I have recently read a description of Brighton as the 'British San Francisco' and this got me thinking. Having ruminated over the various sights of each town, I think it is. See what you think of these similarities (even though some are a little tenuous).

Both cities have:

Sea fog Hippies

Hills Non-conformist spirit

Gays Eccentric luminaries

Micro-climates

Then there are the diverse places to visit, each one having a 'counterpart' in the other city:

Mission Dolores & St George's Church, Kemptown

Painted Ladies & Pastel coloured houses in Borough Street

Candy ravers & 'Skint' music affectionados

Chinatown & Preston Street restaurant row

City Lights Bookstore & Multi-storey bookshop, St James Street

Coit Tower & Queens Park Tower

Both cities have Gay Pride festivals in the summer

Haight-Ashbury & North Laines

Legs sticking out of a building on Haight Street & Duke of York cinema

Golden Gate Park & Preston Park

Japanese Tea Garden & Preston Park tea rooms, rose garden

Yerba Buena & Brighthelm

(both cities have origins as 'sleepy fishing villages')

Union Square & Churchill Square

Transamerica Pyramid & Sussex Heights

(okay, a little tenuous, but the tallest building in both cities is coloured white!)

Fisherman's Wharf, Pier 39 & Palace Pier, seafront

Tenderloin & Brighton train station and environs (maybe also along London Road too)

Marina District & Marina Village

The Castro & Kemptown

(Harvey Milk Plaza & St James Street)

North Beach & Seven Dials, Prestonville

Telegraph Hill & Elm Grove, Hanover

Washington Square Park & St John's Church, Hove

Floral Clock, Golden Gate Park & Floral Clock, Palmeira Square

The Panhandle & Marlborough Place Gardens

Buena Vista Park & St Anne's Well Gardens

Golden Gate Bridge & Brighton Pavillion (an icon which doesn't have an equivalent)

Cafe Trieste & Sanctuary Cafe, Hove

Memorial Day Carnival & May Brighton festival

Lombard 'Crookedest' Street & drive along Upper Lewes Road, Princes Crescent and Crescent Road in quick succession!

Russian Hill steps & 'steps from hell' between Richmond Road and Roundhill Crescent (don't ascend with bags of shopping!)

CAN ANYBODY THINK OF ANY MORE?