Monte Carlo by the Bay

Article in the Economist: San Francisco's half-recovery | City in a bottle.

Hadn't realized we were such conformists: "And tourists are not the only reason restaurants are full. Michael Covarrubias, a San Francisco property developer, says many expensive flats have been bought by people in their late fifties who have grown tired of the suburbs and no longer need worry about schools."

Well, I hadn't grown tired of the suburbs (I still miss my dirt), but the gent I live with had always intended to move back once the kids were off to college and the transplanting was no surprise.

"Monte Carlo" by the Bay? Doesn't have the same ring as Herb Caen's "Baghdad by the Bay," but Baghdad by the Bay evokes a different image these days than it did back then.