“San Francisco Is 49 Square Miles Surrounded By Reality:” This is how residents describe their city, almost 127 square kilometers in size – as being detached from reality. Those who live here are said to dwell in their own worlds. And it seems as if they live on the cutting edge…. but the heart of this city beats briskly, not frantically. Like no other metropolis, San Francisco progresses with ease.
And those who let themselves for the balancing act between stress and calmness, harvest success, on either a social or personal level. Just like the participants of the counter-culture movement in the 1960s, against the political establishment, just like the hippies did in the 1970s or the homosexuals, who made this city their dwelling place a little later. Even those on a professional level that could change the world, like during the boom in information technology in the eighties and the dotcom boom in the nineties.
A journey of discovery through the city, which is always awake
It was a given that we were looking to find the pulse of this one-of-a-kind city when we were on the road in California for a customer assignment. We recorded our impressions in a video. The film “San Francisco – #AnythingGoes” illustrates why San Francisco fascinates average people and gifted creators alike – and somehow almost magically attracts them.
For if New York is the city that never sleeps, San Francisco is the city that always remains awake in the spirit. It’s already wide awake and full of life, when daylight pushes out the fog over the San Francisco Bay. A movement, a trend or an industry that emerges in this region and thrives and then goes down celebrating. The general turnaround is currently described as three to five years… about as long as an iPhone is good for.
It is no coincidence that this iconic smartphone was developed just 63 kilometers away from this city with its diverse neighborhoods, cultures, the massive Golden Gate Bridge and skeletal eucalyptus trees. The pulse of San Francisco also reaches Silicon Valley – and in exchange, the changomaniac wind of this innovation hotspot blows directly back into the metropolis.
Craziness and stability: an interplay that spawns world careers
In such exchanges, world careers such as those of Larry Ellison, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk emerge – all of them people with immense drive to change the world. At the same time displaying a coolness that is second to none. Their drive was and often is their own vision rather than the prospect of big money. And maybe that is one of the reasons, why they mostly deserve it in the end: focused on their own idea, real innovations emerged that eventually draw people from all over the world to the Bay Area.
Among them are Germans, who make a career in the Mediterranean climate of San Francisco. Just like Timo Pelz, Communications Manager at Instagram, Katrin Schmidt, Business Affairs Manager at Airbnb and Andreas Rayo Kniep, Software Engineer at Google. What unites all of them, besides competence and vigor, is their young age.
Where young ideas have priority over the old guard
The U.S. is still considered a country of unlimited possibilities. In the state of California there is yet some other magic: the fear of aging and – as a result of this – the lack of respect for all those who are older. Here youth is appreciated as almost nowhere else. Not only are looks valued here, but a youthful spirit as well – perhaps above all else. It is this rapid heartbeat which so appropriately matches the pulse of San Francisco.
The city is also very well-known for its historical characteristics. It’s known as much for its tradition as it is for its historical districts, where the hustle and bustle of the streets keeps people on the ground, in real life, while they hover with their heads in the clouds above their city.
The heart of the city beats for each individual idea
Those who live in San Francisco live on 127 square kilometers removed from reality. It’s because the beauty of the city has a strengthening characteristic and because its inhabitants often are strong. Now, almost all industries are stimulated by their environments. And even the politics in Washington can, as it seems, be hacked, crippled, or improved by the clever minds of this area.
Notwithstanding the fact that around the world the doom of the Silicon Valley is constantly foretold, San Francisco has a constant optimistic mood which, even in the case of grown-up serenity, feels like eternal spring – seeking eternal youth and innovation. The heart of the city will continue to beat – for every single new idea.
// About “Always On The Road”
OSK is constantly in motion. For most of the year we are on the road, very often abroad. Nearly half of our agency projects take place outside of Germany; since 1993 we have successfully realized projects in more than 40 countries on four continents. Here we plan to regularly feature locations we visit for projects, discover during business trips or we use as venues for our events. These often include cool new hotels, special restaurants and hip bars, but can also feature interesting cities or urban areas, scenic test tracks as well as attractive buildings, museums and galleries. Of course, we also stumble upon exciting local stories, personalities or up-and-coming start-ups during our researches and trips – these topics will find their home here.
