Weigh In On The "Numerical Streets First" Controversy

I wonder how much of this stems from SF's problem of self-consciously living in NYC's shadow. There, you tend to list the street number before the avenue number. Different beast, I realize.

I live on a number, so tend to mention it first with its named cross-street, for what it's worth.

Tell it to Muni. They announce "Mission and 30th" on the 14 buses.

It's the street its on then the cross street, no matter if it's numbered or not.

Ah, but Muni Metro stations are listed as "4th & King", "2nd & King", etc.

BART lists "16th St. Mission" and "24th St. Mission." And Caltrain stops at "22nd Street." Perhaps this is a rail versus auto thing?

What do they say in L.A.? We should do the opposite, right?

I'll agree that "20th and Irving" is generally the way people say it, but "Irving and 20th" isn't wrong or anything, so it's not worth correcting someone.

Radio dispatchers in S.F. would tend to say California Battery ("Cal Batt") instead of Battery California, I bet.

Any rules you can make up would have to deal with exceptions anyway, like would it be "I'll meet you at third and fourth" or "fourth and third"?

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=1298+3rd+St,+San+Francisco,+San+Francisco,+California&sll=37.773547,-122.389734&sspn=0.006767,0.011855&ie=UTF8&ll=37.773149,-122.389787&spn=0.006767,0.011855&z=17&iwloc=A

Same deal with the intersection of Mission and Valencia. Anything goes.

I can't believe this is an actual conversation.

I would not look to Muni for consistency on just about anything. As Rory said, they usually name street the stop is on and then the cross street, but that's about all they are consistent on. If you look on Next Muni you will see the K/T stops at "4th Street & King Street" (fully spelled out) but the next stop is "2nd St & King St" (abbreviated) and ends somewhere called "Metro Terminal" instead of "Balboa Park Station".