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The quintessential boomtown, San Francisco has been alternately riding high and crashing since the gold rush. Those bearish during the heady days of the dot-com bubble had barely finished dancing on the grave of the Internet economy when biotech rode into town, turning bust to boom once again before the housing market downturn brought the citys previously stratospheric median home price right back down to earth. So which San Francisco will you find when you cometo town? A reversal of fortune is always possible, but heres a snapshot of what the citys likefor now, anyway.

is just as liberal as youve heard. Baghdad by the Bay, Sodom by the Sea: prudish types have been pegging San Francisco as a bastion of sexy liberalism since the town first rolled out the welcome mat. And we do tend to espouse a pretty live-and-let-live attitude here. Health insurance for city employees has covered gender-reassignment surgery since 2001. We voted in 2005 to ban handguns and city supervisors banned Happy Meals(nutritionally deficient meals with toys) in 2010; we have a female fire chief, Joanne Hayes-White; and our biggest bash of the year is Junes Gay Pride celebration, when roughly a million people descend on the city to party. Conservatives may celebrate Nancy Pelosis replacement as Speaker of the House, but she can still count on a huge popular majority at home.

Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom, our dashing young former mayor and a raging metrosexual, won the eternal devotion of gay San Franciscans when he decided to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples in 2004, helping to shove the issue onto the Supreme Court docket as well as the ballot. And in this town hes considered a moderate.

embraces its eccentrics. If a 6-foot-tall transvestite in evening wear doesnt merit a second look, just what does it take to stand out in this town? If history serves, it takes quirkiness and staying power. For instance, back in the 19th century a San Francisco businessman declared himself Norton I, Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico. Instead of shipping him off to a nice, quiet place, San Franciscans became hiswilling subjects, police officers saluted him, and newspapers printed his proclamations (among them that the Democrats and Republicans be abolished for bickering).

Today the Brown Twins, ladies of a certain age who dress alike in eye-catching outfits and are always together, have their own place on the list of San Francisco icons. Theres also Pink Man, who rides a unicycle wearing a hot pink unitard and cape. (He says you can tell someones a local when they dont balk at Pink Man.)

One of the most celebrated eccentrics is Frank Chu, a middle-aged guy in a frumpy suit whos been faithfully carrying a picket sign around the Financial District since the 1990s. He accuses various politicians of being in cahoots and keeping millions of dollars from him and the population of the 12 galaxies. The citys response? Politicians and local businesses buy ad space on the back of his sign, and fans named a (now defunct) bar 12 Galaxies in tribute andcreated an online Frank Chustyle sign generator ( acme.com/chumaker ).

may be pushing back panhandling. The sight of homeless folks camped out in doorways and parks has long been familiar in the city, but voters are apparently at the end of their ropes. In 2010 they narrowly passed a law, aimed straight at panhandlers and the kids that line Haight Street, that makes it illegal to sit or lie on city sidewalks between 7 am and 11 pm. Looks like even laid-back San Franciscans have a limit to theirtolerance.

is reshaping its downtown. Limited by its geography, San Francisco simply has nowhere to go but up. The sprawling area south of Market Street was long an industrial center, but since that industry has dried up, new high-rise developments are under way. Plot the nascent high-rises on a map and you can see a radical shift southward, stretching from Mission Street to Mission Bay (where UCSFs 43-acre medical and biotech campus is rising).More than 20 towers are in the works, several of which will eclipse the citys current tallest building, the 853-foot Transamerica Pyramid.

Got your bearings? Then join the locals as they constantly check the pulse of the city. Although the frenzied adrenaline rush of the dot-com era has died down, a new wave of energy is gathering.

You know the economy is bad when San Franciscans start curbing their dining-out expenditures. Sure, we still eat out, but were spending less when we do. For the practice of ordering appetizers to share instead of entres, waiters have dubbed us nontres. Ouch.

We love to hate Muni. Grousing about Munis slow and diminishing service and accident rates is a rite of passage. Commuters unite to share the good, the bad, and the dangerous on Web sites like munidiaries.com and munihaiku.com, with poetry divided by line.

Whats that rumble under Chinatown? The city has finally secured federal funding for the controversial Central Subway, a 1.7-mi connection of BART with Somas CalTrain line and the T-Third. Why controversial? That $1.6 billion price tag could buy a lot of Muni improvements.

The food-cart scene continues to boom. Watch out for local favorites the Sexy Soup Cart, the Bacon Dog Cart, and, for dessert, the ever-popular Crme Brle Cart. Or find them all together at Off the Grid, a roaming food-cart marketplace.

Are we taking back the term Frisco? From Emperor Norton to legendary Chronicle columnist Herb Caen, residents have harangued against calling the city Frisco. But lately some locals are rebelling, showing off hoodies and tattoos festooned with the F-word.