Wild and Woolly SF

Reading a history of San Francisco, I'm reminded of how permanently chaotic and freewheeling this place has been...except perhaps during its very earliest days as Yerba Buena, when it was a tiny yet bustling trading post, San Francisco has always been the rollicking, cavorting, slightly nutty, histrionic City by the Bay. Our current mayor and city council seem to be doing their best to live up to this reputation. Somehow I'm surprised that San Francisco politics has remained so theatrical and at times, sophomoric, right up to this first part of the new millenium, but it has. Does it have to do with living near or on earthquake faults and the "Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die" spirit that seems to rise up in people who live in danger zones? Or is there some other explanation?