Warning Please read this BEFORE you think about moving here! (Los Angeles: neighborhoods, schools)

[CaliNative83]

I am a born and raised Los Angelan who moved to SF two years ago because I wanted to finish school in an urban setting. At first I really loved SF because LA and OC people can be terribly self obbssesed and narrow minded. I was tired of flakes/smog and sitting in my car for hours on a daily basis commuting to work or to a friend's house. When i arrived to SF it was a breath of fresh air, the people were actually friendly and there was so much personalit/charm in the city! However this wore off quickly after 6 months. The people here are just as flakey if not more then LA because they are cliquish or drugged out a lot of the time. People seem friendly because they are somewhat approachable but it is very difficult to make quality friends. A lot of people move here to live a certain "lifestyle" whether thats being a pot head, liberal, vegan, harry potter lezbian, or "progressive individual". I haven nothing against these people but these are the only people who really truly enjoy this city. There is very little diversity here unless you consider various Asians and gays = diversity. Most of the city population (about 40 percent) is chinese. There are too many homeless on the streets and drugs that I have seen in golden gate park and near schools. The price of housing is terrible .. you get a crappy 900 sq ft stucko block for 700,000. Families are being pushed out of the city cuz they cannot afford these ridiculous prices (This aint Manhattan so why pay NYC prices?) Market street sucks ass and the city is not on a proper grid system.. You can never make left turns or get somewhere in under 30 min and the city is only 8 sq miles. The people that live here will never admit the bad only the good becase they are simply in denial or have never visited another big city AKA NYC or Chicago.
The neighborhoods are segregated by tons of housing so you cant really walk around and find things to do. The weather here is actually quite nice and there are a few nice thigns this city offers. But overall it is not what it appears to be. Visiting is NOT the same as living here. The average person who moves here stays for 3 yrs because they realise its a rip off. Once I graduate im leaving for sure because youc an find better and cheaper elsewhere. If you like it here fine then enjoy it but for all those who are looking to relocate here just be warned!

[Milliano]

Originally Posted by CaliNative83

There is very little diversity here unless you consider various Asians and gays = diversity. Most of the city population (about 40 percent) is chinese.

according to this website...
Races in San Francisco:
* White Non-Hispanic (43.6%)
* Chinese (19.6%)
* Hispanic (14.1%)
* Black (7.8%)
* Other race (6.5%)
* Filipino (5.2%)
* Two or more races (4.3%)
* Other Asian (1.5%)
* Japanese (1.5%)
* Vietnamese (1.4%)
* American Indian (1.2%)
* Korean (1.0%)
* Asian Indian (0.7%)

But all Asian people are Chinese, right?

What qualifies as "diverse"? There are hardly many more diverse cities in the world, and San Francisco is a small city. So many different ethnicities, cultures, subcultures, languages, nationalities, income and educational levels, sexual orientation, etc etc. How could it not be diverse, when the people who live there come from all over the USA and world? Most of the residents have not spent most of their lives in San Francisco.

I don't mean to say your post is inappropriate but you mostly just mention what should be obvious to anyone who considers moving there - homeless people, extreme land values, middle class 'cant afford' it, etc.. It's good to hear about good and bad experiences and viewpoints but you're being really biased, making up false statements.

You can never make left turns or get somewhere in under 30 min and

Average commute time in San Francisco is under 30 minutes. A long time but just as long as cities such as LA and Oakland.

the city is only 8 sq miles.

You really need to sharpen your math skills.

But overall it is not what it appears to be. Visiting is NOT the same as living here.

What does it appear to be, anyway?

[krudmonk]

That's a lot of bitching, but I really agree with you that people in San Francisco is just as bad as those they criticize in LA, if not worse. There are so many self-obsessed fakes who pretend they aren't.

[CaliNative83]

Milliano,

It is nice that you looked at what I said and researched into it. Different websites give different statistics about the amount of asians or whites in a city. I have seen that chinese is higher and lower but if you lived here you would clearly see that there at least as many chinese as whites. I also said "various Asians" because there are other asians here but mostly catonese chinese. Avg commute time here is longer then it needs to be because the liberals that live here did not want to repair the cyprus freeway or their housing value would go down. SO instead of having more then 1 freeway that heads actually through the city you have the 101 which BREAKS off and forces you to go through streets to get through the city. This takes forever have you ever driven through SF? ANd dont say i need to sharpen my math skills becuase if u ask anyone that lives here they say the city is 8X8 or 7X7. You obviously feel i make up false statements and thats YOUR opinion. And you wont find many people from all over the world here. May I ask where you live?

[Tallysmom]

Originally Posted by CaliNative83

Milliano,

It is nice that you looked at what I said and researched into it. Different websites give different statistics about the amount of asians or whites in a city. I have seen that chinese is higher and lower but if you lived here you would clearly see that there at least as many chinese as whites. I also said "various Asians" because there are other asians here but mostly catonese chinese. Avg commute time here is longer then it needs to be because the liberals that live here did not want to repair the cyprus freeway or their housing value would go down. SO instead of having more then 1 freeway that heads actually through the city you have the 101 which BREAKS off and forces you to go through streets to get through the city. This takes forever have you ever driven through SF? ANd dont say i need to sharpen my math skills becuase if u ask anyone that lives here they say the city is 8X8 or 7X7. You obviously feel i make up false statements and thats YOUR opinion. And you wont find many people from all over the world here. May I ask where you live?

Cypress Structure was the 880 part of the freeway in Oakland that went down in the Loma Prieta earthquake... it's been rebuilt.

I assume you are talking about a freeway that would bypass San Francisco proper to connect to the Golden Gate Bridge? Since I've been here for twenty three years, that freeway has never existed. I don't know if that freeway ever existed. However, you are correct -- they did condemn a small part of it, but not the whole thing.

Your math is fine -- 7 square miles... but your spelling and grammar are atrocious!

[CaliNative83]

Thanks Tallysmom for clarifying some things for me as I have only lived here for 2 years and you have much more knowledge about SF's history =). I dont want my posts to sound negative because there is a lot of things I do like about SF. This post was just supposed to inform people who are relocating here from across the country etc who have not been informed about some of the less flattering traits of SF.

[LexusNexus]

I think the generation we live in is one full of self-absorbed people. This is a nationwide problem, not specific to SF or LA.

I certainly can't knock the chinese and I'm glad they are here in great numbers. My best friend is chinese and I've always had positive experiences with them. They value education and classical music. In their businesses, they try to give the best and most pleasant service. They are a people of quiet quality, not overbearing and in your face. They are quiet neighbors. They make great employees and they work hard. Great to live around them.

Yes, housing is outrageous, but this is nothing new. Happens in all cities that are desirable places to live.

[EscapeCalifornia]

Originally Posted by CaliNative83

ANd dont say i need to sharpen my math skills becuase if u ask anyone that lives here they say the city is 8X8 or 7X7.

That would be 64 or 49 square miles. 8 square miles would be just under 2 mi x 2 mi.

[CaliNative83]

I agree with you buckfush I meet many friendly chinese all the time. However it was more of a comment that was aimed towards the fact that people think SF is very diverse. It is not nearly as diverse as many people assume it would be. Los Angeles has much more variety in terms of Culture, ethnicity, languages, sexuality etc. In SF it just seems like more of the same when living here. You have the same kind of people sticking to their little nerighborhoods with not too much mixing. And thats fine if people want to do that but I hardly call that diversity as other people do. From my experience living in Nor cal and So cal it seems that CA people always think they are better then the rest of the country. But you might be right that it happens in more cities as well.

[CaliNative83]

"The mainland within the city limits roughly forms a seven by seven mile square (11 by 11 km), which has become a colloquialism referring to the city's shape" Wikipedia