Looking to move to San Francisco From Chicago-a few questions from a 20-something professional (Oakland: apartment, neighborhood)

[lmz055]

Lol I'm not white so this is pretty funny. I do hang out with white people but don't limit myself to that. Thanks for everyone's suggestions!

[bmw335xi]

Originally Posted by kcimos

QUOTE]
awe, poor Mr. BMW, so easily offended by people that don't drive BMWs.

why would that matter? Are you assuming that the OP is also a racist white person? Maybe because she is a young professional and in your limited BMW-centric view of the world only white people can be professional?
WOW!
why? because only white kids go to college?

1) It looks like you are the one easily offended lol

2) It matters because some people on this forum describe the people who live in the Marina as arrogant, spoiled trust fund babies that belong to obnoxious frats/sorts. I feel the need to lay some truth on the subject because a decent amount of my friends live there and the above doesn't describe them at all. I think one of the reasons why some people have this image is because it's one of the few areas that are still a White majority. It would be like someone saying, "well I wouldn't want to live in XYZ because it's full of thugs and killers" about a Black neighborhood. Haters seem to connect clean White neighborhood, oh it must mean everyone that lives there are spoiled fratty trust fund babies.

I actually lean more towards my Asian half than my White half, so you can throw all your White-supremacy insults somewhere else . I was simply explaining why some people have a negative view on the Marina and the truth about the actual area. I guess you find that offensive and by your post I can tell you really hate anyone that drives a BMW lol.

[skyao]

The reputation of the Marina is well deserved. I would subtract the trust fund part and just leave it as the frattiest section of the City. And of course, a reputation doesnt mean that every single person is that way..

Also Noe Valley is majority white and doesnt have that reputation. Neither do Glen Park, Cole Valley, or Haight Ashbury, which are also majority white...

Originally Posted by bmw335xi

1) It looks like you are the one easily offended lol

2) It matters because some people on this forum describe the people who live in the Marina as arrogant, spoiled trust fund babies that belong to obnoxious frats/sorts. I feel the need to lay some truth on the subject because a decent amount of my friends live there and the above doesn't describe them at all. I think one of the reasons why some people have this image is because it's one of the few areas that are still a White majority. It would be like someone saying, "well I wouldn't want to live in XYZ because it's full of thugs and killers" about a Black neighborhood. Haters seem to connect clean White neighborhood, oh it must mean everyone that lives there are spoiled fratty trust fund babies.

I actually lean more towards my Asian half than my White half, so you can throw all your White-supremacy insults somewhere else . I was simply explaining why some people have a negative view on the Marina and the truth about the actual area. I guess you find that offensive and by your post I can tell you really hate anyone that drives a BMW lol.

[clongirl]

The Marina is actually where all my native San Franciscan male friends used to go on the weekends to meet girls coming in from Marin. Hardly trust fund babies---just die hard middle class Niner's fans that all attended San Francisco high schools. FYI... Many are are now firemen for the SF fire dept.

[bigdumbgod]

Originally Posted by clongirl

The Marina is actually where all my native San Franciscan male friends used to go on the weekends to meet girls coming in from Marin. Hardly trust fund babies

Just bros looking for hot trust fund chicks. We've all known these types.

Marina = South OC.

[dalparadise]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

Noe Valley's nice. Russian Hill, too.

This is a good recommendation, though Noe is a bit more family-oriented than a single woman might like, but it butts up against the nice, clean edge of the Mission, which I think you would enjoy a lot.

The Marina can tend toward its reputation of being "fratty," especially north of Union. As you go toward Pacific Heights, Cow Hollow and the Fillmore, the Marina Girls and Bros thin out dramatically, though. Even so, the Marina is a good place for singles, is clean, safe, and filled with entertainment and restaurants. I live just up the hill, in Russian Hill, and find it to have much less of the energy of the Marina, but quite a bit more SF charm and it is easy walking distance to the Marina and North Beach, which is as I like it.

Advice to check out North Beach/Telegraph Hill is solid.
I would also add the Inner Sunset and Hayes Valley, too--they are both less "upscale," but also far from "fratty".

In any neighborhood you choose, your best bet for meeting people will likely be the Google shuttle anyway. It's a bit of a ride down the Peninsula and I'd imagine the kind of person you're looking for would be the kind to strike up a conversation with the attractive girl he sees every morning on his commute. Good luck.

Sunset and Western Addition are not at all

[beb0p]

Originally Posted by lmz055

From what my friend told me, she said that Marina is the closest neighborhood to Gold Coast. Do you think that's true?

I lived in the Marina for years and it's not fratty. Now, the bars in the Marina are very fratty; and I was always puzzled where those bros came from because the neighborhood itself is not anymore fratty than other neighborhoods. The reputation mostly came from outsiders who just frequented the Marina bars and think the entire nabe is like that. If anything, it's much more yuppie than fratty.

Marina is a post-college-before-marriage type crowd, that may or may not be your cup of tea.

I was told that Mission and Marina are two most popular for Google workers; so maybe you can start there. Other suggested like Russian Hill, Noe Valley, etc are also very nice.

.

[04kL4nD]

Originally Posted by beb0p

I lived in the Marina for years and it's not fratty. Now, the bars in the Marina are very fratty; and I was always puzzled where those bros came from because the neighborhood itself is not anymore fratty than other neighborhoods. The reputation mostly came from outsiders who just frequented the Marina bars and think the entire nabe is like that. If anything, it's much more yuppie than fratty.

This makes absolutely ZERO sense. That's like saying that the Mission isn't hipster, but the bars there are. Or Fisherman's wharf isn't touristy, but the shops and people who hang out there are touristy.

It's OK to admit that the Marina is fratty. There's nothing inherently wrong with being born white and coming from money. For a lot of people, this is even seen as highly desirable or even enviable. It's just that in the Bay Area, fratty comes across as very East Coast/obnoxious/ostentatious and the hipster/ironic crowd (for whatever reason) is more preferable. Frankly, I'm highly suspicious of places where everyone talks, dresses, and acts the same (Marina, Castro, Mission, Walnut Creek, etc), but that's just me.

[beb0p]

Originally Posted by 04kL4nD

This makes absolutely ZERO sense. That's like saying that the Mission isn't hipster, but the bars there are. Or Fisherman's wharf isn't touristy, but the shops and people who hang out there are touristy.

It's OK to admit that the Marina is fratty. There's nothing inherently wrong with being born white and coming from money. For a lot of people, this is even seen as highly desirable or even enviable. It's just that in the Bay Area, fratty comes across as very East Coast/obnoxious/ostentatious and the hipster/ironic crowd (for whatever reason) is more preferable. Frankly, I'm highly suspicious of places where everyone talks, dresses, and acts the same (Marina, Castro, Mission, Walnut Creek, etc), but that's just me.

The Marina is not fratty for people who lives there, it only seems fratty to visitors. That's a little fact that people who never lived in the Marina never seem to want to hear. I'd have no problem saying it's fratty if it is, but it's not, unless you only judge a neighborhood by its bars, only on weekends after 10pm, and only on those couple of streets, which I don't.

The Mission is probably one of the most diverse neighborhood in SF. The Mission is very hipster, not just the bars, there are a lot of hipsters who live in the Mission but there are also many other groups there.

[04kL4nD]

The Marina is not fratty for people who lives there, it only seems fratty to visitors. That's a little fact that people who never lived in the Marina never seem to want to hear. I'd have no problem saying it's fratty if it is, but it's not, unless you only judge a neighborhood by its bars, only on weekends after 10pm, and only on those couple of streets, which I don't

So you're saying that the people who live in the Marina don't frequent the bars there? Where do they hang out instead? It doesn't make a lot of sense to me to live in neighborhood with bars/restaurants/gyms/nightclubs that cater to the fratty crowd when you aren't fratty yourself. I guess you should tell this to my coworker who's lived in a rent controlled apartment in the Marina for the last 10 years or so (hint: he moved to the Marina right after college to be able to walk to all the fratty bars). He's been wanting to move since he's older now, and sick and tired of loud/drunk 20 somethings waking him up in the middle of the night, but he can't afford anywhere else in the city right now. Next time he complains about someone puking on the steps to his apartment complex, I'll just remind him that only visitors have the right to complain about the fratty crowd, and that he's lucky to live in a yuppie neighborhood.