Local graffiti types love Herb Caen

And he wasn’t even a real native! (Born in Sacramento, eww!)

[via Last Renaissance]

22 Responses to “Local graffiti types love Herb Caen”

  1. Joshua says:

    it’s cos his name is Herb

  2. Cisco Kidd says:

    The herb who said ‘Don’t call it Frisco’
    Now everone save a few transplants call it Frisco.
    Put that in your Friday Fishwrap.

  3. scum says:

    Natives over 30 never call it frisco.

  4. Frisco Choppers says:

    They’ve called it Frisco since the 1800s..why do you think Herb was trying to change that? The real affront to local good taste is “San Fran” -NOBODY says that who isn’t a kook. Frisco is here to stay no matter what Caen tried to do.

  5. diethylether says:

    “Balderdash… the toughest guys on the old SF waterfront, neither rubes nor tourists, called it Frisco, and no effete journalist would have tried to correct them.” – Herb Caen

    • Well, thank you for locating that quote, if it is, in fact, accurate. It certainly sounds like something ol’ Herb would have said in his sunset years. I’ve been saying “Frisco” in my mind for decades, but, perhaps because of my early Santa Rosa indoctrination, San Francisco, for me, has always been “The City”. That’s what I say, and that’s what it would always be, if the Web hadn’t come along — where I have to explain “The City”. Here in the Bay Area counties, all you have to say is, “The City”.

      That said, I would like to add that there is a special place in Hell for people who refer to California as “Cali”.

  6. taking naming advice from a fellow transplant? i think not. call it whatever the fuck you want. i call it spam francesca.

  7. scum says:

    Some Fagdisco?

  8. oh says:

    I call it crying in my diaper.

  9. Chalkman says:

    “SF” or “The City”…..

    Between Dolores and Oakwood on 18th there is a cardboard Herb Caen in the window, people look at it all the time, I’d be 99% of people have no idea who it is, I’ve heard people say, “look, it is Ed Koch!”

  10. 49_Giants says:

    I know we all have it in our heads that we’re not supposed to call our fair city “Frisco,” but that’s garbage.

    To some natives, “Frisco” is abhorrent. To other natives, “Frisco” sounds about right. It depends on your neighborhood. No one in the southern hoods like Crocker Amazon, Excelsior, HP, Visitacion Valley would flinch. Ask a kid out at Lincoln or Washington H.S. if “Frisco” is an acceptable nickname for SF and 90% will say “duhhhh.”

    And anyone who grew up listening to Bay Area hip hop in the 90′s knows that Rappin’ 4Tay, RBL Posse, the GLP, Too Short, Mac Dre, Young Cellski, et al. all called it Frisco.

    I personally don’t call it Frisco, I’ll be damned if I see a transplant correcting a native with a “Oh dear, we don’t call it Frisco here!” Bitch, please.

  11. scum says:

    After 39 years here I find only the young kids, transplants, and or getto rap fools use Frisco. If you want to “serve” me I will take a shot and a beer fool.