Say what you will about San Francisco — the budget bloat, the bureaucratic maze, the $1.7 million public toilets — but this city produces one thing with flawless efficiency every single evening, and it doesn't cost taxpayers a dime.

The sun setting behind the Golden Gate Bridge.

Last night's display was a stunner. If you caught it, you already know. If you didn't, your Instagram feed probably reminded you. That iconic silhouette against a sky cycling through every shade of orange and pink is, quite possibly, the single best free amenity in the entire Bay Area — no permit required, no committee approval, no six-figure consultant study on optimal viewing angles.

It's a useful reminder that the best things about this city weren't designed by a Board of Supervisors subcommittee. The bridge itself, completed in 1937 for about $35 million (roughly $780 million adjusted for inflation), came in under budget. Let that sink in. Under. Budget. In what was essentially proto-San Francisco. Somewhere, a city administrator just fainted.

And here's the thing — that sunset view is a gateway drug to everything else the Bay Area does well when government stays out of the way. As one local put it, "Lived here all my life and never bothered to explore touristy areas until the last few years. They're fabulous." Lands End, Point Reyes, Mt. Tam, the beaches north of Santa Cruz — this region is stacked with natural beauty that requires nothing more than showing up.

Another Bay Area resident offered perhaps the most perfectly regional tourism advice we've ever heard: "Make a pilgrimage to the world's most beautiful Taco Bell" — the one in Pacifica, perched on the cliffs above the Pacific. Honestly? Hard to argue.

The point is simple: the Bay Area's greatest assets are its natural ones. No ballot measure needed. No oversight committee. Just show up, look west, and remember why you put up with everything else.