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Old 10-20-2007, 05:27 AM
 
13 posts, read 65,997 times
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Default Question about Mountain View?

Hello! My husband is going to be working at SFO and we've been researching neighborhoods and based on advice I got from this forum we'd pretty much decided on San Mateo or Pacifica. But, now we have an opportunity (through his job) to lease a house in Mountain View, utilities included. This would save us about $800 per month what we'd anticipated spending in Pacifica. Even so I'm still hesitant to take the lease. We are early thirties with no children and enjoy the city and also doing outdoors things. How is Mountain View? Is there any nightlife whatsoever? Also, how would the commute be to SFO? I'm just trying to determine if it would be worth it to live there, because I feel we'd be sacrificing experiencing the whole San Francisco area. Thanks for any advice you may have-I'd love to hear some thoughts on this!
**Editing in to say that I love the beach! (we currently live in So. Fla). How far is the closest beach to Mountain View?

Last edited by smith0624; 10-20-2007 at 05:31 AM.. Reason: forgot to add something
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Old 10-20-2007, 10:40 AM
 
Location: yeah
5,316 posts, read 8,048,246 times
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This is why the SJ and SF forums should be merged...
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Old 10-20-2007, 11:16 AM
 
Location: Northern California
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The commute between SFO and Mtn View along the 101 freeway will be a slow crawl in the morning and late afternoon on weekdays.

As for nightlife, there isn't much in Mtn. View. Castro Street is the main street in Mtn. View with restaurants (mostly Asian). San Francisco is about 45 minutes away if there is no traffic (usually OK on the weekends).

The beach, such as in Santa Cruz is about 45 minutes away. You'll find the beaches here to be not as warm as those in S. Fla. Even in the summer, there is often wind and fog along most of the coast. Few people swim in the ocean as the water is cold.
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Old 10-20-2007, 11:34 AM
 
13 posts, read 65,997 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by krudmonk View Post
This is why the SJ and SF forums should be merged...
Sorry...I'm going to be new to the area so I wasn't aware that Mountain View was supposed to be in the San Jose forum.
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Old 10-20-2007, 11:51 AM
 
Location: Bay Area, CA
9,914 posts, read 8,005,957 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by krudmonk View Post
This is why the SJ and SF forums should be merged...
They should NOT be merged. SJ and SF are as different as Chicago and Milwaukee, New York and Philly, LA and San Diego, DC and Baltimore. Completely different concerns.
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Old 10-20-2007, 12:13 PM
 
Location: yeah
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RomanInSF View Post
They should NOT be merged. SJ and SF are as different as Chicago and Milwaukee, New York and Philly, LA and San Diego, DC and Baltimore. Completely different concerns.
So what if they are? There are a billion topics about the cities surrounding the two and the boundaries there are very ill-defined. Even then, people are talking about commute times from one side of the "boundary" to the other. There's so much interplay that trivial issues of city identity and name recognition become secondary.
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Old 10-20-2007, 12:26 PM
 
Location: Bay Area, CA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by smith0624 View Post
Hello! My husband is going to be working at SFO and we've been researching neighborhoods and based on advice I got from this forum we'd pretty much decided on San Mateo or Pacifica. But, now we have an opportunity (through his job) to lease a house in Mountain View, utilities included. This would save us about $800 per month what we'd anticipated spending in Pacifica. Even so I'm still hesitant to take the lease. We are early thirties with no children and enjoy the city and also doing outdoors things. How is Mountain View? Is there any nightlife whatsoever? Also, how would the commute be to SFO? I'm just trying to determine if it would be worth it to live there, because I feel we'd be sacrificing experiencing the whole San Francisco area. Thanks for any advice you may have-I'd love to hear some thoughts on this!
**Editing in to say that I love the beach! (we currently live in So. Fla). How far is the closest beach to Mountain View?
Every city has a varying degree of energy and ambiance that reach beyond its boundaries to the surrounding areas. Depending on how large the city and how intense the energy, this reach can go far. Chicago's energy extends north as far as Waukegan which is 45 minutes away. It's a big city with plenty of energy. If you live in Waukegan, you feel the presence of the city. Right next door in Zion, you are beginning to not feel it. San Francisco is much smaller than Chicago and although it has great energy, this doesn't reach as far as Mountain View, which is about 35-40 minutes away, less so for SFO. San Mateo, San Bruno, Burlingame are definitely within reach of SF. Mountain View is like Zion. You don't feel the energy from the city there. It has no nightlife. It has a shoreline with the bay, but you're not close to the ocean. Going to Half Moon Bay is about the closest you can go to get to the beach and this is a 45 minute drive. Santa Cruz is maybe an hour away.

One thing I will say is that you will get used to driving to places of interest here, and it is very likely that you will have to drive some distance to take advantage of the things you want to do. Taking this view, it really doesn't matter where you live. If you do decide to move to MV, recognize that you will have to drive to SF to experience any kind of nightlife. Of course there's always San Jose which is closer to the south. It's a city that working hard to create a nightlife.
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Old 10-20-2007, 12:41 PM
 
Location: yeah
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Mountain View actually has a decent nightlife compared to many valley and peninsula towns.
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Old 10-20-2007, 04:08 PM
 
Location: Bay Area, CA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by krudmonk View Post
Mountain View actually has a decent nightlife compared to many valley and peninsula towns.
Such as? Please give some details. I'm assuming that you're talking strictly about Castro st. area
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Old 10-20-2007, 04:54 PM
 
Location: yeah
5,316 posts, read 8,048,246 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RomanInSF View Post
Such as? Please give some details. I'm assuming that you're talking strictly about Castro st. area
All I said was that it beats most of those towns. I didn't compare it to San Francisco.
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