Is San Francisco apart of the High-Tech/Startup community? (San Jose: real estate, rent)

[Tycho Brahe]

Back in the late '90s, I went to SF for the first time (actually, CA in general). Loved the city, tons of charm.

A few months later I went back to California for some job interviews, but this time in Silicon Valley. As soon as I got into my rental car and drove around I started thinking "WTF? This ain't San Francisco." I knew it was not going to be SF, but it was nothing like it. Even though I got both jobs, I decided to stay on the east coast for less money.

Here I am, over a decade later, and I am thinking about moving to SF. Despite there being fewer tech companies in SF proper, I will only concentrate there. No way will I move to the Valley. My wife is somewhat upset since her parents now live in Central CA, but I rather just drive more to visit them.

[andyadhi01]

SF and silicon valley has almost nothing in common... Silicon valley is basically a gigantic, boring, ugly office park with buildings that look like warehouses.. Valley simply doesn't have the density, public transit, architecture etc to make the place exciting. But that way workers have nothing to do other than working and dealing with horrendous traffic 12 hrs a day! You will get rich working there but possibly hate the environment and life.. Visually silicon valley and Plano, TX looks pretty much the same except that Plano has newer and nicer looking buildings.

SF is the exact opposite of all that... That said, the tech industry in SF is rather small compared to the valley and is mostly small startups. I wish more of the tech/biotech move to SF/Oakland area. With the gas prices so high how does it even make sense to build low density car-dependent office parks out in suburbs?

[krudmonk]

Well this has devolved into the predictable...

[Tycho Brahe]

Originally Posted by krudmonk

Well this has devolved into the predictable...

Sorry, but I did disgress. I tried to edit my post right after I hit submit, but there is no edit function.

What I wanted to add was that the view from the east coast, SF and SV are the same thing. There is no distinction between the two out here.

Many companies start off in SF and move to SV once they need to get more space. A company that started off in Burlingame flew me out for an interview last year (for a position in NYC) and when I arrived there, everyone was cramped in one big room. They are a hot company and have since relocated to Palo Alto. Many might regard SF as an incubator and that the real companies are in SV.

[mayorhaggar]

Originally Posted by Tycho Brahe

What I wanted to add was that the view from the east coast, SF and SV are the same thing. There is no distinction between the two out here.

Not our fault...I don't think people on the East Coast know anything about Californian geography, and I don't think they realize how tiny SF is in size. You see people come to this forum saying they want to "move to San Francisco" (which they often call "San Fran" for whatever the dumb reason is that people who don't live here think it's called that when it's not...ahem...)...but really they just want to live in the suburbs but don't know where SF is or where its borders end or that people who live here make a distinction between SF and not-SF.

I guess people get used to calling the whole area around Los Angeles "LA" even though most of it is small independent cities outside of LA, and people think the Bay Area is like that even though SF is just a tiny part of the entire Bay Area. It's not their fault, they just don't know what the Bay Area is like.

[sonarrat]

Every big city has some high-tech, but the Silicon Valley is unique because of the extremely high concentration of major tech HQs, R&D centers, engineering labs, and the like. If you drive down North First in San Jose starting around Trimble going towards Alviso, you'll see nothing but tech giants for miles. On the upper peninsula and SF, you have a smattering mixed in with everything else.

[bigdumbgod]

Originally Posted by andyadhi01

Silicon valley is basically a gigantic, boring, ugly office park with buildings that look like warehouses.. Valley simply doesn't have the density, public transit, architecture etc to make the place exciting.

Predictable indeed.
Devolving into the adhd-andy show again.

[andyadhi01]

Originally Posted by bigdumbgod

Predictable indeed.
Devolving into the adhd-andy show again.

I guess you have nothing intelligent to contribute. The whole concept of spread-out, car-dependent, gigantic, suburban office parks are outdated... My bet is more and more tech/biotechs will move to the city. Given a choice would you rather work in a nice building downtown SF or some warehouse in silicon valley where the only lunch option is a 7/11 store 2 miles drive away???

[bigdumbgod]

Originally Posted by andyadhi01

My bet is more and more tech/biotechs will move to the city.

In what? Termite/quake-ravaged old Victorians? Down here, they can plan and create their own worksites. In SF, they just take what they're given, if there's any thing available.

[sonarrat]

Originally Posted by bigdumbgod

In what? Termite/quake-ravaged old Victorians? Down here, they can plan and create their own worksites. In SF, they just take what they're given, if there's any thing available.

There's a lot of unused commercial/industrial space in the Bayview and Vis Valley areas. It would be similar to the companies that set up shop along the Bayfront Expressway near East Palo Alto.