Stranded in San Francisco

November 12, 2005 4:06 PM

I'm stranded in San Francisco. Hopefully some funds will be sent to me in a few days but for tonight & the near future I guess I'll be on the streets. I have another 2 hours or so of free library internet access. If anyone could offer their yard or porch I would be forever grateful.

I'm at the Octavia/Green street branch. I know this is pathetic & I'm sorry.

posted by poodlemouthe to home & garden (26 comments total)

Have you tried emailing any Bay Area MeFites directly? (I'm in LA, so can't help otherwise, sorry.)
posted by scody at 4:22 PM on November 12, 2005

Thanks I'll try. I'm checking craigslist ride share. If anyone is heading up to seattle/ / bellingham I can try & repay gas money up ther. I share a house & can offer a room there. Also have a digital camera, computer. I just don't want to sleep in the streets. thanks again.
posted by poodlemouthe at 4:29 PM on November 12, 2005

Not sure how much a youth hostel would be but if you have even a little bit of money I'd try that.
posted by schwa at 4:52 PM on November 12, 2005

Do NOT sleep on the streets. If worse comes to worse, see if you can get a bed at one of the homeless shelters

Local results for homeless shelters near San Francisco, CA
Diamond Youth Shelter - 1.4 miles W - 536 Central Ave, San Francisco, 94117 - [phone]
Compass Family Ctr - 0.7 miles NE - 995 Market St # 5, San Francisco, 94103 - [phone]
San Francisco Bay Area Rescue - 0.7 miles NE - 140 Turk St, San Francisco, 94102 - [phone]

More shelter listings here.

It looks like you can still get a dorm bed at the Union Square hostel if you've got $18 for tonight. That'd give you another day to find a ride or other sleeping arrangements.
posted by nakedcodemonkey at 4:52 PM on November 12, 2005

If your internet time runs out before finding a place, go straight to the reference librarians. They can help you identify more options, and will know which is easiest to get to from there.

Or if you can see any churches nearby, head over there. It's a warm/dry place to sit down, and the pastor or staff should be able to tell you where the nearest appropriate services are. Many churches even offer help directly. A meal, donated clothes, maybe phone access or even a cot. Worth asking.
posted by nakedcodemonkey at 5:04 PM on November 12, 2005

I'm getting

Union Square Backpacker's Hostel in San Francisco, USA, North America
70 Derby Lane (@ geary on taylor),
There is no online availability for this hostel for the dates you selected.
Please select different dates and try again.

if I try to book a bed for tonight via http://www.hostelworld.com.

hostels.com allows a booking for tonight, but oddly, will only accept a partial (10%) payment.
posted by orthogonality at 5:12 PM on November 12, 2005

Might try asking on metachat. Although with 15 minutes left I'm not sure it'll do much good.

Good luck.
posted by delmoi at 5:46 PM on November 12, 2005

Do you have Paypal? I could send you $100 and you could pay me back in a couple days--might get you thru a night or two.
posted by dobbs at 5:54 PM on November 12, 2005

Okay, I'm assuming your time is up and you've left the library. So... I'm leaving the house now and my offer's null and void as I won't be around. Good luck, dude!
posted by dobbs at 6:12 PM on November 12, 2005

I wish I could help, but your question prompted me to change my MeFi profile to offer a couch to anyone stuck in Vegas.
posted by mischief at 6:14 PM on November 12, 2005

Probably too late, but thought I'd offer up the link anyway:

Couch Surfing
posted by nitsuj at 7:56 PM on November 12, 2005

You're a good person Dobbs.
posted by gfrobe at 2:20 AM on November 13, 2005

dobbs, you just made my (extremely exclusive!) friends list. That was awesomely generous.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 5:14 AM on November 13, 2005

I don't think PayPal will help because it takes a few days to take out the funds, and I most hostels don't accept PayPal payments.
You could ask some friend to book a hostel with their credit card (if you can't use yours).
If you're near the tourism office, you can ask there for hostel information.

Somewhat related no wallet, no cash question
posted by Sharcho at 8:14 AM on November 13, 2005

Damn, this thread is awesome.

If my friend Thom was currently up in SF I'd send him to rescue you, but he'd probably take you back to a warehouse full of lovely but filthy techno dirt hippies, whom you'd either totally love or be scared of. I think they, like, eat babies and stuff and maybe smoke giant mutant ganja grown in soil fertilized by the blood of abducted Republicans. But otherwise they're really quite nice.

Good luck.

If you don't make it out or find some place, don't sleep on the street at night. I mean, you can sleep on the streets of SF at night, but you really kind of have to know what you're doing and where to go, how to hide, how to stay aware of your surroundings even while asleep.

Scrub up and find someplace to sit up all night if you don't make it out. If you must, walk all night.

Ask someone to buy you a coffee or something - someone will, and a maybe a bagel besides. Don't ask for money, ask for them to buy you a cup of coffee, that way they know you're serious and not a crackhead or a boozehound just looking for some juice.

It's SF, better you're there than LA. Sleep tommorow during the day time, or better still, after you get your wired money and then sleep on the bus on the way home.
posted by loquacious at 8:52 AM on November 13, 2005

Are you OK? Sleeping on the streets sucks.
posted by cmonkey at 8:55 AM on November 13, 2005

Did you make it?
posted by bilabial at 10:47 AM on November 13, 2005

Poodlemouthe, I hope you made it though last night OK. My email is in my profile. Please contact me. I can't promise you a place to stay but perhaps I can help you out in some way.
posted by quadog at 2:12 PM on November 13, 2005

When you get where you're going, let us know. I'm sure there are many folks here worried about you.
posted by snsranch at 3:59 PM on November 13, 2005

Yes, please do check in. *sends good thoughts*
posted by scody at 4:08 PM on November 13, 2005

First off a thank you to everyone. Your kindness overwelms me.
My internet access ended after nakedcodemonkey comments. I went to the ref librarian & he gave me a couple of phone #'s to travelers aid. I then walked to the Grace Cathedral looking for suggestions or a place to crash outside. The gentleman said they were closed for the evening before I could get a word out. I sat around & eventually found an open door to the church & started looking for my resting place. I found a dark corner to settle in but then heard people millimg about so i just sneaked out & figured I'd sleep on the church grounds. I had $34 which I wanted to save for gas in case I found a ride. But it was still early so I went to a few hostels & saw a notice for a group heading to a casino looking for another person so I thought I don't have much too lose here. I turned $34 into $200 in 2 hours & just sat there, breathing & thanking everything around me. I slept in the hostel for the night, took a greyhound home for $131 & had a burger. I just arrived back home & all is well. Thank you so much for your help.
posted by poodlemouthe at 4:13 PM on November 14, 2005 [1 favorite]

Glad you're home! Congrats on the gambling luck.
posted by small_ruminant at 4:46 PM on November 14, 2005

Whew. So glad to hear you made it home safely. Here's to enjoying a heck of a good night's sleep now that you're back in your own bed. Take care!
posted by nakedcodemonkey at 7:53 PM on November 14, 2005

Alright!
posted by snsranch at 7:10 PM on November 15, 2005

damn, that's some crazy good luck :P
posted by delmoi at 12:00 PM on November 16, 2005

Good luck that is no doubt the result of my inital comment, by the way :P
posted by delmoi at 12:01 PM on November 16, 2005