Mini Soho in Soma? (West Hollywood, Marina: lofts, condos, crime)

[Kootball]

Hi! I am planning on moving to San Fran in mid December for a promotion. I am 27, single, going to be in need of fun friends and I would love to live in a hip and young area with great places to grab a beer. My friends in LA say that SOMA is the best place to live for this scene. Are there any other areas that you would recommend?

[mayorhaggar]

It's a pretty meh area for that. The eastern end of SOMA is a lot of high-rise condos and is kinda sterile and is mostly yuppies and older empty nesters. The middle and western ends of SOMA are a mix of desolate closed warehouses, car repair shops, a few gay nightclubs, a lot of crime on 6th street, and condos here and there. There's a few straight nightclubs there too. But there's not much of a bar scene and it just feels more desolate than other SF hoods.

I would look at the Mission, there are a lot of great bars and restaurants up and down Valencia Street and it's a very young crowd. Stay west of Mission Street though, on or east of Mission it's grubby and there is a lot of crime.

And it's not San Fran! Who taught you that! :P

[Kootball]

Hhaha I guess I Have a lot to learn!!
Thanks for the tips on where to live!!

[415 Native]

I hope you have a lot of Money, SOMA is now one of the more expensive parts of SF.

[skyway31]

There are several bars in that area that get hopping for happy hours. A lot of younger singles walk over after working in the FiDi etc. So, you weren't totally misguided. But, I'd say you're best bets for nightlife would be the stretch of SF North of California St and west of, say, Divisadero. Basically, that's the Marina, Russian Hill/Nob Hill and North Beach. The Mission would be a place you may occassionally go out in but don't want to live in. Kinda like around or east of the Cahuenga corridor in Hollywood.

[mini_cute]

people on here have pointed out other areas besides soma because there are different areas that can be considered hip, young, and where you can grab a beer. each has its own vibe/scene so you are in luck because you can choose depending on what crowd you are into.

marina like the last poster mentioned definitely has its good share of bars and night activity- the people that hang out there are what the people on this board refer to as the beer drinking marina crowd. do a search on here for marina and you can pull up some threads where posters talk about the kinds of people there. points of interest: union street, marina green

then there is the gritty but gentrifying mission district crowd which is more like your typical hipster crowd living amongst immigrant hispanics. they have a good restaurant scene with some trendy dining establishments scattered amongst the taqueria hole in the walls. definitly people walking around at night and a place where you can get a hot dog wrapped in bacon from a cart at midnight. points of interest: valencia street, mission dolores park

i'd describe the soma crowd as hip, yuppie, techie who like to buy furniture at room & board and west elm. soma does have its share of bars and nightclubs to boot and was previously an area for artists and their lofts/studios. it was ground zero for the dot com boom and in recent times has been embarking on another dot com renaissance. soma is large and has sub-hoods: south beach, mission bay, south park, et. al. points of interest: embarcadero, ferry building, yerba buena gardens, giants stadium

[skyway31]

Actually, I could help you more if you told me where you like to go out in L.A. so I know the type of vibe you're looking for. I know L.A. nightlife (from the South Bay to Hollywood and all points in between) very well. SF I know fairly well.

[Kootball]

Well I am in the fashion biz , but not the glamorous part, more of the hard work that hopefully pays off in the end kinda thing. SO I love shops on Robertson and that kind of area. My friends are from West Hollywood so I love that scene how everything is so close together with a quasi neighborhood with clubs/bars/shops/Pinkberry! I love comedy areas, theatre that sort of thing. Not too artsy fartsy hippie but I'm not opposed to anything like that!

[Kootball]

Thank you so much for giving me all that great info!!! It is so hard going blind into a new city/culture life!!