The Night Sky of San Francisco on PNN

North Beach

Ruben (my boyfriend), Joe (current roommate), and I are actively looking for apartments in North Beach area of San Francisco. I love that area so much, it's very beautiful and one of the less expensive parts of the city. Still not cheap, but cheaper than Nob Hill, Downtown, or SOMA.

Apparently, most big chain companies are not allowed in North Beach, so most of the area is made up of ma and pa places, everything very quaint and small. We're so sick of living in lower Nob Hill, we're really going to be happy to get a change of scenery.

I was offered a great deal on an apartment in Little Italy, by the mafia. After much consideration, I decided to stay out of that kind of trouble. We'll just find a place ourselves, and spare our kneecaps, haha.

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The Night Life

Needless to say, San Francisco has a booming night life. No two nights are similar, and nothing goes as expected once the sun goes down.

The Tunneltop Club: The Tunneltop Club is a two-story dance club on Stockton and Pine Street. My friends and I were there last semester, partying on the second story balcony, which overlooks the lower level of the club. As usual, I had my video camera, set the the night vision setting, recording my friends and I in our intoxicated party mode. As I was scanning over the crowd below with the camera, a friend yells in my ear, "Isn't that Drew Barrymore!?" I dismissed his claim as a drunken assumption, and payed no attention. He repeated, "Sky, that's Drew Barrymore down there!" It was dark, and she was on the first floor, so I used the night vision and zoom on my video camera to get a better look. Sure enough, Drew Barrymore was at a table, talking and laughing with some friends. I couldn't believe it, and wasn't really aware that the camera was still recording. Drew Barrymore looked right into the camera, and angrily motioned for me to turn it off. I panicked and, of course, switched the device off and put it away. Later, outside, we were standing about five feet from Drew Barrymore as she was making out with Justin Long for at least twenty minutes. We also ran into Sam Rockwell back inside, and he told me I was adorable!

The Tenderloin: Not the best place to be after the sun goes down. Any one familiar with the San Francisco area knows that this is a place to avoid. It's just below lower Nob Hill, next to Union Square. I've found myself in the Tenderloin after dark alone far too many times, and have usually ended up being followed by a very drunk or very high homeless guy, mumbling comments like "What are you doing tonight, honey?"

Downtown/Union Square: Downtown San Francisco is a great place to be until about ten. After that, there isn't much there except for closed stores, a couple bars, and shivering homeless people trying to sleep on the sidewalk. However, earlier in the evening, the streets are filled with the music of street performers, the lights of the city, dressed-up locals coming out of fancy restaurants, and there are often public events on Union Square. Union Square and Powell Street are pretty safe at night, but I wouldn't advise any women to walk Market Street alone after nine or ten o'clock.

Haight Street/Golden Gate Park: The land of hippies, stoners, and stoner hippies. Probably the richest culture in San Francisco, this area is great for shopping and exploring during the day. At night, there are quite a few great clubs and bars. The area has a bad reputation, but it's pretty safe. Most of the locals there look rough, but are mainly the peaceful hippie types. Personally, my favorite part of the San Francisco Bay Area. Golden Gate Park is absolutely gorgeous during the day, and the streets have a character unlike anywhere else in the world.

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Gay Marriage Legalized

I am a film student at the Academy of Art University (AAU) in San Francisco. Nothing but eccentrics, hippies, radical liberals, and gay fashion students. Needless to say, when gay marriage in California was legalized, all the campuses were roaring with excitement.

When I heard about the new law, I was on one of the AAU buses, headed for a Motion Picture Language class. A very flamboyant gay guy in my class was raving on about how excited he was, and was giggling at the thought of marrying a guy just for the fun of it.

The entire busload had a fun debate about how this could quite possibly ruin gay relationships forever. Gay couples are now being introduced to the world of divorces, broken homes, custody lawsuits, and all the other fun marriage-related goodies. After all, gay couples have just as much a right to be miserable as the rest of us.

At the end of June, I spent two weeks at the Young Actor's Theater Camp, teaching a filmmaking/film acting class to kids. The director and co-director of the camp, Shawn Ryan and John Ainsworth, were just married in San Francisco before the camp started. Their wedding was on the news, and they were surrounded by family and friends, as well as kids from the camp, there to support them.

I love San Francisco. While the rest of the world is still trying to build up a tolerance to gay relationships, San Francisco is already in loving acceptance.

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Academy of Art University

I love, love, love my school. I live within a community of artists in what I believe to be the most culturally rich city in the country. Every class, even general ed, is geared towards artists.

CAMPUS: One of the best and most unique things about AAU is the fact that it's not in one central campus. The school owns nearly forty buildings all over San Francisco, with a shuttle system to transport students from building to building. This means that, unlike San Francisco State University, we get to be all over the city, right where everything's happening.

EDUCATION: The instructors at AAU are all industry professionals, and do not only offer an education in the art you're studying, but how to apply that art in the future to start a career. Not only have I learned some amazing stuff from my instructors, but they've been inspirational, and I've even gotten work from a couple of them.

CONTACTS: At least half of the people I work with on film projects are people I met at AAU. I met Joe, my current roommate, in the dorms during my first semester. He's a photography major, and takes all of my headshots, my portfolio photos, and does the cinematography for all my films. My boyfriend, Ruben, is a 3D animation major. I also met him at the dorms, and he's by my side for every film projects. I met our friend Spider in the dorms as well, and use him as an actor on most of my projects. I've worked on films with a lot of other AAU students, and the contacts we make here will last forever.

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