If you need NYC/London/LA/Moscow/Mexico City/etc -style megacity sense of scale and/or civilized drinking hours to stay sane then you'll never be happy in SF.

If you need NYC/London/LA/Moscow/Mexico City/etc -style megacity sense of scale and/or civilized drinking hours to stay sane then you'll never be happy in SF. But if you can deal with its boutique dimensions (and the cold), then the problem may simply be that you're hanging out in the wrong neighborhoods. The "real" SF resides pretty much in the Tenderloin - Nob Bill - Chinatown - City Lights triangle these days, I find. There are also pockets of civilization out in the "lost" neighborhoods: Cafe Du Mond; the Rite Spot; Amnesia on Valencia; and (yes) the Utah Bar, as well as a few others too cool to name here. But the main thing is that wherever you go, there you, umm, are. Ultimately you have to decide to be happy with your surroundings -- or decide to change them. I think in SF/Oakland/Alameda it's pretty easy to concentrate on the positives. The South Bay and the Peninsula are pretty much lost causes, though.