No “spoiled brat” vehicles around your house! No Sir! 
In SF that may be to prevent cardboard refrigerator boxes, tiny houses, RV’s, vans and anything else people will try and live inside (or store inside) parked by the roadside
They actually have camps of homeless all over SF and people living in all kinda of tents and other makeshift shelters. Nothing seems to be done about this including illegal electrical hookups and trash. Apparently trash is a huge problem in that city and the homeless are not all to blame. I guess you just get used to it when you live there.
I suspect it is more on how property is assessed and taxed than preventing people from living in boxes, old cars, etc. along the side of the road. They are also rent-controlled so maybe there are issues with people subletting storage and parking spaces to make an extra buck and not having the proper taxes paid. He rents both the residential unit as well as the parking space in the garage below his building so all the taxes and permits, etc. are handled by the landlord and he just pays the rent.
My friend seems to love it there but I don’t think it would be for me. He says you just get used to and desensitized to stepping over needles and poop and he has a picture perfect view of the bay and Alcatraz from his main window.
I will have to say that I am surprised anyone would want a large car in this or any other big city with the traffic and limited parking options.
lol …Here in San Jose I got in some tree trouble a few years ago. My neighbor was cutting down an ash tree, and said I could have a load of firewood if I wanted. So I loaded it up on my truck and took it to my place for proper aging. This set off a chain of neighbor and city complaints the likes of which you wouldn’t believe, you’d think I had committed bank robbery in broad daylight. “Your truck is blocking the sidewalk!” (b/c I opened the door to get some cash to tip his work crew for helping me load my truck); “You aren’t allowed to place the wood in the parking area!” (only there for 30 minutes during the relocation process) ; “Your wood is visible from the street!”, “Your wood is creating a fire hazard!” “Too much smoke from your chimney!” Somehow I emerged from all these complaints unscathed, a free man, but it was a close one … lol …
You have to wonder when the effort to own your own car in San Francisco or New York isn’t worth it. It might be cheaper to use ride services and rent cars for weekend travel. That’s the decision the City wants you to make.
Do you live within an HOA controlled community? I hear those can be a real pain on many levels. Most car guys I know WILL NOT live in an HOA as many don’t allow you to work on your car at home. There was a story a few years back where I grew up near St. Louis where some teen boy bought a really nice old truck and wasn’t allowed to have it parked outside because of the HOA. I understand HOA stuff can involve the types of flags and signs you have, cutting trees, etc.
As for my friend, his wife works at a hospital so the hours can be odd. She really needs a car in SF. My friend works for Google and all the various tech companies in the area have little shuttles you can take to the office. I think you get coffee in the morning and snacks plus beer and wine in the afternoon.
I personally would rather drive and have a place in the country where I can burn a brush pile if needed, can repair my own cars, shoot guns, etc.
I wouldn’t have even attempted the firewood thing if I lived where the HOA police roam 
I also have a friend who works for Google, likes the job, and from what they say they sure get a lot of tasty food benefits there. But they also tell me when I ask “George, you know there’s no such thing as a free lunch!”
I never really lived in the country except when doing summer jobs, mostly a suburban guy, but when I lived in Colorado the country was just a short drive away, and I did enjoy being able to do that sort of stuff. I usually took my 22 rifle along and when in a remote area would often stop by the side of the road and shoot at tin cans I’d place on the side of the hill if I had spare time, nobody ever complained about that, even the police driving by. They’d just wave hello. I should mention however that life in the SF Bay area maybe isn’t exactly what is being described above. There’s a reason so many people live here. It’s a compromise, yes, but not quite so bad of a compromise as the posters above might imagine.
Well, the weather is beautiful in coastal California! That is one plus. I don’t know how cars rust out but from what I have seen, the salt in the air isn’t nearly as bad as the salt they put on the roads in Missouri. States farther north are even worse. I am always amazed by all the old cars you see in CA and they are in good shape. You would think they would want to get these off the road because of emissions but I do enjoy seeing them.
The weather in Missouri stunk this winter plus all the deicing chemicals eat cars over time. Yeah, the CA weather is nice.
Yeah, that sounds like MO where you just go out on the side of the road and shoot. You can do that in a national forest as long as you aren’t shooting into a hiking trial, campground, restroom, and it is safe to shoot such as into a hill. I have had the cops drive by as well and they don’t care. I used to do this when I lived in town and didn’t have my own place where I could shoot.
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