In another of the curious takes by East Coasters, the New York Times visits the Haight and finds, yes, hippies. The writer, one Dan White (!), has been doing “American Journeys” pieces for the NYT for several months, finding “quirkiness” in Seattle and, predictably, “unspoiled” parts of New Mexico and Hawaii.

Just once I’d like a travel writer to visit our “unspoiled” Excelsior district.

The New York Times today began a Road To November series of mood-testing with voters across the country, beginning their survey in San Francisco, where “It’s frustrating to live in a city where everyone assumes that because you share airspace you also share political views,” according to the quantifiably named Joel Muchmore.

Among the slightly arresting details of life in the city discovered by the Times’ reporter are the “Ferry Terminal Market” — she means the Ferry Building Marketplace — and “last Sunday’s ‘leather/fetish’ street fair,” that is, the Folsom Street Fair. She cites the city’s universal health care initiative and the ban on plastic bags, though she fails to point out the ban applies only to markets and pharmacies.

But one bit of controversial public policy she missed completely is the ban on sales of tobacco products at pharmacies, which went into effect today. I just visited a Walgreens, and the cigarette display case was as bare as a Trick-or-Treater’s bag on Election Day.

I always get a little nervous when I see San Francisco listed on the front page of the Sunday New York Times travel section. A haute restaurant here, a travel deal there: frequently their writing about places outside of the greater New York area seems to have an air of superiority. When I was in Chicago they ran a piece about Wicker Park that seemed condescending (to the effect of “Look at these funky people who live here! How quaint.”)

Yesterday’s piece on Valencia Street, “Hipster Hunting Ground,” wasn’t quite as offensive, but it still seemed to view the Corridor through a Brooklyn lens. The Curiosity Shoppe, Paxton Gate, Spork, and Ritual Roasters were all featured, and fairly. I was surprised, however, that Dosa was featured while Range didn’t get a mention; the same for Little Star (maybe I’m just a sucker for the jukebox and heirloom tomatoes). The piece, while limited in length, doesn’t capture the neighborhood’s character and even gets lazy toward the end: “Like the street itself, [Amnesia’s] lineup is full of surprises.”