A Few Additions I Have Known

I held the old San Francisco street map and wondered whether or not to completely unfold it because it’s such a pain to refold traditional paper highway maps. I finally decided to open it one fold at a time, then refold the segment and open the next one. That way I could study the neighborhood layouts one “slice” at a time. This allowed me to remain seated comfortably with my elbows resting on the easy-chair arms. That way I could ponder the pros and cons of visiting or whether or not I should visit The City again, soon.

I have some old friends who have lived in the city’s Western Addition for as long as I can remember. Their old Victorian house is a block west of Jefferson Square. The neighborhood’s name is confusing to non-San Franciscans because it is actually located in the north-central part of town. Many tourists confuse the Western Addition with the Sunset District because the Sunset District is actually on the west side of town and borders the Pacific Ocean. Anyway, my friends live in the northern part of San Francisco.

San Francisco proper has nowhere else to expand, but the cities around it have done so. I’m thinking of San Jose which has grown in the fashion of Los Angeles by annexing towns around it. My old neighborhood is in the western “arm” at the boundary with Cupertino. Our telephone area code was different from the area code across the street. Driving south down San Tomas Expressway brings you from Santa Clara through western San Jose, down to Campbell. All through that general area is a zigzag patchwork of Gerrymandering additions to San Jose.

I got to thinking about neighborhood additions in cities and towns I could think of off-hand. Here in Norfolk, Nebraska, the town has continually grown westward.

Meantime, the city of Omaha has swallowed up towns and land to its west. Omaha cannot expand eastward due to the Nebraska State border at the Missouri River on Omaha’s east edge. Our capitol city, Lincoln, has mainly expanded towards the east and south. Most of the additions in other Nebraska towns tend to be towards the west.

There was no specific point about today’s blog post. I only wanted to share a few of my thoughts about residential neighborhoods and city additions that I’ve pondered for many years. If you read it all the way through, thank you. Perhaps this will cause you to think about some towns and cities you have known, too. It’s good to reflect on such topics on Sundays.

Ciao
The Blue Jay of Happiness quotes writer and journalist Christopher Morley. “All cities are mad: but the madness is gallant. All cities are beautiful, but the beauty is grim.”