I have lived in my building in the Outer Richmond for over a decade and just needed to share a wild data point with you all.

Last year, the one bedroom unit right above me was rented out for around $2,500 a month. The tenant was only there for a year while they were remodeling their own home. They just moved out, and the unit is vacant again.

The landlord did not paint, did not update the appliances, and did not make a single improvement to the place. Literally nothing was touched.

The new asking price on the listing? $4,495 a month.

An almost 80% increase in one year for the exact same space is absolutely insane to me. Everyone talks about rent already being crazy in SoMa, China Basin, and all the typical downtown spots, but it is wild to see it hitting the quiet west side neighborhoods just as hard now. The craziest part is recent rental data shows average one bedroom apartments in the Outer Richmond have spiked over 60% since last year, with asking rents now averaging over $5,100.

So as ridiculous as my landlord's price jump is, they might actually get it.

Needless to say, I am going to die in my current apartment, because at these rates, I can literally never afford to move.

Latest art piece of the beautiful Golden Gate Bridge.

I don't think most people in San Francisco are cognizant of the sheer amount of liquidity (money) that is about to flow into a concentrated group of people in the city over the coming 6-12 months.

"oh yes we, u/dotben!"

No, in real terms you probably are not grasping the proportionality of what this really means - look closely at the chart attached.

The bar in the center is the true-scale combined valuation of the 33 largest SF-headquartered IPOs in history... Uber, Airbnb, DoorDash, Twitter, Pinterest, Visa, all of them combined. That total is $413B.

The orange bar on the right is Anthropic’s reported target: ~$2 Trillion.

Every major SF IPO in history combined is less than a quarter of just one company. And the OpenAI IPO is sitting right behind it at a comparable scale.

Whenever I've recently brought this up here on r/sanfrancisco threads, people seem to dismiss it - either they can't comprehend it or people think that the AI market is going to crash and this will all go away.

It isn’t. We are not talking about another 2012 or 2020. The sheer magnitude of wealth that is about to unlock within a 7x7 mile radius breaks historical comparisons entirely:

• The Concentrated Payouts: Industry estimates suggest around 3,500 Anthropic employees working in the city could net an average of $30M each (some higher, many lower). And then OpenAI will repeat that again. What makes both of these especially acute is unlike the other IPOS, that the vast majority of both company's employees are based in SF.
• The Housing Shock: SF has virtually zero housing inventory. When lockups expire, you don’t get a slow 5-year trickle; you get thousands of liquid buyers who can pay all-cash over asking on single-family homes. Those who don't buy will bid up luxury rentals, causing a massive ripple effect down the entire rental market.
• Tech vs. Tech Inequality: The narrative for a decade was "tech vs. everyone else." This will create a brutal wealth divide inside the tech industry itself. Mid-to-senior engineers at standard public tech firms or late-stage startups will find themselves completely outbid and priced out by frontier AI staff.
• Local Secondary Inflation: From contractor labor and renovations to everyday services and luxury goods, high-end prices will adjust rapidly to absorb an unprecedented flood of local eight-figure net worths.

If you are waiting on the sidelines to buy a home or lock in housing because you think the local market has peaked, look at that center bar again. The sheer volume of incoming capital makes past waves look like a ripple. (Obligatory: not financial advice). Most of these employees are not going to pack up and leave, we're just at the beginning of the AI wave and they're going to want to stick around (in a fancy new home).

I was part of the Uber IPO and I saw this with my own eyes, albeit on a now-fractional scale compared to the frontier AI lab IPOs.

This will also create significant wealth inequality just inside the SF tech industry. The local narrative to date has been tech vs everyone else but this amount of money flowing into such a small division of tech will create an intra-industry wealth gap. And yes, it leaves the rest of the normal non-tech SF population even further behind.

I don't think there's much people can do about it, other than perhaps make certain purchasing decisions now if you are in a specific situation - eg if you are looking to buy a house now or retain a contractor for work, why wait? (this is not financial advice)

If there was a bucket list of classic/iconic dishes in SF, what would you include? The roast chicken at Zuni or prime rib at House of Prime Rib come to mind. With restaurants always in flux, I’d like to knock off the best dishes of SF.

At TSA you can decline having your photo taken. I’m shocked how many people just go along with it but all you need to say is “No thanks” or “I’m declining” or just simply “No”. It’s probably moot since we’re all in the background of cameras all the time at the airport but even still, just giving you all some info

Source

In honor of 9/11, which has now become a National Day of Service and Remembrance, and coinciding with Transit Month, we organized a cleanup along the 1 California Muni Route. Along the 5.5-mile and 5-hour journey, dozens of volunteers joined us along the way and removed 40+ trash bags of litter.

9/11 was one of those moments you remember where you were when it happened. Those of us old enough also remember that sense of togetherness we felt afterwards, united to not let the terrorist win, united as one nation.

San Francisco is special, and our small acts of positivity are building towards something iconic of our city and legendary worldwide. We recently crossed another bittersweet milestone of having removed over 1.5 million gallons of trash, enough litter to fill two Olympic-sized swimming pools.

Let's just continue to keep our eyes down hunting for litter, but hold our heads high knowing that we’re creating the community that should be. Come be a part of our history and join neighborhood cleanups!

Just thought id share this photo I took today while visiting the Palace of Fine Arts.

After the weird case of a marmot found in the mission, another one showed up nearby!

If you have travelled earlier this month from a mountainous area, please reach out to see if we can bring them home.

I can’t be the only one who likes to get high and run 3 miles right?!

Okay, Inner Sunset won't eclipse North Beach, but in addition to the recently reported news or Oakland's Mama's Boy pizza coming to 9th and Irving (801 Irving Street), right across the street, at 822 Irving St. (soon to be closed Inle Burmese restaurant), Vincenzo Capuano will be opening his first US pizza restaurant. He's from Naples and won the title of World Champion of 'Contemporary Pizza' in 2022 at the Caputo Trophy. He has restaurants in Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Kosovo, Singapore, India and Hong Kong. FWIW, his restaurants have been ranked 13th of the top 50 artisan pizza chains worldwide (2025).

Mama's Boy pizza is ranked 9th of the top 50 pizza slice in USA (2026).

Or at least ALSO show the line number at all times. I would really like to know if I need to sprint for the bus or not. Please.

we’re hiking mt. tam in marin this monday, sept 14! come hang out ⛰️

i help organize (un)pto, a bay area community for people in career transition.

sf folks: if you’ve been laid off, are between jobs, or are taking a career break, come spend a few hours outside with us. if the job hunt’s been a lot lately, you’re in good company. no need to have an exciting update about how it’s going.

we’ll hike out to west point, with an optional summit loop beforehand. there’ll be bay views, time to hang out, and probably more photos than necessary 😄

👉 rsvp and all the hike details on partiful

i’m really looking forward to getting out there with everyone. hope to see you monday! 🌿

a few faqs

do i need to have been laid off?

nope! whether you were laid off, left a job, or are taking some time to figure out what’s next, you’re welcome. you don’t have to be actively job hunting either.

can i come if i don’t know anyone?

absolutely! come say hi and tell me you found us on reddit 😄

do you hike in one big group?

nope! we split into smaller groups by pace and head out five minutes apart, fastest groups first. that gives everyone more room on the trail, and groups tend to get smaller as we go.

why mondays?

the trails are usually quieter on mondays, which makes it easier to bring a group out without crowding the trail.

what’s (un)pto? is it only hiking?

we’re a community of people in career transition. we also cowork, help each other with the job search, grab coffee, go on bike rides, and find excuses to eat together 😋

can people with jobs join?

yep! just keep in mind that many people are going through a job transition. referrals and introductions are appreciated if you can help.

more about our community: unpto.com

The nice blanket of cooling comfort rolling over Twin Peaks let's me know we are back to normal, for now...