Oh, California! You're perfect, and everyone knows it. I have had the privilege of calling you home, and being born and raised in the Bay Area has made me feel even luckier. So, here are just a few of the many, many gifts you have given all of us Bay Area natives to cherish and bond over.
1. You just met another Bay Area native while visiting another state?! Automatic friend right there.
2. You will ask them what high school they went to (and probably judge them because your school was obviously way better).
3. Southern California is basically another state.
4. Kale is love, kale is life.
5. So is quinoa.
Better yet, combine the two!
6. You either love or hate healthy, overpriced juice and there is no in between.
7. Go organic or go home.
8. You have had a “hella” phase (or you’re still in it).
Bay Area slang is honestly pretty cool... until someone who obviously isn't from here ruins it for you by trying to adopt it into their vocabulary.
9. A part of your soul dies when you hear “Cali” or “San Fran.”
Or, God forbid, “Frisco” or even “Cisco”...Why?
10. You wear a windbreaker to the beach.
11. You recognize the Flinstone house by 280.
12. You call bubble tea “PMT” and it’s a way of life.
You’re also very opinionated on which place sells the best PMT, and if someone insults your favorite place, they better run.
13. You miss the quality guac whenever you leave home.
14. You’ve complained about something and followed it with “there should be an app for that.”
15. You were a G-Eazy fan before he was famous.
16. You take a side on Stanford vs. Cal even if you don’t attend either school.
17. You spot multiple Teslas on the road.
18. You’ve even driven past Google self-driving cars.
19. If you’re from the suburbs, you established Valley Fair/Santana Row as a hang out spot in middle school.
20. You took a picture in front of “The Wall.”
21. Now whenever you go back, you always run into someone from high school there.
22. The Giants, 49ers, Raiders, Warriors, Sharks, etc. have all influenced your life.
You’re either a day one fan, a bandwagoner, or have just been stuck in traffic because of games.
23. You go to San Francisco and see people dressed up in all sorts of costumes (or not dressed at all) but you don’t even question it.
24. SAP Center (#tbt to HP Pavilion) and Shoreline are your go-to concert venues.
25. You don’t actually go to San Francisco that often.
26. When you do, you try to avoid the tourists at all costs.
Pier 39, Fisherman’s Warf, Union Square, Alcatraz. Tourists. Tourists everywhere. (Let’s be real though, you’re basically a tourist yourself).
27. We’ve all called it the “Bae Area” at some point and now cringe looking back.
28. Oh also “Yay Area.”
29. It’s an even year? Giants fans (and bandwagoners alike) are preparing for another World Series win.
30. You don’t think living near Google, Facebook, Apple, etc. is as cool as it really is.
You probably don't watch the TV show Silicon Valley either.
31. Most of the people you know are in the tech industry. You’re probably going to be in it too.
32. Philz will make you never crave Starbucks again.
That awkward moment when you tell a non-native about the mint mojito and they think you’re talking about a bar.
33. You have stood in the line outside CREAM and it’s always worth it.
34. Growing up, you would get Great America and Raging Waters season passes for the summer.
35. You never leave for the grocery store without a reusable bag.
Not really to save the 10 cents, but to avoid the judgement from everyone else. And, if you forget one, you make it very clear that it’s just in your car.
36. You never leave the house without a “light jacket.”
I mean, we’re from the cooler California (literally and otherwise as well), so it may get to 50 degrees *shivers*.
37. Speaking of jackets, you’ve probably sported the black Denali North Face jacket.
If you were a BAYsic high school girl, you rocked it with your jeans tucked into your Uggs in the “winter.”
