Techies Are Infiltrating SF Society and Learning How to Dress

Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for The Goods by Vox. You can also see what we’re up to by signing up here.

"They bore the hell out of me," says Denise Hale, a San Francisco socialite married to department-store magnate Prentis Cobb Hale, in the October issue of Vanity Fair. "They're one-dimensional and can only talk about one thing."

She's talking about the Bay Area's tech elite, who are moving out of Silicon Valley and into the city proper in increasing numbers. And the traditional elite aren't into it—many of them, anyway, according to the article. Others, including Trevor Traina and Ken Fulk, are happy to take these hapless billionaires under their wings and show them how to make nice: how to dress, where to eat, how to decorate their homes, and how to give away their money.

The article focuses on Pacific Heights and the so-called "Gold Coast" section, which offers amazing architecture and some of the best views in the city. The Birches, who founded Bebo, Mark Pincus, founder of Zynga and his wife Alison who founded One King's Lane, Jeremy Stoppelman, co-founder of Yelp, and several others have all bought houses in this small part of San Francisco.

Their neighbors include the Trainas, Dodie Rosekrans, Rosekrans Levi Strauss heir Peter Haas, and the Gettys, just to name a few. The new guard is showing up at the old guard's parties, and the latter is not sure what to make of it. But the article suggests that this societal cross-pollination may lead to a whole new San Francisco. To find out if you buy that, the 4-page story is well worth a read in its entirety.
· Bluebloods & Billionaires [Vanity Fair]
· Eight Women Who Spent It Like They Meant It in SF [Racked SF
· 13 Places in SF Where You Can Spend It All [Racked SF]