We're standing in San Francisco with Andy Bowers, Executive Producer of Slate Podcasts, and David Plotz, editor at large of Slate and me.

We're about to hop in our Accura and head to a mystery destination.

We're not telling David where we're going until we get there, but it's one of my favorite spots in San Francisco.

Dana, I'm pretty excited for our mystery destination. Should I ask you 20 questions? Why you chose it?

Sure. Let's see if we can narrow down at least the kind of thing I'm taking you to.

But yes or no, I'll answer. Are you taking me to a place that you spent a lot of time when you lived here? I wouldn't say a lot of time, but it was a place that I regularly took visitors to the city. All right. Does it involve food? No. Am I playing a real 20 questions? So where I'm really trying to narrow it? Or just a playful 20 questions? If you guess it, that's kind of deflating, right? All right. So it doesn't involve food. Okay. I'm not that hungry, so that's good. Is it in San Francisco proper? I believe so, unless I don't know something about the city limits. Yes, it's in San Francisco proper. Oh, that's exciting. Has any tech billionaire bought it? No, thankfully, this is one of the things I love about it.

It is wonkily untouched by modernization.

Oh, that's exciting.

Is it beautiful?

Yes.

I'm so excited.

All right.

I'm not going to ask any more questions.

I don't want to know anymore.

Here's a question for you, Dana.

So the thing that strikes me, and I've only been on San Francisco on this trip for a day or so,

but I've had this feeling every time I go out to San Francisco is when you go to San Francisco,

it feels distinctly like San Francisco.

New York feels distinctly like New York.

But a lot of American cities don't really, you don't,

you could be plop down on them and you wouldn't be 100% sure where you were.

Why do you think it is that San Francisco has maintained that strong sense of place?

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