Moving from Phoenix to East Bay, lots of questions! (San Jose: Valentine's day, apartments)

[maranapanda]

Hello!
We are moving from the Phoenix area to the East Bay area around the first weekend in May. I've been lurking these boards for a few weeks now, and I still have a few questions.

The general area....
1. What kind of pests do people deal with in this area? I understand if that seems like a random, or crazy question, but we've been dealing with bark scorpions, black widows, and **** roaches. I just would like to know what I'm going to be facing up there! (like for example, our pets don't get fleas down here)

2. Where do people go to see fall leaves? Are there enough deciduous trees around that people generally notice the change in seasons?

3. Is there a change to mark the seasons? Are there four seasons? Any?

4. Is there really fog everywhere? Or is fog something you only see on the bay?

5. Where do people go to see snow in the winter?

6. When people comment that 'it gets hotter the further inland you go' what are we talking about? Like Concord, Livermore? Are they talking about Tracy? And what is "hot"? High 90s? more, less?

I'm not sure exactly where we will be renting. That will be decided (largely) by availability in the next few months. My husband's office is currently by the Oakland Airport, with the occasional travel to the Livermore area. His company has plans (though not concrete) to change the office location permanently to the Livermore area by the end of, or with in the year. (apparently they already have the space, it's just a matter of scheduling the actual move) This puts us in a bit of a bind. We're looking for a house that will accommodate both locations. For the most part he will not be able to use public transit, as car travel will be part of his job. With that in mind, are there any opinions of areas that will best suit our needs?
~4 bedroom, or 3 bedroom with an office
~over 1600 sq ft
~under 2,400 rent/month
~family safe, I have 3 children under 7 (you never hear people ask for something unsafe)
~schools are NOT an issue, as we are homeschoolers
~commute that is hopefully not longer than an hour each way
~AND, I have three cats (I know, I know)

Here's my general impression of a few areas based on craigslist, this forum, and city data
~Walnut Creek, Danville areas would be ideal, but I think we are priced out.
~Livermore, Pleasanton, and Dublin would be great, but most homes are too small, or too expensive
~Castro Valley, Hayward Fremont areas have homes in our range, but maybe lacking in safety?
~Antioch, Pitsburg and Discovery Bay may have large homes in our range but the commute would be a killer. And the safety thing again?
~Martinez, Hercules, Pinole might work, if we don't mind a really long drive
~crossing a bridge should be avoided?

Alright. I realize that my "impression of areas" sounds pretty negative. I'm just trying to be pragmatic. I don't want to get my hopes up, only to end up in some scary ass place surrounded by Californians. (just kidding about that last part)

Thank you so much for any information, or opinions you can provide. This site, and forum has already been an invaluable resource.

~Amanda

[mayorhaggar]

Since he'd be commuting to the Oakland Airport and Livermore I'd definitely look at the southern areas of the East Bay...somewhere like Concord or Hercules/Pinole would be up your alley except for that commute, though Concord might just about work. Castro Valley and Fremont should be fine for safety, Hayward not so much though it's supposed to have a few nice parts. As for your questions, I'll answer them by number:

1) in general you don't really see many bugs at all in the Bay Area from what I've seen, though I've only lived in SF and Oakland. I grew up in Florida where every square inch of indoors and outdoors is infested with roaches, lizards, ants, mosquitoes, etc, and you don't really get any of that in the Bay Area, though I bet you get more of it if you're somewhere more rural. You sometimes get ants inside but just put some traps out and they go away. You'll get fruit flies if you don't have screened windows. That's about it. You can get mice and rats if your landlord doesn't take care of the property but I think that's more of a San Francisco thing.

2. Oakland has great foliage in the fall...lots of oak trees that go all red around November. San Francisco doesn't have anything, there's some trees that lose their leaves but they just go brown and fall off rather than changing colors. Also Oakland has a great spring where there's lots of spring flowers like daffodils and lilacs and so on, starting around early February...SF doesn't have any of that for some reason. I imagine the suburbs in the East Bay are more like Oakland than SF for foliage.

3. There aren't quite seasons like in the Northeastern US or Midwest...it's cold and rainy from November through April and then it's cool and dry the rest of the year, or hot and dry if you're somewhere inland.

4. The summer fog is mainly on the coast. In the morning it will reach into Oakland but by noon it pulls back to the middle of San Francisco.

5. Tahoe for skiing, or they fly to Colorado or maybe Whistler in BC

6. Basically there are a big ridge of hills in the East Bay which keep cool weather to the west and warmer weather to the east in the summer. Also the further south you go towards San Jose, the warmer it gets. A typical July day: Oakland and Berkeley will be 70 when SF is 65. Lafayette/Orinda and San Jose will be 80 to 85. Walnut Creek and anywhere further east will be 90 to 100.

[maranapanda]

Thank you so much! That's a lot of good information, and I really appreciate the help.

Amanda

[ImRandy]

1. Tons of Black Widows in the East Bay. There are a lot more spiders on this side of the Bay than on the peninsula. In our yard, anything put outside overnight will get covered in spider webs. Lots of oriental cockroaches outside and if you aren't clean you'll have other types inside. On the plus side we haven't had the mosquito problem that we had on the peninsula. You can sit outside without getting eaten alive.

2. Lots of people go to the Sierras. The Sacramento Bee has a section in their paper and online where they have fall color reports. It's not the same as in the Eastern US though.

3. We have two seasons. Wet and dry. Wet is a couple of months in the "winter" and dry is the rest of the year.

4. In the winter there's low fog inland and during the summer you'll get fog coming in through the Golden Gate in the early afternoon. A little later in the day the fog will come up and over the coastal mountains in thick billowy clouds which is really impressive to watch. This fog will roll across the Bay and will stop at the East Bay hills. It makes the immediate Bay Area quite comfortable but does nothing to reduce the heat inland.

5. Tahoe and Yosemite are very popular.

6. Yes. Basically anything on the other side of the hills heading East and to the South gets hot, frequently over 100° while the Bay stays much cooler. Before I moved to the East Bay I lived in Daly City. We came out for a party and it was ~110° when we got home to Daly City 40 minutes later it was 65°. The East Bay compared to San Francisco is colder in the winter and hotter in the summer. Livermore is one of the hottest areas.

[maranapanda]

Good to know! I'm so ready to be done with black widows. And I'm really excited to hear that there's some fall foliage. I think I'd like to avoid the hotter areas, even if they will never be as hot as we have here in Phoenix. I'm ready for a change!

Amanda

[tstieber]

Originally Posted by maranapanda

Good to know! I'm so ready to be done with black widows. And I'm really excited to hear that there's some fall foliage. I think I'd like to avoid the hotter areas, even if they will never be as hot as we have here in Phoenix. I'm ready for a change!

Amanda

Wait, who said you'd be done with black widows? I grew up in Walnut Creek, and black widows are VERY pervasive. We had them all the time in the garage and the side of the house. Scary stuff.

Other critters you'll find around here: enormous crickets, also Jerusalem crickets (those big yellow waxy ones, though less often), tarantulas (mostly in local mountains and state parks though), snakes (mostly if near open space -- garter snakes, gopher snakes king snakes, and rattlesnakes), tarantulas (also mostly near open space -- they have hikes to watch the tarantula migrations on Mt. Diablo every October), and very rarely, small scorpions (we had a dead one in our front yard in the early 80s, and I saw one at an open house in rural Antioch in the late 80s. But VERY rare).

There are also possums, racoons, deer, turkeys (not sure how they got here, because they've only been around for ten years), feral pigs (in rural areas, also not native but rampant lately), mountain lions, bobcats, and coyotes.

If you live in a suburban neighborhood, you'll probably only deal with black widows. If you're more on the edges of the Bay Area (Antioch, Livermore), then you may see the other critters too.

[tstieber]

As for the other questions, and to echo some of the info on here:

2. There are enough deciduous trees around to notice the fall colors, but mostly inland. Near the bay, fewer people seem to plant them. None of the local fall color will be native, but you'll see planted trees like liquidambar, Chinese pistache, or ginkgo. You won't see fall foliage in nature, but rather in people's yards or as street trees. However, you'll also see things familiar to you like date palms and orange trees. It's kind of a mix.

3. Like others said, it's more two seasons: wet and dry. Classic mediterranean climate. November through early April is rainy, and the rest of the year is almost completely dry. You'll notice the change of seasons from the native landscape turning golden brown in May, and green in December. Wildflowers are out now. The rainy season is erratic though -- last year, it rained a little in December, then we had six weeks of warm sunny weather, then it started raining Valentine's Day and was cold and wet into May. This year, it's been barely raining all winter -- just a few inches to date, and the rainy season could end soon. So it's drought or flood.

4. Fog is mostly near the water, and it's not the ground fog you might think of. Ground fog does form inland in December and January, if it's a clear night and there's enough humidity. This year, there's been almost none of that. However, coastal fog forms along the ocean any time of year, but mostly in summer, and basically hangs around like low clouds, so it looks more like an overcast day than a foggy one. Some beaches may not clear for weeks in the summer. Santa Cruz is usually sunnier and warmer though. If you live inland in the areas you're identifying, the amount of fog you get won't be worth mentioning - maybe ten mornings a year.

5. The Sierra Nevada have real snow -- measured by the foot -- and are between 3 and 4 hours away depending on what area you live in. On rare occasion, local mountains like Mt. Diablo or Mt. Hamilton will get a dusting of an inch or two on the summit. This happens between zero and 3 times a winter, and it typically closes the roads going up there, to the disappointment of locals. I think they figure if you have to make the effort to see an inch of snow, you won't have chains. Those dustings usually melt in a day or so.

6. Inland would be anything east of the Oakland Hills, starting in Orinda, Lafayette, etc., or, farther south, San Ramon or Pleasanton. The closer to the Oakland hills, the less hot. Orinda, for example, is at the coastal fog cutoff and gets chilly nights and cloudy mornings, even in summer. Livermore is much hotter. Tracy is even hotter.

Here's a breakdown of approximate "average" July temps:
-Orinda/Lafayette - low to mid 80s
-Walnut Creek/Pleasant Hill/San Ramon/Dublin - upper 80s
-Concord/Pleasanton - 90-ish
-Livermore/Antioch/Pittsburg - low 90s
-Tracy - mid 90s

Those are averages, and you'll actually get days in Concord ranging from the low 80s to the low 100s every summer. It sort of cycles. When it's hot, then the nights are in the 60s. When it's mild, then the nights are only in the 50s. But you will need A/C inland (and everyone has it).

I have experienced 2 or 3 days over many years that were only 70 for the high temp in the middle of summer, and 2 or 3 days that it was 110 or higher. Those extremes are rare. About five years ago, we drove through Pleasanton on the hottest day I've ever experienced, and our car registered 116F. That's once in a lifetime!

As for areas, WC and Danville are definitely pricier than Livermore or Dublin. Livermore would be great if you're homeschooling, because it's less expensive, and it's got a nice wine country/ranch feel to it, with a cute downtown. Tracy is really isolated and far from anything.
Castro Valley, Hayward, and Fremont are older areas. Hayward is a little sketchy (and much cooler). Fremont has a lot of infrastructure. Castro Valley is bland, but the setting is nice, in a little valley. And the homes are old.
-Martinez, Hercules, and Pinole have great deals, and you wouldn't be crossing any bridges, but the commute from Hercules or Pinole to the OAK airport would be hell. Going to Livermore would be slightly better, as you'd be taking 680 instead of 80. Of those three, I prefer Hercules -- it's less industrial, and there are new homes for a steal.

[jade408]

I find Hayward to be hot with morning fog. Castro Valley is a little cooler and less foggy.

Livermore wouldn't be a bad ride to OAK: you'd take 580 for most of the ride, and then 238 to 880 which can be a little slower, but tolerable since you'll be heading north.

I think he best bets are Livermore, Concord (in some areas), PLeasant Hill or Castro Valley.

PErsonally, I don't like Martinez/Benicia/Hercules because they are way too close to the oil refineries. And once in a while there is some warning about not going outside for air quality reasons.

You could look at El Sobronte, byt that's another area with mostly older homes. It is cheaper than its neighbors and kinda between Orinda and El Cerrito.

[Ira9]

Traffic is a killer if in the wrong place. I would rule out pinole area (high crime too) and just stick along the highway 580 corridor, which already is a killer for traffic in itself. Castro Valley is not a bad place, especially the Palomares Hills area where most of the residents are educated professionals (Chinese and East Indian engineers). Stay away from Oakland, San Leandro, and Hayward where most of the people work blue collar jobs. The demographics in that area are Black & Hispanic. Dublin is a cheap area and mostly apartments. Livermore is cheap too and really hot. Castro Valley is your best bet because it is in the middle of Oakland Airport and Livermore, and just right outside the high crime area of Oakland/San Leandro/Hayward.

[mayorhaggar]

Originally Posted by Ira9

Stay away from Oakland, San Leandro, and Hayward where most of the people work blue collar jobs.

You're probably too ignorant to know this, but Oakland does have several wealthy and nice neighborhoods, but they're mainly in the north of the city which would make getting to Livermore kind of a pain. There are some areas east of Lake Merritt that could work though. San Leandro has some nice parts too.