Local Businesses

The San Francisco of the future contains many of the shops we know and love today, as well as a new bevy of installments all fighting for the attention of the average consumer. In a walk along the boulevards and beaches around the bay area in 2072, here are some of the places you might stop.

Corporate Ratings
Every company that has any kind of registry with the government it occupies has an "A rating". This refers to the level of priority given to the company as an entity in terms of taxes and government funding, what the company may do, and even how much ad space they can purchase through government property.

Companies are rated from N/R, or "Not Rated" to AAA, often called Megas.

N/R: An unrated company receives essentially no help from the government in times of financial crisis, but neither do they have to apply to the government to have each item they sell or each service they provide checked to make sure it's allowable within their A rating. These companies tend to be either quite small or quite well-backed by independently wealthy investors.

A: The lowest A rating, A companies (or 'minis') are required to have no more than 3 branches operating under shared accounts and applications, and must be owned by a single entity - that is, they cannot be incorporated.

AA: Slightly larger and much more influential, AA companies have options to raise or lower their tax brackets, avoid certain government censures, and may have as many outposts, owned by as many people as they like. Making up the vast majority of businesses in the sixth world, AA companies even have the chance to gain extraterritoriality, though that decision rests on a joint agreement between the Corp Court and the presiding governmental body.

AAA: Triple As, or MegaCorps, all have extraterritoriality, excluding them from the boundaries of normal operations in terms of governmental control. There are only ten of them, and more information can be found here.

=A, AA Companies in San Fransisco Area=

Entertainment Venues: Club Six [A, Balboa Park, Mission Terrace] This small and inclusive dance club and bar caters to the poorer but fun-loving residents of Mission Terrace. Clientele consists of primarily Orks and Humans. Moshing is acceptable, but uncommon, food is expensive, drinks are cheap, music is mediocre.

Boardwalk Casinos [A, Fisherman's Wharf]: With the separation of the Native American nations, many countries have had an explosion of casinos (as they're no longer limited in operation). Boardwalk is a common example of its kind; the drinks are cheap or free, but the games are expensive in the roulette and tables area. Over on the machines side, there are colored lights and bouncing music to help people stay longer and keep spending money. Big bet tables are in a separate area in the back, with only a few games a night of Texas Hold'em or Blackjack.

The Northwest Corner [AA, franchised locations in Ocean View, Inleside and most of northern San Fran] This local AA is a chain of dinner-and-a-movie locations catering to families. The prices are affordable, and the quality is decent. Analogous to hitting Applebee's before going to the local cinema.

3R0 1QU3 [A, Alamo Square Underground] This exclusive, ever-moving, always new club caters to those seeking a strange and sexy new diversion. They provide live, constructed and 'net based "dancers" for a steep price. There's also rumors of a roaring trade in drugs and BTLs.

Red Ropes [A, Marina] When people get tired of the gentility of life in 2072, they head to the Red Ropes Fight Club. Red Ropes takes up almost an entire city block, featuring a few dozen rings and cages, an extensive training dojo and a small bar. They feature, weekly, at least one Troll Division high bet prize fight, and another for the Human/Dwarf/Ork division. There are also some 20 other fencing matches, boxing matches, wrestling events and the like. Lessons offered include MMA, Karate, Kendo, Fencing, Wrestling, Boxing, Self Defense, Krav Maga and Judo.

Concrete Jungle [A, Union Square] A place you're already familiar with, the Concrete Jungle is a low-tech, high energy dance club. They're known for keeping live plants on the floor, as well as an extensive and ever-changing menu of drinks and legal substances.

Satin Satrapy [unrated, Nob Hill] This high-class brothel caters to those with vanilla taste and a lot of money to go with it. Around a dozen girls are working on any given night, mainly human or elven, but with at least one ork and one troll among the ladies. All of their escorts are highly-trained, educated and willing. Rooms are rented for whole evenings, and come with dinner and entertainment. Specialty orders available on request.

DB's [A, Dog-Patch] DB's is a popular location with the kids these days, featuring a massive underground dance club complex. The above-ground entrance is at the front door of Jackie Wite's, a small diner, and leads downstairs to the thousand square-foot floor, with catwalks and cages. Music consists mainly of local talent and independent acts, always in genres of Dance, Trance, House, Fidget, Thrash, Club, Drum'n'Bass, Ambient or MegaMetal.

Electronics Specialty Stores: Chad's Chop Shop [AA, Outer Richmond] Chad's is a FreeCal chain of chroming factories. They carry all the standard cyberware, and do a dozen minor surgeries a day. Specialty items can be ordered, but are expensive, and Chad's only operates legally.

Mr Fixer [unrated, Bernal Heights, Laurel Heights] Mr Fixer, also known as Doc Higgins, built his tiny business from the ground up, opening his second location just a few years ago. Both locations are staffed by his extensive Armenian family. For a moderate fee, Higgins will fix anything - cyberware, commlinks, weapons, maglocks, maglock passkeys, stealth suits, whatever, legal or not.

Zweiger's [unrated, Oakland suburbs] It's tough for a mom-and-pop business to survive in this day and age, but Zweiger's has made it through. They carry and service a wide number of small electronics, such as; commlinks, battery packs and rechargers, walkie-talkies, cameras, image-link equipment and software and much more!

Grit [A, Mission] Grit is a locally-owned, locally-operated specialty store. Their stock is all about instruments. Amps, mics, DIs, stands, lights and smoke, bigger amps, the instruments themselves, home recording equipment, studio equipment, soundproofing, lazer light show setups - everything you need to put on a major performance is in stock at Grit.

Shopping Malls, Clothing and Department Stores: Sak's Fifth Avenue, San Fran [unrated, Nob Hill]: Sak's Fifth has expanded, using their trademark location in New York City's most famous shopping district as a name. While still independently owned, they're starting to look more and more like an extremely high class chain than a specialty shop. Sak's Fifth carries a small but exquisite selection of men's and women's clothing and accessories from big-name designers the world over. Most of their stock is tailored to human men and elven women.

Brown Derby Haberdasher's [unrated, Western Addition]: Brown Derby is an upper-crust men's clothing store to cater to the unusually shaped or sized. They fit and tailor each piece (which makes it quite expensive) and cater to dwarves, elves, trolls and orks. Humans are, of course, accepted.

Twin Peaks Shopping Mall [unrated, Twin Peaks]: This shopping mall is precisely what you might expect: a seven story, sprawling shopping mall. Within are stores for virtually everything: hardware, software, clothing, shoes, a food court, toy shops, electronics, book stores, Matrix cafes, fishing and sporting goods, etc.

Ted's Wholesale Outlet, San Francisco [A, Chinatown]: Ted's is a large, warehouse like shop with unpainted sheetrock walls, concrete flooring and industrial lighting. Ted's takes what's left over from places like Target, Wal-Mart and the Bass Pro Shop and resells it in bulk or piecemeal. The range of clothing is astonishing, with three-piece suits hung next to one-piece jumpsuits. The prices are great. The downside is that nothing is guaranteed, particular items tend to come in one size, and nothing is high quality (durable yes, high quality no).

Educational Locations: San Francisco Zoo [A, south of South San Fran]: The zoo is doing not so great - the ease of creating lifelike, interactive trideo representations of animals has decreased the interest in the living, breathing, stinking things. The upside to this burst of technology, as the zoo administrators see it, is that animals can be cloned for conservation! Less scrupulous members of the staff sometimes make off with the cloning samples and sell them to the highest bidder, leading to a number of unlicensed exotic pets around, including rhinos, tigers, bears and pandas, penguins and poisonous snakes.

The Damien Knight Museum of Emerging Sciences [government owned, Outer Richmond]: Built by Damien Knight on land owned by Damien Knight, and featuring exhibits that Knight pays for often, it's a wonder that this isn't an Ares property. However, Knight has donated the whole shebang to San Fran (probably taxes or something. This small museum is geared toward old and young alike, and features two extensive sections: history and practical. The historical side has exhibits on subjects like the Wright brothers, ENIAC, the first atomic bombs and personal computers. The more current area of the museum educates people about cybertechnology, bioware, nanotechnology, artificial intelligence, robotics and droids, hydrogen fuel, geothermal tapping and the Matrix.

Fine Eateries: Hilton's Tip Top Club [AA, Union Square]: While the hotel below it is the same as ever, the Hilton has been making changes to the Tip Top Club. The bar and restaurant is a classic setting at the top of their 163 floor hotel, making it the 164th. The view is extraordinary, though not much can be seen from so high up. The restaurant itself is quiet and reserved, requiring black ties or blazers from its male guests. The food is great - rich, but with small portions, and the wine list is built to compliment.

Hugo's [unrated, Dog Patch]: Hugo's is underground, in every sense. Not many people know about it, largely because the entrance is just a dingy flight of stairs in the middle of the sidewalk. At the bottom, though, is a tiny pub called Hugo's, which serves hearty food at decent prices. A small room is kept in the back for private discussions.

The House of Fredriq Valentin [unrated, Nob Hill]: This is the most elegant restaurant in the city, calling in clientele from all over the world. Each year it comes runner-up to the White Lotus Blossom Cafe (Shanghai, China) as the best restaurant in the world. As such, the prices are absolutely outrageous, and the menu is bizarre but incredible.

Emerald Roof [unrated, Japan town]: The Emerald Roof is a favorite of 'runners in San Fran. They have decent booze, decent food and cute waitresses. More important than that, there's privacy. While the first floor of the restaurant is open, the second floor is segregated into bug-proofed private rooms, using sound-canceling technology to leave the way out open from the booths and tables, but letting nobody hear what's going on. For a little extra, diners can rent a vibrational screen, which visually obscures the booth without blocking the way out.

Twisted Nickel Bar and Grille [unrated, Castro]: This grungy bar may have once served food, but if so no one remembers it now. The Twisted Nickel is a sleazy little joint with darts, pool tables and a real, honest-to-goodness digital jukebox with actual mp3s on it. The floor is covered in peanut shells from the trays on every table (they help to soak up blood, dirt and vomit without releasing odor, and they're free!). The drinks are basic, but stout and surprisingly good. The bartender, Dusty, knows what he's doing. Slim, the cybered sweeping man, keeps a weapon on him and likes to use it, so fights don't really happen at the Twisted Nickel.

Auto Parks and Garages: Zak Sarrin's Honda, Toyota and Nissan [unrated, Oakland]: It's an auto park! Zak Sarrin's deals in new Hondas, Toyotas and Nissans (as well as the Scion, Acura, Lexus, etc. - all of the marques of the above companies). However, the car park also has a wide range of used luxury and sports cars from major brands. All of them (well, most of them) are in good working condition and can be driven off the lot. What most people don't know is that a good number of the used cars have been souped-up or are otherwise boosted, modified or illegal. Sarrin knows about it all - he buys any nice car he can get, and is the major force in all of the area's illegal street racing and chop shops. Everyone with an ear to the ground knows about it.

Krek and Krush [unrated, south San Fran]: Krek and Krush are a pair of latino brothers who went through goblinization together, except that older brother Krek is an ork, and Krush is a troll. They run one of the best local auto fixer's around. Krush is a bit of a meathead, but knows his way around an engine or body backwards and forwards, and harbors a special love for motorcycles and monocycles. He does the majority of the repairs that come through. Krek does custom jobs, from paint to nitro, as well as armoring, gun holsters, wheel reinforcement, air intake boosting, custom rims, neon undercarraiges and anything else the customer can think of.

Pawn Shops: Sly Ivan's Pawn Shop [unrated, Dog Patch]: Sly Ivan is not the name of the man who owns this pawn shop - the original Ivan was killed by the Dolgos for making a bad joke with the name of his shop. The current Ivan is actually named Dennis, and is a muscular older elf with a knack for getting customers to walk out with an armful of crap when they came in to get just one thing. Sly Ivan's doesn't do much under the table dealing, but does pay for the support of the Dolgo mafya. Anyone who fucks with Sly Ivan is likely to end up unhappy.

Gold Strike [unrated, Dog Patch]: Gold Strike pawn shop is a clearinghouse for used stuff of high quality. They have furniture, clothing, electronics, accessories to just about everything, game systems, big fuckin' trideo players, and often even a car or two. The owner, John St. Michael, has a great relationship with the local police, as well as the local security agencies, and so most of everything that gets repossessed around San Fran ends up in Gold Strike. It's the place to be if you want high quality for cheap.

Goodwill [A, Dog Patch]: Without government or donor assistance, Goodwill has taken on more the look of a pawn shop than a second-hand clothing store. Imagine Goodwill like it is today, except with more bulletproof glass and fewer smiles.

Pawn Shops with a Lot of Guns: Blue Shield [unrated, Russian Hill]: While not technically a pawn shop, Blue Shield does have an awful lot of guns in it. This specialty guns and ammo store serves hunters and homeowners with a wide range of rifles, scopes, deer blinds, handguns, etc. Everything is licensed and above board, as well as well-guarded. The last guy who tried to rob this gun store got predictably shot.

Stone Bones' Antiques [unrated, Russian Hill]: Stone Bones is the nickname of a local legend, Igor of the Bratvas. Igor is a troll who takes his name from the titanium bone lacing that helped him survive a dozen point blank shotgun blasts to the face, head and neck. Now he runs an 'antiques shop' that happens to have a wide selection of illegal and unlicensed firearms and accessories.

Ichiru Lounge [unrated, Japan town]: Ichiru Lounge is straight-up about its purpose, without any kind of cover or facade. Run by the Sakuhara Yakuza, this place is a small underground bunker that sells high quality weaponry. While the selection is limited, the merchandise is always top tier and untraceable. If you happen to be friends with the Yakuza, you can sometimes get major modifications done in the attached workshop.