SAN FRANCISCO has always been a city of shifting identities, shifting landscapes, shifting land. This restless landscape erupts ever so often in seismic upheaval, shedding bridges and buildings and remaking the geographical map. the psychogeography of the land and its populace is no less precarious.
San Francisco is as legendary for its tectonic cultural shifts as it is for its earthquakes, every decade or so becoming an epicenter for a new utopian vision: the anarchists at the turn of the century, the beats in postwar North Beach, bebop in the Fillmore, Haight Ashbury in the 70s and most recently the neo-gold rush of the dot.com economy.
An infection of idealism moving from neighborhood to neighborhood. Each cultural eruption reinforces the idea of San Francisco as an instant city.
Within the pages of Instant City, we hope to capture much of the frenetic energy in fiction, non-fiction, and art. In doing so, we hope to create a subjective, ever-changing map of the city; chronicling the known and the unknown San Francisco. We welcome any contribution to this ongoing project, and all feed back is appreciated.
Check out the website at instantcity dot org or send us an email: [email protected] or see www.instantcity.org .
