Theorist Matthew Arnold refers to culture as "the best that has been thought and said in the world.” Maybe this guy has a point, but I think we all know culture isn’t that easy to define. And we’re not even going to try.

Culture exists on many levels. There’s American culture typified by cheeseburgers and rock ‘n’ roll. There’s a Californian culture, of course, but any resident of the Golden State will point out the difference between SoCal and NorCal. In my native OC, fake tits and bottle blondes are abundant. Up here, in the land of fruits and nuts, we tend to wear culture on our sleeves. It’s the difference between hotel heiresses and tree huggers, of “dude” versus “hella.”

We are exposed to music culture, club culture, gay culture and even bike culture. In San Francisco, there’s a culture for everything and our neighborhoods serve as evidence. Our age, class, income and ethnic diversity makes the place so unlike the rest of the world.

Our attempt to write about culture in this issue amounts to holding a mirror up to the Bay Area. Check out Bryn Hollis and Amelia Gravagno’s tally of random facts and weird laws in San Francisco (page ?). Did you know the city is the home to well-read drunks? A study released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics found that San Franciscans spend the most money annually on beer and books.

And next time you’re boozin’ it up at the MatrixFillmore, pay attention to the group of guys practicing their seduction skills. Learn more by reading Kristin Curtin’s story about PickUp 101, a San Francisco-based company that offers paying customers coveted secrets of wooing the ladies (page ?).

So what are we doing when we’re not drinking or reading? We go out to eat. San Francisco has been noted as a city with the highest number of restaurants per capita. One of its newest additions requires hopping in the sack. Read Mike Wille's review of Supperclub (page ?), which hosts live entertainment and dinner in bed.

I think we can agree that San Francisco is an enclave of not one but many cultures all thrown together. From the Haight to the Castro, Hunter’s Point to SF State, we’ve made our mark. Are we the best example of culture in the world?

Instead of defining the best, we thought putting in equal amounts of blood, toil and revelry to produce this issue was more fitting. We leave the philosophy to ivory tower dwellers like Arnold. Why theorize about culture when we live in a place where it’s so fun and enlightening to just live it instead?