San Francisco is built around a bay. But no, it wasn’t the salt water mist and the paint protecting the bare metal chipping away. It was the dog piss.
This is not only real, it’s not the first time it happens. It’s a well known problem that occurs all over the world wherever humans erect steel post and also have dogs at pets.
So I lived in SF for six years, and it was absolutely the dog piss that did it.
I know this because outside my apartment were two metal utility poles. One, right it outside the door, was the dog piss spot. The other, 20 feet away, was not.
Guess which one corroded and had to be replaced after three years? It was the one that absolutely reeked of dog piss right outside the door.
Also what “salt water mist?” The Castro is inland, and it’s not like there are huge waves blasting clouds of mist into the air.
Right — plenty of fog, but not a lot of salty spray.