best city in bay area for me? (Oakland, Santa Rosa: low crime, neighborhood)

[djohanna]

hi,

i'm looking for a city like this:
-doesn't get too hot in the summer
-affordable rent; so san francisco proper wouldn't work
-low crime...so NOT oakland or richmond--even if it's in another part of town yadda yadda, i don't want to share breathing room with many gangsters, etc. i was annoyed enough being in the same high school classes with very ghetto girls in albany.
-not too boring. petaluma, for example, was uber boring. so was Santa Rosa, where I grew up.
-demographic: mostly white. i'm just not much into Mexican or Asian culture & food. More like Whole Foods vegetarian granola, and French language.
-not too many hipsters. hipsters are annoying. not too many Republicans or religious people, either.
-close to good hiking spots. pretty green; not a desert-y city.

maybe none of the cities fit this description, but if you know of one please tell me. thanks in advance!

[Ruth4Truth]

Picky, picky! Berkeley--stays cool, being right in the path of the fog coming in the Golden Gate--but may have too many Asians for your taste...? There's a nice French restaurant in town, though...

Benicia. May not pass your "boring" filter, though.

Lafayette and Walnut Creek, though they get warmer in the summer than the inner Bay towns. Depends on what you consider "too hot". No hotter than Santa Rosa, anyway. Definitely White bread turf.

[bmw335xi]

None of them fit your description for various reasons, but mostly because you want a cheap area that is fun, mild weather and safe, but not full of hipsters or minorities. Berkeley, Walnut Creek etc aren't considered cheap, you should tell us your budget.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by bmw335xi

None of them fit your description for various reasons, but mostly because you want a cheap area that is fun, mild weather and safe, but not full of hipsters or minorities. Berkeley, Walnut Creek etc aren't considered cheap, you should tell us your budget.

In the Bay Area, everything is relative. She didn't say "cheap", she said "affordable". The farther out from the Bay you go (Lafayette, WC, Concord), the more "affordable" it gets, still a relative term, though.

[djohanna]

Yeah. Affordable compared to Vancouver, BC that is. Which is really expensive.
I'd rather pay more for a better quality of living though.
I sorta lived in Berkeley, it's an OK city, nothing too special. I was followed by a fat older dude there who kept asking me to watch him jack off in a bathroom at People's Park. I also went to Berkeley City College for a time, where I met a very weird hippie guy, and also felt intimidated by all the ghetto crackhead types milling around the corner. Sather Tower is kinda overrated.
Berkeley definitely has a lot of good things going for it, but it's too close in proximity to high crime areas.

[ketch89]

Originally Posted by djohanna

hi,

i'm looking for a city like this:
-doesn't get too hot in the summer
-affordable rent; so san francisco proper wouldn't work
-low crime...so NOT oakland or richmond--even if it's in another part of town yadda yadda, i don't want to share breathing room with many gangsters, etc. i was annoyed enough being in the same high school classes with very ghetto girls in albany.
-not too boring. petaluma, for example, was uber boring. so was Santa Rosa, where I grew up.
-demographic: mostly white. i'm just not much into Mexican or Asian culture & food. More like Whole Foods vegetarian granola, and French language.
-not too many hipsters. hipsters are annoying. not too many Republicans or religious people, either.
-close to good hiking spots. pretty green; not a desert-y city.

maybe none of the cities fit this description, but if you know of one please tell me. thanks in advance!

That doesn't describe any city in the bay. You're looking for Portland, Oregon, or maybe Denver or Minneapolis.

Edit: Eh the only knock against Portland on your criteria would be hipsters, but why would they bother you? Hipsters are just stylishly-dressed young people making socially conscious decisions, lol. They'll be present anywhere interesting.

[Ruth4Truth]

You might like Walnut Creek or Lafayette, then. Very civilized. No homeless issues.

Sather Tower? Who cares about Sather Tower? People live in Berkeley for the views of the Bay, for one thing, and for the cooler weather, lots of good restaurants, and the neighborhood ambience, the locally-owned shops and groceries everywhere. It's not necessary to go anywhere near downtown or the university, hardly at all, depending on where you live. North Berkeley's good, so is south Berkeley. Still, inland is cheaper. Can't predict if you'd find it boring, though.

[funtimessf]

Nothing outside of SF, Oakland, and Berkeley is exactly exciting, and you have struck those three places off of your list. Walnut Creek is mostly white, has a busy downtown, but is not very green, gets hot, and is more Republican. San Rafael is mostly white, is green, has mild summers, but the downtown is pretty quiet. San Mateo has a busy downtown, is green, has mild summers, is mostly white but less so than the other two. None of these three towns is cheap. Palo Alto has a nice downtown, is green, has mild summers, and is mostly white, but is not affordable. South Bay doesn't sound like a good match - not very green, it gets hot, and both Asians and latins outnumber whites there.

I second Portland, and also Seattle, as better options for you, if you don't mind clouds and rain. Mild weather, very green, more whites, much more affordable.

[jade408]

You are looking for a unicorn. Try staying north of California. Especially since you don't want to see those "yucky minorities and hipsters."

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by ketch89

They'll be present anywhere interesting.

See, this is what I don't get about the OP. She doesn't want any interesting people (no hipsters or minorities), but she wants the place to be not-boring.

Honestly, I wondered if the OP was a serious post.