San Francisco, the Rorschach Test:

Josh Haner/The New York Times San Francisco looms large in the imagination of outsiders, who use it as a touchstone to define other places. Above, the city and Marin County, as seen from the Airship Ventures zeppelin.

In 1898, in a book called “Skaguay, The Gateway to the Klondike,” promoting the golden promise of Alaska, a civic booster wrote:

The future of Skaguay is assured: she is the San Francisco of Alaska — the Key City of the great golden Northwest and will be the capital and the metropolis of the coming North Star State.

It could not have been the first time that the name San Francisco has been the touchstone, the benchmark, the defining frame for someplace else. As in “Geneva is the San Francisco of Switzerland.” Or “Port au Prince is the San Francisco of the Caribbean.” Or “Brighton is the San Francisco of England.”

As demonstrated by the pages and pages of links that appear with a Google search of the phrase “is the San Francisco of,” the good booster of Skagway was not the last to look to this city for metaphoric help. The city obliges, since the facts of its life resonate at so many levels. It has spectacular landscapes (see Geneva, above.) It is prone to earthquakes (see Port au Prince.) It is a coastal town with a thriving gay culture (see Brighton.)

Indeed, what is most notable about the many places compared to San Francisco is the city’s plasticity, the number of ways it can anchor or stimulate readers’ understanding of a less-known place.

Think of the variety of images evoked by the name. A union town or a port town. A tawdry urban sexscape. A heart-stopping topography of hills and sky. A fog-dominated meteorology. Gay culture. Locavores. Edgy rock music. San Francisco is a touchstone with a multiple personality.

All this puts it in demand as a brand.

In the Netherlands, there is disagreement over what city is the San Francisco of Holland. One student travel blog declared Utrecht the San Francisco of the Netherlands, claiming that the ancient fortress city had become a lively cultural center with rents suited to college-aged populations (Maybe they haven’t seen rents in SoMa.)

Others disagreed. Amsterdam, the Netherlands’ largest city and capital, is the San Francisco of Holland, they argued, citing its West Coast locale, multiculturalism and “funky” vibes. Maybe they should just go with the idea that the Netherlands is the San Francisco of Europe.

South Africa’s largest port and second largest city, Cape Town, claims San Francisconess for itself. The independent Jack Magazinemakes note of everything from the gay-friendly atmosphere to the ocean climate as their bases for comparison. Not to mention the fact that Cape Town’s waterfront was modeled after Fisherman’s Wharf or that offshore was an infamous island prison, Robben Island, whose history makes Alcatraz look good.

The list goes on. Smokejumpers magazine deemed Vladivostok the San Francisco of Russia, for the landscape. Several writers deemedAustin, Atlanta or Asheville the San Francisco of the South, for the receptiveness to gay culture. Ditto Puerto Vallarta, called the San Francisco of Mexico.

The resonance does not transfer to other Bay Area locales. The Google results for a search of the phrase “is the San Jose of” are pitiful. There are more people living in San Jose, but the place seems bereft of metaphoric heft, of a resonance that demands to be shared. Our colleague, Claire Cain Miller, who covers technology and venture capital, did mention that she felt Bangalore might be the San Jose of India, but not in a context that would make anyone rush to buy a plane ticket.

The larger message in all this, about San Francisco’s heart or its soul, its psyche or its innards, is for the rest of you to discover. Let us know what you find.

In the meantime, a parting message from the proprietors of this blog.

The writers and editors who have contributed to the Bay Area blog for the past seven months — particularly our lead bloggers Michelle Quinn and Katharine Mieszkowski — have tried to ferret out the details that make the city and the region resonate with readers here and everywhere else. We’ve also tried to provide a little news along the way.

This week’s arrival of The Bay Citizen also marks the end of The Bay Area blog. This blog was conceived as a way of stimulating conversations about things that matter most in this area, from crime to bicycle manners to same-sex marriage. It was closely tied with the articles that appeared on Fridays and Sundays in the Bay Area pages of The New York Times.

Those conversations will continue in many venues. The articles in the Bay Area pages will be provided, beginning next month, by The Bay Citizen. Those seeking news about the Bay Area can find it in an electronic page within The Times’s Web site, and on the site of The Bay Citizen.

Let the conversation continue. Let the metaphors multiply.

Onward.