and submissions from friends and neighbors in the Lower Haight, and I plan to feature guest posts from other bloggers. So if you have a story idea or request, please drop me a line.
What does “haighteration” mean?
Haighteration is a love for all things Lower Haight. The term was first popularized by R&B superstar Mary J. Blige in her 2001 smash hit, “Family Affair.” While we can’t support Mary J’s call for no haighteration, we do share her twin goals of decreased holleration and no more drama. The L.H. could also use a quality dancerie.
What’s the mission of this blog?
To document anything we consider even a little newsworthy about the Lower Haight, no matter how trivial, in the hopes of informing and entertaining our neighbors and ourselves.
Tell me about the Lower Haight.
The Lower Haight is a funky/gritty grab-bag of a neighborhood. It’s bounded by beautiful parks on the north (Alamo Square) and south (Duboce), and god-forsaken hellholes on the west (Upper Haight) and east (Market). It’s criss-crossed by a slew of bus lines, trespassed by a very polarizing bike artery (the Wiggle), served on the south by two occasionally-operational Muni lines (the N and J), and exited on the east via the entrance to the 101. Bottom line: getting to/from/around here is not a problem.
There are yuppies, and hipsters, and housing projects, and young parents, and everyone generally gets along, aside from the occasional garage-door graffiti or auto theft.
For such a small neighborhood, there’s a pretty stunning array of cuisines represented here. There are a few coffeeshops, and a handful of bars ranging from dive to sort-of-dive. As far as we can tell, there’s only one true chain store (Walgreens). The area hasn’t really gentrified yet, though I doubt there would be much uproar if it did.
The Lower Haight is not perfect. Parking can be difficult, rent can be high, and at times the street culture can be way too Upper Haightly for our tastes. But we think the tradeoffs are worth it.
I have a suggestion for a haighteration story. What do I do?
First, hug yourself. Because you’re helping to make this site (and neighborhood) better.
Next, email us. tips [at] haighteration {{dot}} com.