Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
san francisco is expensive, oakland seems to offer more for the money without being too far from san francisco. the choice is between downtown oakland, near the lake and a bart station... versus trying to find something in san francisco proper that would justify the premium price, which seems to be almost double per square foot.
is living in oakland similar to living in new jersey and working in philadelphia for new york? or is it all 'bay area', without the weird prejudices that take root up in the northeast?
how about the weather? I get the impression that oakland has more sunny days and that would be a plus for me.
if I am missing some really important reason to move to san francisco instead of oakland, I want to know. keep in mind that living in philly, I am used to a city that is rough around the edges because I get the impression that oakland can be a bit rougher than san francisco and that aspect does not bother me.
Hey 18m - for one thing, I am not that user. 4 another thing, soon I will be your neighbor, so try to be nice. believe it or not it is your arguments that made me immediately think of oakland over san francisco. this is not a joke. I do understand what you and kidphilly are suggesting, but the sf forum already has such a thread, seems to have just as much quarelling. if nobody here is up to discussing it, so be it.
Last edited by Parasight; 02-26-2012 at 09:17 AM..
Hey 18m - for one thing, I am not that user. 4 another thing, soon I will be your neighbor, so try to be nice. believe it or not it is your arguments that made me immediately think of oakland over san francisco. this is not a joke. I do understand what you and kidphilly are suggesting, but the sf forum already has such a thread, seems to have just as much quarelling. if nobody here is up to discussing it, so be it.
If you aren't trolling, I'd still put it in the SF forum... 99% of the knowledgeable people on Oakland post there.
To answer your question in the OP though, it's all Bay Area but the Bay Area does vary throughout the different regions (SF, East Bay, South Bay, Peninsula, etc). I can't say whether it's similar to NJ, I've only been there once in passing.
Oakland is definitely sunnier (in general) than SF, particularly East Oakland... the closer your are to the Bay, the colder and more likely to be overcast it is. All parts of Oakland are generally sunnier than SF though.
There's not so much a "really important reason" to consider SF over Oakland so much as it depending on what you're looking for. If you're looking to live in the most urban place in the Bay Area, you should be looking in SF. If you're looking to live somewhere urban where you can enjoy a high quality of life without spending an arm and a leg like you do in SF, Oakland definitely fits the bill. There's a lot more to Oakland than that though... like I said, I'd pose this question on the SF board before I'd ask people here.
okay, when the time comes (this summer) I will post a thread on the san francisco forum. The gist of my question is: is there any stigma to living in oakland when doing business in san francisco? I would guess not, the couple of friends I have who lives in san francisco don't know much about oakland even though they have lived there a long time, but they have a positive impression overall. a quick aside, if there is one single thing that really surprised me, and slightly bothers me it is the lack of a bike lane across the bay bridge.
Last edited by Parasight; 02-26-2012 at 10:12 AM..
okay, when the time comes (this summer) I will post a thread on the san francisco forum. the gist of my question is: is there any stigma to living in oakland when doing business in san francisco? It is funny to me that city versus city is not able to handle this question. if there is one single thing that really surprised me, and slightly bothers me it is the lack of a bike lane across the bay bridge.
I don't really get what you're asking though. If there was a stigma, then it would apply to the tens of thousands of people who live in Oakland and work in SF... so no, I don't think there's much of a stigma. If what you mean is whether people from SF would visit you in Oakland and look down on you, I'd hope not... they wouldn't be particularly good friends/would be ignorant if they did.
EDIT: There wouldn't be much point in a bike lane... often the wind alone would blow you off course and into traffic or off the bridge.
I was just reading about the replacement span on the oakland side, and it does include a bike lane to the island. but I get it, there are no walkways on the double span. that is not stopping grassroots movement from trying to get such a lane, and I for one would use an electric bike to make the crossing it's such a lane existed.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
