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My cousin and best friend live in San Jose/Santa Clara/Sunnyvale; they never ever ever go to SF for anything unless I take them there. My cousin spent her entire adult life from the early 70’s working in the high tech world in Silicon Valley; she doesn’t do anything or having anything to do with the rest of the Bay Area outside of her small world in San Jose proper, occasionally Santa Clara. She dislikes SF and Oakland and has never taken Caltrain to SF. She never drives over the hill to Santa Cruz.
My partners brother and wife live in Alameda. They never do anything in Berkeley and Oakland!!!! Their Bay Area world is the island of Alameda and the occasional ferry ride to SF for one Giants game per season. That’s it.
Because I have friends and relatives in the Bay Area and because I personally like a lot of the different towns, cities, beaches, bays, of the Bay Area, it is very easy for me to see Sacramento as just an extension of the Bay Area. Disconneted in many ways but no more than my friend who lives in the heart of the City(SF) and who is disconnected not only from the rest of the Bay Area but from the rest of SF outside of his 5-7 block neighborhood in the Cathedral Hill area of SF.
Wow, you know some pretty reclusive people. I live in one of the boring Silicon Valley suburbs, and in the past few months I've been to Santa Cruz, Monterey, Oakland, Berkeley, San Francisco, Sonoma County, and Marin. And that's with two young kids. If I never left Silicon-burbia or a radius of a few blocks in the city, like apparently everyone you know in the Bay Area, I'd go insane.
I read it that the bay area as a whole is very varied and covers quite large distances. People in general do tend to spend a lot of time in their immediate neighborhoods. Maybe you waltz around all over the different neighborhoods of the bay area... but many people don't.
If you live in San Jose and you want to go hiking in Marin... you aint much closer than someone who lives in Sacramento and wants to hike in Marin! Shoot if you want to visit wine country in Napa or Sonoma - you'd be closer coming from Sacramento.
Yes - if you live in one of the core San Francisco/Oakland/Berkeley neighborhoods you have a vastly different climate, a much more urban living experience, and much greater access to certain amenities. But if you live out in the tri-valley or down in Santa Clara... things are not so different.
Chimerique maybe a little overzealous in his "propping up" of Sacramento. But you just come off snarky and snobby.
Snarky and snobby, lol - crazy people don't know they are crazy; similarly, bay area snobs don't know they are snobs.
Thanks for the post, you obviously understand what I meant. I would bet more than the majority don't waltz all of over the Bay Area, and most live in their little bubbles.
We spent the weekend in Napa at the Bottlesrock event and yes you are right Sacramento is closer to the Napa Valley than much of the Bay Area. And many would agree the Napa Valley is likely the most beautiful Valley in Sac/Bay Area.
People on C-D seem to forget a lot of people could give a damn about the hipster areas of SF/Oaktown/Berk, rather the backbone of the best and most livable neighborhoods are in the "suburbs" and smaller towns of the Bay Area. Growing up in NorCal most could care less about SF as a place to live. There are ton of cities/towns/suburbs in the Bay that are more desirable than the "City". And I am including Sacramento as one of those "other cities and towns".
If your goal is to incorporate the heart of the Bay Area's amenities into your lifestyle on a regular basis, it might be worth living in a boring and affordable suburb in the Bay Area rather than one in Sacramento.
We personally incorporate a lot of Bay Area amenities into our life on fairly regular basis and our expenses are a lot less than the Bay Area.
One person posts they feel connected to the bay area living in Sac and points out that the bay area is made up of an expansive geographic region. The post made some valid points that it really wouldn't be that much of a change living in Sac compared to some of the outer communities in the bay area. No need to get your knickers in a twist - I'm pretty sure the majority of people know that Sacramento is not SF/Oakland/Berkeley.
The thing I miss about the bay area is the varied topography. Man it is flat in Sacramento and I really miss the hills and views of the bay.
What's his name,doesn't get that from my point of view Sacramento is just another locale in this greater Sac/Bay Area region.
On a whim, we hop on the Capitol Corridor for a day in Berkeley, or on another trip a day in Oakland, and another, a day in downtown San Jose. Often we take our bikes, like when we cruised up the hill from the Berkeley station to the Greek theatre for a concert and a Cal game on another trip, another trip rode around San Jose State for an event. Sometimes these trips includes a night over with a friend, other times its a day trip.
One day we drove to Sausalito with the bikes, rode over the golden gate enjoyed the city, lunch and dinner with a friend, we could have stayed the night but decided to go home instead.
Last weekend it was Napa-Bottlerock Event, a day trip, breakfast, lunch dinner, the concert, drove outside the Napa city limits, rode our bikes in the Vineyards of Oak Knoll, Oakville, and Rutherford...Dogs in tow, and the Napa Valley is very very dog friendly. Several weeks back we did St. Helena, took the dogs, rode bikes, tasted wine, breakfast and dinner at fancy restaurants but only in St. Helena. We are re-doing each part of the Napa Valley over time.
We go through spurts where we do a lot of Bay Area things other times were tire of it, and friends and family prefer to come to Sac.
I love it when Bay Area snobs find out we actually do more Bay area stuff than they do, lol.
Regarding flat terrain, I've come to appreciate it more than "looking at hills". Flat is so much better for riding bikes, easier on the aged and disabled too. I care for my 81 year old mother and she hates hills, lol. Thankfully i'm not the only one that cares for her of my siblings but I'm the one that gets her out of the house the most. And when I really need or want to look at hills, the closest are 20 miles away in Folsom.
What's his name,doesn't get that from my point of view Sacramento is just another locale in this greater Sac/Bay Area region.
On a whim, we hop on the Capitol Corridor for a day in Berkeley, or on another trip a day in Oakland, and another, a day in downtown San Jose. Often we take our bikes, like when we cruised up the hill from the Berkeley station to the Greek theatre for a concert and a Cal game on another trip, another trip rode around San Jose State for an event. Sometimes these trips includes a night over with a friend, other times its a day trip.
One day we drove to Sausalito with the bikes, rode over the golden gate enjoyed the city, lunch and dinner with a friend, we could have stayed the night but decided to go home instead.
Last weekend it was Napa-Bottlerock Event, a day trip, breakfast, lunch dinner, the concert, drove outside the Napa city limits, rode our bikes in the Vineyards of Oak Knoll, Oakville, and Rutherford...Dogs in tow, and the Napa Valley is very very dog friendly. Several weeks back we did St. Helena, took the dogs, rode bikes, tasted wine, breakfast and dinner at fancy restaurants but only in St. Helena. We are re-doing each part of the Napa Valley over time.
We go through spurts where we do a lot of Bay Area things other times were tire of it, and friends and family prefer to come to Sac.
I love it when Bay Area snobs find out we actually do more Bay area stuff than they do, lol.
Regarding flat terrain, I've come to appreciate it more than "looking at hills". Flat is so much better for riding bikes, easier on the aged and disabled too. I care for my 81 year old mother and she hates hills, lol. Thankfully i'm not the only one that cares for her of my siblings but I'm the one that gets her out of the house the most. And when I really need or want to look at hills, the closest are 20 miles away in Folsom.
Your response makes me think of connectedness from by earlier post. I’ll bet, for every Bay Area person who truely enjoys all or most of Bay Area amenities there is another Bay Area person who rarely if ever enjoys all that the Bay offers. For example, that struggling college kid living with his parents in San Bruno probably rarely spends time in the Napa Valley, or that overworked San Josean who rarely spends a whole day in Bodega Bay or Stinson Beach, or that retired Sonoma high school teacher who rarely visits her son in the City or her other son who attends UC Berkeley,...and so and so. These are friends and family I actually know, lol.
I feel quite connected to the Bay Area because of old family and friends. For example, an old friend of mine who moved from Sac to the City(SF) 10 years ago who never goes to the beach even in SF, he has no time and doesn’t care to BART over to Oakland, let alone drive to down to Santa Clara for a 9ers game, or for a play at UCB, or an extended stay in Santa Cruz. Things that me and my partner do, that he doesn’t do. His world is his neighborhood in the City, nothing else. I know his SF neighborhood very well because of him. But he has no desire to do anything way down in Sunnyvale where my best friend lives. I know alot of the good eateries in the Santa Clara Valley because of him, but my best friend absolutely hates to go anywhere in the Bay Area because of “traffic”. He doesnt care about “hipster” neighborhoods in Oakland or SF. He is one VTA station away from Levi Stadium but cares not to ever go there. I’ve been to Levi stadium 3 times since it opened.
My partners brother and wife have lived and worked in Alameda almost 20 years - they are steps way from a ferry ride to SF, yet they still feel like “tourists” when they visit SF. I know the City and more people in the City than they do.
Regarding a price to pay regarding travel time, not a whole lot, relatively speaking, my San Jose cousin never on a whim will drive up to Muir Woods from her beautiful home in San Jose; whereas, I would from Sacramento, the one or two times a year I may take a trip to Muir Woods(Mill Valley/Marin) don’t amount to much of a difference. She is 10 miles closer to Muir Woods from her San Jose home than I am from my Sacramento home. For something you do once a year, doesn’t make much of a difference.
It matters that I used to live in SF and I have family and friends that live all over the Bay. We visit throughout the year friends and family in Danville, Sunnyvale, San Jose, Oakland, Alameda, Berkeley, Martinez, Vallejo, Novato, Santa Rosa, Sebastopol, San Francisco, Millbrae, San Bruno. Other places we visit often where we don’t know anyone anymore(because they moved) are Napa, Santa Cruz, and Guerneville.
One person posts that and you apparently agree with it, which I find that ridiculous and am just expressing my opinion on the issue. If you think that's getting my "knickers in a twist" then what would you call your response calling me snarky and snobby?
I'd call it telling you exactly how your post came across. It's fine if you have an opinion that being connected to SF/Oak by BART/CalTrain and being in closer proximity means you are much more connected to urban parts of the bay area. No need to ooze sarcasm while you are doing it.
And for the record... I don't agree or disagree with someone who personally feels a strong connection with the bay area despite living in Sacramento... there are plenty of people here who work in the bay area, eat out in San Francisco regularly, visit wine country, go hiking in Marin on weekends, take the train to Berkeley/Oakland on the regular. And there are plenty of bay area residents who rarely leave their immediate neighborhoods. Of course the reverse is also true. I wish more people would stay at home as this NorCal megatropolis - as a previous poster called it - is getting way too busy.
Here's your post again so you can read how it sounds... I was going to try and bold the snarky parts but it's basically all snark...
Quote:
Originally Posted by sav858
Of course you do, you'er always trying to ride the Bay Area's coattails to prop up Sac. Yeah 45-minute BART ride into Downtown SF, such a long "journey".... It's totally the same as a 90 mile, hour and a half drive.
Your family and friends sound like they don't like to leave their little bubbles, a lot of people in the Bay Area are not like that and get around to the more interesting cities/places regularly. Much more so than people from Sac do.
Yeah I suppose if you're a die-hard suburbanite you won't really want to take advantage of the urban amenities the Bay Area offers so therefor your life is probably not that different than it would be in Sac. So basically if you hate cities/urban areas you will live like most of those in Sac do lol.
These are good points. And it does feel pretty close to access the bay area when the traffic is free and clear, but man does it seem a lonnnng way when you have to crawl your way back along the 80. That being said I used to love to visit Berkeley and Oakland when I lived in San Francisco and to get back into the city on a Saturday afternoon/evening.... lining up over the bay bridge... that can take an hour+ just to go what would normally take 15/20 minutes. And if you want to head out of town to the mountains or to wine country on a Friday afternoon... better bring some good music! Everyone else has the same idea.
As to feeling part of the community. I definitely miss that too. And I really miss the fresh, cool air coming off the ocean - man that feels so good. But I still feel part of my old community out in the sunset district. Many of us that lived out there for periods of time have since been priced out of the neighborhood or moved on. We still all go back there regularly and it still feels like we are somewhat part of the community. Maybe more so than some of the new arrivals just off the jet from the mid-west or east coast.
But yeah... in short... if I could afford to be living in my old neighborhood in SF or in Berkeley area then I would for sure be living in the bay. But I own a single family home in Sac for a fraction of the price and still get to enjoy much of what the bay area offers and still feel connected. And I am pretty happy with that.
I'd call it telling you exactly how your post came across. It's fine if you have an opinion that being connected to SF/Oak by BART/CalTrain and being in closer proximity means you are much more connected to urban parts of the bay area. No need to ooze sarcasm while you are doing it.
And for the record... I don't agree or disagree with someone who personally feels a strong connection with the bay area despite living in Sacramento... there are plenty of people here who work in the bay area, eat out in San Francisco regularly, visit wine country, go hiking in Marin on weekends, take the train to Berkeley/Oakland on the regular. And there are plenty of bay area residents who rarely leave their immediate neighborhoods. Of course the reverse is also true. I wish more people would stay at home as this NorCal megatropolis - as a previous poster called it - is getting way too busy.
Here's your post again so you can read how it sounds... I was going to try and bold the snarky parts but it's basically all snark...
Guess you missed my point, just found it kind of ironic saying "No need to get your knickers in a twist" yet look at how you responded to me. Pot. Kettle... There really was nothing sarcastic about my point with being connected with SF/Oak by BART/Caltrain either, not sure what you thought was sarcasm in that post.
Generally over-the-top posts on C-D, common with Chimerique, get snarky responses. . Oh well.
I don't really care if someone feels a strong connection despite living in Sac, that's fine. I just thought it was ridiculous to try to equate living in some of its suburbs to basically living in Sac.
I think it's more of a growing realization that there is an emerging NorCal megalopolis and a commentary on living with that mindset. Many people in this region have family, social networks, and employment that takes them all over. People do weekend trips all over now and many people stay confined to their small geographical bubble for most of their usual routine.
Good post. Good analysis of my experiences.
Here lies my connections, my partner works for a Mountain View Company, and he often works from our home in Sacramento. I've always had family somewhere in the Bay Area in numerous locations and grew up with them spending extended stays and summers with them.
Often there is a wedding, shower, party, graduation, anniversary somewhere in those towns I mentioned in an earlier post where family and friends live. I personally lived in the City for several years and know it inside and out.
I am a Giants and 49ers fan. Not a Sharks fan yet, probably never will be. Never been an A's, or Raiders fan but caught the waves when they were doing well. Lately, I've become a fair-weather Warriors fan, lol. But I would never wear a Warriors cap. And i would drop them like a rock if the Sac Kings improved dramatically. For sure a Sac RiverCats and Raley Field fan, and soon to be a Sac Republics fan.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheFlats
If I'm living in Concord/Rockridge/Fremont and I get a wild hair and want to head to the Mission for the evening I can, something that a Sacramentan can't.
But really, what a buzz kill BART...ing back to Concord, late at night, after a night in the City. I think that "wild hair" applies to spending the day, or late afternoon, or early evening in the Mission.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheFlats
But I don't think that's what Chimerique was saying. The in vs. out nature of where the Bay stops is becoming increasingly blurred. I happen to think it's a positive Sacramento has retained some separation in the face of that very strong gravitational pull. I'd rather have it be seen as an distinct anchor-point in a NorCal megalopolis vs. a node of the Bay a la Oakland/SJ.
I personally like the separation between the Bay and Sac, physically, those gaps when you hit Dixon and then Davis, and then the Yolo Bypass. You truly are in the Sacramento Valley. I hope those gaps never fill-in.
I'm pretty sure we already are and have been for a while that "anchor-point" having our own distinct economy. And a larger share of the cultural market is happening. And Sacramento has been doing the right thing in celebrating our own unique brand, how far that goes depends on us as Sacramentans to keep making those distinctions, improving our quality of jobs, and improving education.
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