Living in Palo Alto? (San Jose, San Francisco: fit in, rentals, house)

[richc118]

Hello Hello,

I have a potential job opportunity in Palo Alto so starting to do some research on areas in San Francisco to live.

This is my first time in California (and to be honest, the US! I am from the UK but currently living in Malaysia), so looking for some recommendations on places to live.

I am 29, single male. I will be working full time but enjoy a busy social life. Somewhere with a great bar / pub scene, restaurants, venues for live music and a general younger crowd where i can grab a few beers any night of the week.

I will be getting a car, and don't mind doing up to 1 hour commute each way... does that get me any nearer the city? Looking to get into a house share, but need to narrow down the search for craigslist. My budget is $2000 a month and that seems to cover most places for a room.

Any tips or pointers would be greatly appreciated. (if anyone has lived in Melbourne, then i am looking for a place like Fitzroy / Carlton as that is where i was stopping before)

Cheers, Rich.

[80skeys]

Originally Posted by richc118

I am 29, single male. I will be working full time but enjoy a busy social life. Somewhere with a great bar / pub scene, restaurants, venues for live music and a general younger crowd where i can grab a few beers any night of the week.

You'll find this on University Avenue in Palo Alto.

I will be getting a car, and don't mind doing up to 1 hour commute each way... does that get me any nearer the city?

That'll put you in San Francisco. Under normal traffic conditions it's about an hour's drive. With heavy rush hour traffic, it'll be more. But if you're up for commuting on the train, the express train will get you there in 40 minutes.

[Idunn]

If working in Palo Alto, you should probably live there. It is a lovely town, and the only reason not to do so would be the expense of housing.

Due the heavy traffic in the area, you should probably live no farther removed than Mountain View (adjacent to the south), or Menlo Park (adjacent to the north). Places to the west in the foothills, like Woodside, are all the more expensive and where one lives if a fully vested executive at Google. If someone steers you just east of US 101 and East Palo Alto they are either an idiot or no friend (and trying to have you done in). Night and day between one side of that heavily trafficked highway and the other; stay to the west.

The location of your job may have some bearing on where you eventually reside, but University Avenue in Palo Alto has developed into quite the mecca of nightlife and restaurants. It seems to be the place to come for even those not residing in Palo Alto proper. Moreover, northern Palo Alto is more attractive. Rentals can be had in that area, and in the right situation one could quite pleasantly walk but a few blocks from near idyllic residence to the activity of University Ave.

That entire peninsula is one long city between the bay and coastal mountains, running from San Francisco to south of San Jose. Each community has its own flavor, if in other respects the same. It is all expensive, although some areas certainly more desirable than others.

San Francisco offers by far the best options in restaurants and nightlife. But living there is all the more expensive; the weather is distinctly cooler; and even on the commuter train a pain in commuting to Palo Alto. Stay local and remain happy. You will be close enough to enjoy a night on the town in SF whenever wanted.

And, all things considered, be perfectly content in Palo Alto.

[mayorhaggar]

You have to ask yourself what you want. Do you want a longish commute (possibly an hour depending on traffic) from SF to Palo Alto just so you can live in SF and have a city life? Or do you want a short commute and to live somewhere more suburban like Mountain View or Palo Alto? If you're working in tech I can pretty much guarantee you that you'll be working long and unpredictable hours, so having to go all the way back to SF at midnight now and then would be a drag when you could instead have a 5 to 20 minute drive back home. That said, lots of people use tech company shuttles from SF now, though it depends on whether your job will provide them. If your office will be near Caltrain in Palo Alto, you could live in Potrero Hill in SF and hop on the train at the 22nd Street Station, it's a pretty short trip if you get a baby bullet express train. But again if you have crazy hours it could mess up your Caltrain commute because Caltrain is mainly focused on providing service at rush hour--on weekends or at night it only runs once an hour.

[gone down south]

Remember, though, that 'nightlife' on the Peninsula means a couple bars are open late. If you really want the full late-night experience, University Ave isn't going to satisfy you.

[lonerockz]

If I was single I'd avoid Palo Alto... The bay area has a huge housing premium for good schools, and Palo Alto has the best schools in the area (at least by state rankings). So you'd be paying extra, but not getting much for it.

[roadwarrior101]

Originally Posted by mayorhaggar

If your office will be near Caltrain in Palo Alto, you could live in Potrero Hill in SF and hop on the train at the 22nd Street Station, it's a pretty short trip if you get a baby bullet express train. But again if you have crazy hours it could mess up your Caltrain commute because Caltrain is mainly focused on providing service at rush hour--on weekends or at night it only runs once an hour.

Honestly, if this person is working long hours in engineering, living in SF won't provide them any benefit in terms of a social life. They will likely come home so late that they'll probably just be using their home as a place to sleep. Living in Palo Alto, you can still go up to the city on weekends very easily.

[80skeys]

Originally Posted by gone down south

Remember, though, that 'nightlife' on the Peninsula means a couple bars are open late. If you really want the full late-night experience, University Ave isn't going to satisfy you.

True but the whole university atmosphere can be appealing. I have a friend who was working for a company in Redwood Shores. They recently moved the offices to San Francisco. He quit the job and got another job so that he could continue living in Palo Alto because he loves the social circle he has there.