Internship in San Francisco - Where to live?

[ahri]

Originally Posted by luau

with one roomate also making $25/hr, not possible near embarcadero, unless it's Chinatown or if there is parental support.

I kind of expected a commute considering how expensive SF is, any other places in the city that would be decent and wouldn't be an insane commute, thanks

[jade408]

Originally Posted by ahri

I kind of expected a commute considering how expensive SF is, any other places in the city that would be decent and wouldn't be an insane commute, thanks

The cheaper places in SF are the worst commutes to downtown/embarcadero areas.

FYI: the commute from Oakland/Berkeley is actually shorter than many places in SF -- 20-30 minutes. (I.E. the cheaper places in the Richmond and Sunset districts are about a 45-60 minute commute downtown via transit, and pretty slow via car too.)

[ahri]

Originally Posted by jade408

The cheaper places in SF are the worst commutes to downtown/embarcadero areas.

FYI: the commute from Oakland/Berkeley is actually shorter than many places in SF -- 20-30 minutes. (I.E. the cheaper places in the Richmond and Sunset districts are about a 45-60 minute commute downtown via transit, and pretty slow via car too.)

Ah okay thanks for the info. I'm leaning towards probably Berkeley atm from what I have heard

[dalparadise]

Berkeley's a good choice. 20 minutes to Embarcadero by BART. +/-$4.00 each way.

[rkwalton]

Berkeley is great. I just moved from Berkeley back to the city and loved living there. I'm just a city person at heart, so when I realized it was time to move I decided to just focus on finding a place in the city. With that said, as an intern Berkeley could be fun. I'd go for the neighborhoods close to the BART stations. My preference for someone just passing through is Downtown Berkeley or even North Berkeley. You could live a bit further out if you get a cheap bike to ride to and from the station. Downtown Berkeley BART has a Bike Valet where you can park your bike and I used that a lot when I lived there. You can also find some good spots near Ashby BART or Rockridge. I lived in the Elmwood area of Berkeley. It's a bit older but I'm also way past my undergrad/grad student days.

However, is there a way to find out where the other interns you'll be working with will stay? I ask because bonding with the other interns is part of the experience and it's going to be harder to do if they're all in the city and you're in Berkeley. It's more expensive but the city does skew younger and there is more going on in terms of nightlife. The East Bay isn't a complete wasteland though as there is a lot of fun stuff in downtown Oakland. During the summer Cal clears out but for summer session and those aren't the same students.

Also, does the employer help its interns out with housing at least in terms of guiding them to listings?

As you know, you're looking way early. I don't think places will open up early except for the residence hotels in the city. If I were you, I'd consider some of those because some, I've heard, are good.

[schmedes2]

Berkeley is nice enough if you're going to only be out here for the summer; lot's of food, plenty of watering holes and bart is a fairly quick ride. Do take into account, however, that bart is $7.50 a day from downtown berkeley to embarcadero and back and include that in your budget; North Beach would be higher rent but you'd be in a great section of the city with lots of similarly aged people and could walk to work.

On top of that, especially given a summer only stay, I'd suggest looking for a room in the city rather than your own place out in Berkeley. You'd be right in the city, the rent would be cheaper and you could see a lot more. Sure you have more roommates but you have more money and probably more fun

[Mark Fitsburgh]

From my research, dont move to Oakland, its too violent and unsafe.

[rkwalton]

And, OP, don't listen to people who've just done "research" on Oakland.

There are tons of people on this forum who live in or near Oakland and they're best equipped to give you pointers. I lived next to the Rockridge district of Oakland when I lived in Berkeley, and the areas of Oakland I was in from time to time were fine.

There are tons of threads here with people arguing back and forth on the crime rate, but if you decide to live in the Lake Merritt area of Oakland, you'll be fine. There are other areas too but they're not as close to BART.