San Francisco in the 1990s (and more)
I’d been on the road for a week, spending nights in Nashville, Kansas City, Denver, Salt Lake City, and Winnemucca. It was my first time driving across the country and I was excited to be arriving in my new home. I had left North Carolina behind for the City by the Bay, and I would be starting this new life in a very small studio apartment with two friends who had both been more than friends in the past (both to me and to each other). Any discomfort in that arrangement paled in comparison to the discomfort
Within a month, I had moved in with another old friend from North Carolina who had never been more than a friend but had just broken up with his boyfriend. He had a two-bedroom apartment South of Market that rented for $800/month. It seemed a little steep to me, but I sucked it up and moved in. We were roomies for almost seven years. I stayed in the apartment for almost thirteen years. Through the grace of rent control, I was paying $925 when I moved out to return to North Carolina with my then-partner. Zil