Jordan Beeli was upgrading his wardrobe. It was natural, then, that would end up on Valencia Street. 

Earlier, he and his companion, Autumn Hood, went to buy a pair of baggy jeans at a Levi’s Store, then headed to the Mission. Now they were on their way into the Baggu store, the home of the crescent-shaped shoulder bag that’s omnipresent on the corridor.

“I’m mostly doing what she recommends,” Beeli admitted, when asked about his outfit. Next, they might stop by Community Thrift or Nice Kicks, before eventually unwinding in Dolores Park. 

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In most San Francisco neighborhoods, this interaction — the minting of a newly styled man — is not an ordinary occurrence. Despite birthing brands like Gap, Levi’s, Esprit, Everlane and the aforementioned Baggu, San Francisco has a reputation for bad style. Think of the disheveled, Sam Bankman-Fried-lite mode of dress that pervades the city’s new money crowd, or the stretch chinos and dress sneakers that populate downtown. 

“In San Francisco, there is a fresh crime wave that no DA can stop,” menswear writer Derek Guy observed in 2023. “Emboldened criminals are rushing around the streets wearing backpacks with suits, tan shoes with dark worsted slacks, and Patagonia fleece vests with chinos, dress shirts, and Allbird sneakers.”

The racks of Big Time Vintage are stocked with a variety of sportswear, street style and more.

This was already the case back in 2014, when New York Magazine dedicated a column to the phenomenon, titled “The Stubborn Uncoolness of San Francisco Style.” 

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Don't let Google decide who you trust.

“S.F. style is the clothing equivalent of water,” the writer, who grew up in the City, observes. “The taste is so neutral, you can’t be sure it’s there.”

Valencia, though, seems to be a rare stretch of the city that bucks that trend. People BART here to shop and eat, but they also come to see and be seen. On sunny weekend days, tattooed arms sift through racks of clothes at Sucka Flea, the outdoor flea market on 18th and Valencia; others walk out of the street’s upscale vintage stores with boxy sunglasses over their eyes and paper shopping bags under their arms.

People notice. “I don’t spend a whole lot of time on Valencia, but every time I come I’m like, ‘OK, everyone looks cool,’” Hood, 20, explained. “I feel like I have to look cool when I come here.”

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To better understand the phenomenon, my SFGATE colleagues and I spent a Sunday afternoon........

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