The Comment: “the beacon pool scene on the weekend is supposedly right out of vegas. if you are a single guy, you should seriously consider living there.”
The Picture (above): The pool scene at the Beacon on a sunny (albeit mildly windy) Sunday afternoon.
The Question: Any actual Beacon pool goers care to set the record straight? We’ll thank you in advance for the plethora of plugged-in single guys (and gals) that have suddenly showed an interest in any one of the 24 active listings in the building.
∙ The Palms Finds More Inventory And A Resale Hits The Market [SocketSite]
Looks like a swimming pool at a rural community college.
I live right above this swimming pool. On sunny days, it’s very happenning. Unfortunately SF does not have Vegas sun. Also, Beacon social network is very happenning, there are some community activities happenning all the time
i think you have to go back in time to the heat wave to catch the plethora of hotties poolside. i got it from a direct source. he got in lots of trouble for walking by and turning his head one too many times.
Poolside chat? “Hotties”?
Light real-estate news day, I’d say.
Why did the Beacon have to be so damn ugly? I know the Redevelopment Agency doesn’t exactly demand architectural excellence, but come on now – the Beacon is really an affront, an insufferable architectural mediocrity.
The sanatorium at All Union Pedagological Institute #5 in Karl Marx Stadt? I bought my Trabbi from a guy who worked there.
well it was built as apartments originally, so nobody probably cared. the developer converted it to condo when the market was heating up. the sad thing is that it’s nicer than some of the condos built from the start as of late.
Where are the palm trees that younger new residents seem so interested in having outside their windows so they can pretend they are in Southern California? Since many of these new developements seem to cater more and more to a crowd that wants a Los Angeles lifestyle in San Francisco why are they living here? You hear it from some of the comments about how they like SOMA because it is not “old” and “worn down” and they need parking and hate edwardians, etc. etc. I have to give it to Redseca2 for a great comment, thanks for the laugh.
“I moved to San Francisco because I can get a tan at my condo pool and check out the “hotties””.
Who would have thought the city would come to this?
Having lived in a happening pool city (Phoenix), and now in San Francisco, I can honestly say that no pool scene in SF compares to that of Vegas. When it is 100 degrees outside, you want to be outside in your swimsuit. That simply doesn’t happen here. That said, this part of the city provides more “tolerable” pool days than other areas. It is often comfortable to lay out by the pool (at least until mid-afternoon), when other sections of the city are cold and foggy.
I look at the pools at these new complexes as a nice perk, but not a make or break criteria, as when I lived in Phoenix.
this is just gross. vegas is gross and the beacon is gross
Having spent a few months working at Rehab in the Hard Rock Hotel. I can tell you that only those who know what Rehab is can even have a chance of knowing what a happening pool scene is.
No backstroke flags?
In reference to the comment about S.F. trying to be like L.A. If they are going to build a pool in this city for a condo project, could they at least use a little imagination!? This is a horrible design job, and while we may be finally up to L.A. 1972 standards, this is not what buyers in other cities would expect today. Ugly coping stones, boring cheap spa, and pool furniture my grandparents threw away long ago.
Uggh. I’ll stick to Pacific Heights where I would rather go check out people at coffee houses and bookstores, than at a Faux Vegas Pool Party.
With a pool scene like that, the box might as well be in San Carlos.
You know, some of these comments crack me up. If you are to compare the pools to Vegas, its not in the same league. However, I think the purpose of this is more of a lap pool and also a usage of the hot tub, rather than a place to sit out and tan all day. This is not unique to the Beacon. Its the same situation for every outdoor pool in the city.
With that in mind, I think some of the comments are ridiculous. Saying things like “I’ll stick in Pac Heights” really shows the naivety of some of these posters. The historical “prime” neighborhoods are not the only game in town anymore. Some of us actually prefer newer developments to the old edwardians and victorians. Excuse me if I’m not San Franciscan enough. I should be able to live in this great city with tons of amenities, restaurants, shops, theatre, etc, yet not have to live in older, outdated, sub-par living conditions. You can live as you wish and if you prefer to live in an older neighborhood, go ahead. However, don’t try to argue that that’s the only way to really live in San Francisco.
Basically what you are describing, SFhighrise, is the bringing the suburbs to the City, and eventually vice versa I believe until this sort of housing spreads down to San Jose
We want pools and two parking spot per unit, walled of compounds for security (vert gated communities) and easy access freeways to our jobs down in Santa Clara
this is the new City and lifestyle choice. Somewhat cooler now than Santa Row and the like but very similar in its function
Well, has it ever occurred to you that some of us prefer having these suburban amenities but also access to everything that the city has to offer.
My, my, you can cut the elitest, psuedo intellectual attitude on this board with a knife!
Nothing wrong with pools or amenities, just so long as they’re designed well.
Unfortunately, this pool / amenity is not. Maybe those of us that live in the “old” neighborhoods wouldn’t mind so much if our skyline didn’t keep getting ruined with bland-box architecture.
Among the funniest things I’ve ever read on Socketsite is:
“Having lived in a happening pool city (Phoenix)”
Phoenix is NOT a city. Pools scenes are NOT happening. When it is 100 degrees out, it’s time to realize you’re in a place not fit for human habitation and get thee to somewhere – anywhere – else.
And yes, I am extraordinarily elitist. But I’m not smart enough to be even a pseudo intellectual. However, I do know how to spell “pseudo”… so that’s something.
Only in San Francisco: We don’t care what you do in your bedroom, we don’t care what you smoke (unless it’s tobacco), and we don’t care if you use public sidewalks as your personal restroom, but how dare you not want to live in a decrepit Victorian!
One thing for sure – South Beach and Mission Bay are far cleaner than the vast majority of SF neighborhoods these days. I am continually astonished at the piles of junk and garbage that gets dumped on sidewalks of this supposedly environmentally conscious city. At least the “LA-style” neighborhoods haven’t sunk so low…
I do care about people using public streets as bathrooms and though I like cities in other countries more I see this march to suburbanization of SF as unstoppable. I like capitalism and pretty much think the market is giving us what we want. Personally it makes me a little sad
Its clear to anyone who has lived in cities a long time. It has nothing to do with old Victorians but a lot to do with design and our culture
the opposite is happening in much of the suburbs.
Some day it will all be pretty much the same
“Phoenix is NOT a city. Pools scenes are NOT happening. When it is 100 degrees out, it’s time to realize you’re in a place not fit for human habitation and get thee to somewhere – anywhere – else.”
It’s a dry heat. Plus, 100 degree heat makes my cloths fall off, fog does not. SF has a lot of great things going for it, but fun by the pool is not one of those.
I actually really like the fact that it is an outdoor pool that gets lots of sun. I’m buying at The Infinity and my two biggest gripes are that there is no place to lounge in the sun (pool is indoor), and there is no outdoor hot tub.
So to SFhighrise “Well, has it ever occurred to you that some of us prefer having these suburban amenities”
That is my point. It is loud and clear. Bring on the parking lots
i hate the idea of suburbs amenities in SF. iMHO, it takes away from the cultured and cosmopolitan feel. Why not just go to san jose or vegas or reno?
the beacon is gross, but i do like some of the high rise buildings.
phoenix and vegas are full of douchebags. I don’t think that’s elitist, just true
Some thoughts on “dry heat” from the Christian Science Monitor on August 30, 2007:
It’s called the “urban heat-island effect,” and whatever the impact of global warming here, this phenomenon is sending the mercury rising. On Tuesday, Phoenix tied the all-time record of 28 days at 110 degrees or greater in one summer, reached in 1979 and again in 2002. If the temperature rises to 110 degrees one more day this year, Phoenix will set a record.
– 18 people dead from the heat
– getting hotter every year
– ecological disaster
But hey – at least it’s dry heat. Right?
Spencer-True, Vegas and Phoenix are full of douchebags, but so is SF.
In Vegas, Phoenix, LA and other “superficial” cities, people tend to be very much into their looks, clothes and cars.
In San Francisco, on the other hand, it is a different type of douchebag. This type is the elitest that has to feel that they are intellectually superior to those in other locales. Sometimes, they base this on the fact that they went to an Ivy League school. Other times, they want others to believe that they are “greener” than their counterparts. When it comes to this board, I am afraid that many on here want the status-quo in San Francisco, as they perceive the edwardians and victorians as unique. My point is that while these buildings are nice for me to stroll by, they are not my scene for living. I prefer a newer development, with all the bells and whistles. I don’t think its the same as living in most areas of Phoenix or Vegas, since my building is over 15 stories tall and not too many are in Phoenix/Vegas. Sure, they are building more downtown, but I think its a good thing that there is a move across the country to live downtown.
SF is changing. I recently moved here from Phoenix and intend to stay. I’m a big fan of anything that brings a little Phoenix to this town. Please, lets get some hipper night clubs, better bars, hotter people, and better pools. I’m not impressed with where you went to school or how little gas yoru car uses, I’m impressed by how good you look, how fast you can drive, and whether your fun to hang out with. I don’t sit on my high horse and put people down, judge people, or lean so left that I’ve gone full circle back around to the right.
SF is changing, and I’m part of the change.
Going back to the topic at hand, there can be a lively pool scene at the Beacon when the weather is warm. The problem is that it usually isn’t that warm around the Mission Bay area.
But anyway, I’ve seen a few attractive females partaking of the hot tubs. And if they aren’t in the pool area, a lot of the time you’ll see them in the fitness center.
You are literally focusing on Victorias and Edwardians and you are missing the point
I like modern stuff
I am not a huge fan of more parking lots, swimming pools and monolithic vert. gated buildings or people who have lived here for a few years trying to tell us that they think it sucks here and therefore they want to change it or they like it but on their terms….
This building I don’t really care about. I am speaking in more general terms about what is happening here. Not sure there is anything that can be done though. The alterantives of building nothing are worse. I’m no Progressive.
Just fight it one choosen battle at a time.
thank you war for validating my statement. i don’t live there btw, but i sure would like to visit on the next heat wave type day.
The Beacon is surely an uninspired building. But I’d take a new building with amenities any day over a WWII or older building in SF.
Goodbye old SF. Long live new SF! Anyone who doesn’t like it, prepare to get gentrified out the door. 3….2…..1…..
Whenever I go to Berry Street, Rincon Hill or SOMA I actually feel like I have left the city and already gone into the suburbs.
Do tourists come to San Francisco to experience Pheonix or some other suburban amenity? “Look Mom, they have a pool and parking garage just like we do in Scottsdale Arizona!” Why do so many want to pay the high price to live here only so they can change it to be more like the suburbs so many of us chose to escape from? Why can’t SOMA projects have better architecture and less swimming pools?
If you want a swimming pool and two parking spaces, PLEASE leave this city to those of us who do not mind if some buildings were built before WW2 and enjoy walking and authentic neighborhoods.
what a strange mentality. I don’t like the way San Francisco is. 99.9% of the US meets my standards for my lifestyle but I am going to move to San Francisco, drive 30 miles every day to my job in Santa Clara and want parking lots everywhere so I can park my car and other suburban amenities.
I will destroy the very thing I moved here for. Lovely
Why must it be either or? I enjoy living in a new condo construction with amenities such as a pool, yet I also enjoy not having to own a car and being able to walk to work downtown, and being able to walk to grocery stores and restaurants. Thus, South Beach suits my lifestyle while San Jose would certainly not.
Speaking of architecture, while the Beacon is no shining, *ahem*, beacon, San Francisco is so devoid of good architecture (with a few exceptions) that it hardly bears complaining about another ho-hum structure being put up.
The Beacon architecture looks like my grandmother’s nursing home high rise. Ick!
Modern architecture can live side-by-side with Victorian, neo-classical or other styles, but it has to be done WELL. This is thoughtless architecture.
I think what people may not realize when they comment on aesthetics of beloved “older” architecture neighborhoods is the energy the place gives off that makes them feel good about the ‘hood. “Heart,” if you will. I think there is a direct proportion of the energy put into the building that it gives back off when done. The “older” architecture took more time & energy because there usually was some degree of ornament. Prefab concrete panels and the same repetitive aluminum frame windows just don’t take the same effort and “heart” to make, so when they are compile together the whole structure lacks heart, too. The Norman Foster architecture may be made of modern materials, but there is a lot of thought in the design, at least. Some heart, for sure.
Here’s my top 4 ugliest new construction in SF:
1. One Rincon
2. Beacon
3. Soma Grand
4. Palms
I could probably name 15 other bland, distasteful new condo buildings. What a shame, our skyline is suppose to be getting better, but it’s just the same old boring ho hum…
The thing about the Beacon is that it reminds me of the ugly Americans who go to Africa, but stay at the swankiest hotel and see the whole country from the inside of an air conditioned bus. They go all that way and then try desperately to recreate the environment they just left. Now, they do “see” the country, but they don’t experience it. When I travel, I want to find the restaurants where English isn’t spoken, and try to communicate with the waiter to bring me whatever he thinks is the best dish. I’m never disappointed, and I always have a memorable experience. Others want to go to McDonalds. Or I walk though the open air markets and buy local produce. I’ve had the best wine, cheese and bread in France for under $50 that no one on a bus tour of Europe would ever get near.
But some people prefer to travel on a tour bus and get taken to the cheap tourist restaurants. To each his own, I guess. I just think there’s so much more out there, and I’m willing to find it.
People who live at the Beacon are living “in” SF, but I feel that maybe they aren’t “experiencing” SF in the same way they could. But some people would just rather have the comforts to which they are used to, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
Those places on Berry street are beautiful, clean and everything works. Can’t complain if someone wants that.
Getting back to the thread… before the Editor says it 🙂
No one has time for the pool at The Beacon because everyone is moving out, this building must have more resales than any other building in Mission Bay judging from MLS and all the other places listing show up (CraigsList).
i see 12 listings for the beacon on mls. for a complex with over 500 units, i’m not impressed. could be way worse.
[Editor’s Note: Not quite. 12 at 250 King. 12 at 260 King. And together 24.]
As the founder and original member of the super secret “Dip and Drip” Club, we are sad to report we have never actually inspired to invade the Beacon pool. While we personally find the real estate too harsh and corporate rentally for our taste, oddly, we love the Holiday Inn “Oh my room key is in my jeans in my room, 602,” pool on Van Ness Avenue. TD&DC invite socketsiters to join The Dip & Drip Club.” Entry is simple. – It is 80 Degrees, you find an outdoor pool in the city, you contact dip and drip HQ and alert them of your rendevous, you enter, you dip, your drip.
You laugh and dance and dance and dip and drip as life is never as good as when the towel is soft, fluffy and free. And the laps help.
Pleade post me you favorites at fixer of the week. Thanks Kathleen “I am here for the waters, Lourdes have mercy, Christ have mercy. mercy, mercy, on me. (please pound chest while reading).
nomistake.
I lived at the Phoenix. It was/is? in the tenderloin. They played cricket tapes outside the door to drown out the prostitutes and drug addicts. There was a nice kidney shaped? pool. I think they still baptize celebrities and politicians in that pool, ala St John the Baptist. Cousins, what can you do? Whatever you do, don’t loose your head.
Keep your Edwardians and Victorians, dears. This cripple would like to live near her cafes and culture and a few MUNI stops, but not have to climb three flights of stairs to do it.
Am I a sellout for wanting a luxury condo when I could have a ninety-year-old termite infestation for a lower price? My dust allergies, wheelchair, and so on all laugh at you. It’s darned hard to find something ADA compatible and affordable around here, and you want me to worry about how ugly it is? Sorry, my budget can’t afford Eichler. Well, maybe those condos near Geary – but the idea of being able to do my physio in the building where I live means I want that pool, thanks.
Enjoy your antiques. Especially when your tennis knee or dog-walking ankle or whatever goes out and you’re climbing those stairs in rainy season.
I’ll be in the hot tub, after doing my physical therapy in the heated pool. And yes, I will be laughing at you. Especially when you want to come visit the hot tub.
good catch editor. i was thinking i missed the other half this morning as i walked my dog past the complex. they have so many 1 bedrooms in the place though so i am not sure how to judge this amount of turnover.
as for the architect, here’s their site. seems like a pretty cool firm. maybe catellus just asked for something simple:
http://www.som.com/
Different parts of the city have their own character. I don’t hear anyone complaining about the drab and really ugly construction of the past 30 to 40 years all over the City. Yes, there are some lovely neighborhoods with lovely Victorians, but they have their own pitfalls. Anyone willing to spend $100,000 to $200,000 on a paint job to keep them looking nice? Not to mention not being able to keep them warm. The Beacon is not my choice of architecture either, but people live on the inside, and quite comfortably I’m sure. As far as vacationing and taking in the experience, San Francisco has such a rich history that just being yourself is experiencing San Francisco. That’s why we all love to live here, not because of the architecture or a prescribed “San Francisco” lifestyle. Get real.
WHY does anything/everything new in SF have to be un-San Franciscan or a wannabe-LA anything? WHY is there such resistance to change here? Sheesh! New is good.
This is SF if you want Vegas move yourself to Vegas – if you want beaches move to Hawaii – if you want class, style, dignity, inclusiveness then stay here in SF.