Young professionals, tech workers who live in Mission... what made you choose to live there? (Los Angeles: fit in)

[futak]

I wanted to hear from young professionals or tech workers who live in the Mission, what made you decide to live there? Was it purely a cost issue? Or was it something else? Access to public transportation, maybe? Or was it because there are people closer to our age moving there as well?

Also, what are some the things you like and dislike about living in the Mission?

Just wanted to hear some firsthand accounts.
Thanks!

[RobNeedsHelp]

I moved to the Mission in 2010. I was 26.

When I moved, I was still working in Sunnyvale. So I was looking for something which was closer to the Caltrain station and had easy access to the freeway. That left me with 2 options: SOMA and the Mission. For some reason I wasn't interested in Potrero, and from the Mission I planned to drive to the 22nd Caltrain station. I was very close to signing a lease in SOMA, but it fell through at the last moment and then I eventually found a place in the Mission!

So it just happened by chance. I still remember- right after signing the lease in the Mission, I walked over to a cafe thinking that I had made a big mistake and I was kicking myself for messing up the SOMA deal. Boy, was I wrong. :-)

Why do you ask?

[BayAreaDave]

i had to get my daily fix so I moved as close to possible to 16th and mission.

[BayAreaHillbilly]

The authenticity of getting puke on my Campers.

[futak]

Thanks for the replies
@RobNeedsHelp your insight is very helpful. Thanks! The reason I ask is because I'm at that point where I am about to graduate from college and getting ready to enter the workforce in SF. I'm looking to move somewhere more affordable, but at the same time, around people who I can relate to and around my age. At the same time, I've been reading a lot of negative things on this forum about Mission, so I thought I would ask people who have firsthand experience

Is there anything that any of you don't like about living in Mission? Or anything that you would like to see changed?

[beb0p]

Mission is a big area, I think one's experience is going to depend on which part of the Mission one lives. It's also an area that is gentrifying at the speed of light, and someone who lived there but moved away six years ago may merely be reflecting on a bygone era.

Btw, is Mission still affordable?

.

[futak]

@beb0p, I see what you mean. Thanks for your input.
I found a few postings on Craigslist for $950, $2k. My roommate and I are both from Los Angeles, so we don't know much about living up here, but we heard that Mission would be cheaper and younger people were moving out there who worked in the tech industry, so I thought I would start asking around...

Anyone else want to share their thoughts please?

[04kL4nD]

"Cheap" housing in the Mission is sort of a rip off for what you'll get. I remember back in college looking at a room in a really dumpy apartment off Shotwell that people were clawing all over eachother for that was $750 a month (it would probably go for at least $1100 these days), and that's when I decided it wasn't a neighborhood I wanted to live in. The really nice parts of the Mission, near Valencia aren't cheap, so you really have to love the culture/vibe that the area to put up with the cost. I enjoy an occasional meal or night out in the Mission, but it's just never felt like a place I'd fit in or enjoy that much. FWIW, a lot of the young, hip crowd that used to make up the population of the Mission is moving across the Bay into West Oakland and Temescal where the weather/price are marginally better.