As somebody who has basically no familiarity with San Francisco I think there is some value in emulating a real city. it lends the setting some specificity and veracity in the way cities look that I think is hard to fake. specifically the way those power lines run alongside the bridge jumped out at me as a very "real" detail that I'm not sure you would get in a city invented out of whole cloth.
I have been independently trying to remember the name of this song for a couple weeks and it has been driving me crazy. thank you all for facilitating this miracle.
AndrewJPlant's comments