I was walking from Potrero to the Mission yesterday and came across an empty car seat, facing out toward my neighborhood and I wondered, is it true? Are babies coming to the Mission? It’s a neighborhood that is no stranger to change. The Irish settled here to raise families, as did the Latin Americans, but the newer wave of artsy-hip kids mostly came on their own, leaving the idea of parenthood back home with their parents. But now, as their random hookups start moving in and they can stave off adulthood no more, will they decide to start their families here, or move out to the suburbs to make way for the next group?
Welcome to the yuppification of the Mission — don’t fight it, just settle in for the ride.
Ah, so the car seat’s for me.
Children = yuppie?
I don’t think you know what that word means.
Here’s a URL, in case you’re too anti-establishment to use Google:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuppie
There are lots of babies in the mission, they just belong to working class families, not white yuppies or people you’d see at Pop’s. You’ve never seen women with strollers on the 14, or pushing them down 24th st?
Did you read the post? That’s where I started, but wondering about everyone else.
Like Andy said, there have always been babies in the Mission, they just aren’t white.
NOOOOOOOOoooooooOOOOOOOooooooOOOOOO
Man, what sort of weird bubble do y’all live in? There are babies all over the frigging Mission. White, black, asian, latino, we got ‘em all. Just drop by a playground. No, not at 2AM, while the sun is up.
random observation – this is a britax marathon, $279 retail. I’d have snagged it for one of my kids.
holy shit, car seats can cost $279?! but… don’t the kids outgrow them in like a year?!
Yes – but this one can last up to two years. The booster seats get cheaper later. Besides, carseats for infants & toddlers *REALLY* do save lives. It’s worth the investment.
This post and the one over at Uptown make me really curious about the authors in about 6-7 years time. While most of my GF’s swore off children ten years ago – I see them bending in the wind.
It just seems hatin’ on babies is stupid? Who is gonna wipe your ass when you’re 84 and need some help? Or all you of planning on dying at 26?
I don’t hate on babies! I just hate on expensive things.
Why do you think I’m hating on babies?
It’s really interesting the way that many of the comments seem to be reacting not to what I wrote, but people’s own impressions of the topic of babies in the Mission.
If you’re actually interested, I’ve always liked being around babies, and I’ve been working with youth for the past ten years.
People are talking about their own impressions because the entry itself is a dull one.
good topic, boring blog post.
Notice all the question marks? It’s a conversation starter.
I think Rupert, the first poster, set a tone you didn’t intend.
Ariel, you started an inflammatory conversation. And you should have known it would be as much considering how much opposition the hipsters in the mission have against kids and families in their neighborhood. It’s like asking if black people are really coming to your country club.
It’s a topic-opener that is probably ruined, right near the beginning, by the sentence, “Are babies coming to the Mission?” That’s just about the most dorky way imaginable of asking the question that you really wanted to ask: ‘Is another generation of Young Americans (who can afford to buy and discard car seats) now ready and willing to repopulate our neighborhood with its own offspring, and what will that mean to the neighborhood?
As other readers have pointed out, Latin and Asian Americans around here have never had to have a serious discussion about this.
kylem – I see that it got people riled up. This is not a new discussion, people always talk about Noe Valley as being the baby neighborhood, and the Mission as being the hipster neighborhood, I was just wondering what people thought about the hipsters having babies. I appreciate that people joined in to discuss it.
COMG – Dorky or pithy? Seriously, I don’t have any kind of grand thesis statement here, I was just wondering aloud. I addressed the demographic in the post as well, though maybe I wasn’t clear enough (?). Of course there are babies here. There are straight people in the Castro as well. There are white people in Chinatown. I was asking a broader question.
Then don’t get all victimy when people lash out at you. You’re trolling, plain and simple.
Wow, you seem like a really fun person to have a conversation with. But I guess I’m just trolling again.
OK, Ariel, I’ll bite. Frankly, I’m an old guy, and I have no young friends to ask about this, but I am not seeing any increase whatsoever in the number of baby strollers and parental-baby-fondlers on the street recently. Of course, I don’t get out on the street in the daytime all that often.
For my part, my childhood was such that I would never consider reliving the experience, and especially through a new creation of my loins.
In answer to your question about (presumably ‘sorta like us’) people making babies in the Mission… I would guess “Yes,” followed by, “Until they get fed-up with the realities of living here, when they’ll move to the suburbs like all the Latin-American families that used to live in my building.”
so you want to have a baby so you have a friend? fuck that.
… and having kids because you feel entitled to expect them to take care of you when you’re old means you’re missing the point of having kids. I’m really curious about how “Happier Mom Than You” will “bend in the wind” in 30-40 years time.
So uh, I’ve got a baby. And don’t think for a minute it didn’t cross my mind that if I played my cards right that kid would be there when I’m old to wipe my ass. Anyone who tells you otherwise is a god damn liar. Oh, he’s also going to take ME out for drinks on his 21st birthday for the year of sobriety I had to endure. I’m joking and I’m not joking.
Herr Doktor – I didn’t mean you specifically – just the post & I was intending to address the cost of the carseat comment. Got a little carried away.
Ariel – also, just the thread people & the cartoon on the other site
GG – I mean children as a whole will be responsible for “our” generation…I hope my son lives his life how he wants – but yes, I was there for my dad – hope to be there for my mom & stepdad – just like we have done for generations – and yes – I hope he can be there for me.
No guarantee your kid is gonna wipe your ass when you’re 84. Most likely, it will be the grown up versions of current immigrant/working class babies who take those less desirable, lower paid health care sector positions that you, “Happier Mom,” will probably educate your kids out of.
If you play your cards right, your kids will PAY those people to wipe your ass. But it won’t be them that does it. Out of curiosity, do you wipe your mom’s ass?
Read the comment above.
I saw my mom wipe my grandmother’s ass. I expect to wipe her ass. And I expect my son will take care of mine. You educate children by example. If they see you taking care of your elderly, and the elderly are not shunted off to some old folks home but are a working, active part of the familial unit then the odds are they will value you as a part of their extended family. It’s not a promise but there is certainly a good chance.
and one more thing. It costs about $50-60k to raise a child from 0-18, even more if you pay for their college. If having someone to take care of you in your old age is what worries you, you’d get a much more reliable return on that investment elsewhere.
It’s not entirely about being taken care of in my old age – it is my curiosity about why there seems to be more coverage on “why” there are babies in the city. My sister visited while I was pregnant with her daughter and was shocked at how un-friendly this town is towards kids. I disagreed with her. Had my son, lived happily – then traveled the US with him and noticed how right she was.
I just find it odd.
Everything in a city makes it better and this topic really seems to rile up a ton of people.
I also come from the standpoint that unless you have it – you shouldn’t really bitch about it, mock it, etc. Maybe that makes me self-righteous, but ‘tevs – I’ll be that person.
This way I get both. You do realize I was being facetious? If you didn’t realize it- I was being facetious.
HMTY- you carried/incubated your sister’s daughter? Cool.
I turn 27 this weekend so, by my calculations, I have 367 days left to live.
Wait… was that in response to the “dying by 26″ comment? And does that mean you’re aging backward like Benjamin Button (crosses fingers!)?
Happy almost b-day, you little whippersnapper!
We’re staying. We’re buying something (renovated, not new). And we’re having babies. Two little punk rock babies.
And their mother will insist that they go to private school.
Nothing says “punk rock” like an $800k TIC flat. Rock on!
Was it ever anything other than a middle class kids’ rebellion?
Skinheads would disagree with you.
Way to sidetrack the issue, Sweet T. Yes it was, though probably not on the television you viewed it from.
i’ve lived int he mission for 18 years, came here with the first wave of art kids that got so much shit back int hem imd 90s. i now own a home here, run a business here and yep, have a kid here. So yeah, babies are here, always have been, and always will be.
-matt
Do you think this floating rock has enough mileage in it for this kind of thing. There is a sign in the upper atmosphere that reads “max. capacity 10 billion persons”
we are getting pretty close to violating some fire codes as it is. Did someone figure out how to make oil and clean drinking water from thin air yet?
continents full of babies with flies in their eyes and bloated guts, I don’t think this movie has a happy ending.
Way to harsh a mellow, bro
the religious fundamentalists who are “raising” 10 kids at a time aren’t too worries about it, nor will their kids be. but if you have one kid of your own, make sure they grow up with an education and a reverence of science, we might have a chance at figuring out a solution.
Weirdest spambot EVER.
I’m with you — my non-baby-making plan has almost balanced-out my prolific sisters.
lets let the dolphins have a shot at running the show this millenium.
I think they are already doing free healthcare.
I think we can all live in harmony with babies, as long as those harboring them adhere to a few simple rules: (1) Don’t block sidewalk traffic with your stroller; (2) If you’re with someone in a restaurant who starts screaming, take that person outside, no matter what its age; (3) Don’t get whiny and overprotective about your kid and do things like lobby for keeping dogs out of public parks and that sort of thing.
And you can no pee in the park or in alleys or anywhere else in public. No screaming your drunk ass off at 3am. Don’t vomit on the sidewalk. Don’t try to talk to my kid while you’re drunk. Don’t smoke in the park, at bus shelters, or anywhere else where I can smell you.
You’ve got yourself a deal.
Aint gonna happen.
Then I’m teaching my kid to have a fucking breakdown every time she’s in Pi Bar or La Taqueria. Or any where else I see you and your ironic mustache.
So you’re a jerk, and you’re raising your kid to be a jerk too? Sounds like she’ll fit right in with the public pee-ers and loud, vomiting drunks at 3am once she hits 17. Everybody wins!
How I am supposed to control another human being if you can’t even control yourself?
I could live with that, if it were gonna happen.
Linda – I concur. We should have our kids buy both our drinks. And I’ll take the $13 cocktail…or however the math works out – $56?
I used to think if I got knocked up I’d have to move to Berkeley and start growing cannabis for a living. My most recent, and much improved, plan would be to start an awesome child care co-op in the Mission with other local parents. It’s a real pity that I’m sitting on such a great idea until the unlikely event of an accident.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/mission-kids-co-op-san-francisco
Does this mean the distorted disgusting little dog thing has almost run its course?
AMEN GG!!!
This is the state capital of stating your opinion as fact.
http://whitewhine.com/