Musician friendly neighborhoods? (Oakland, Berkeley, Fillmore: budget, rental, work)

[thegee77]

Hi,

I'm a musician moving to the bay area and am wondering if there are any communities that are known to have lots of art and musicians. Somewhere with "affordable" rent whatever that is.

[gizmo980]

LOL... affordable isn't in our vocabulary! Seriously, what is your budget, and are you willing to share housing? Without considering the prices, I'd recommend the Fillmore (dubbed the "Jazz district"), North Beach, SoMa, Mission, and perhaps the Haight district. These are all artsy, each with their own personal vibe, and should suit your needs. What kind of music do you play? I'm a classical musician myself, and play with a local community orchestra.

[sonarrat]

Well, I live on the peninsula but I don't know any other musicians here. I know for a fact that a lot of musicians live in loft developments in West Oakland - very dangerous area, but you get a lot of space for the money and there are a lot of interesting gigs in Emeryville and Berkeley.

[whitechocolate86]

Originally Posted by sonarrat

Well, I live on the peninsula but I don't know any other musicians here. I know for a fact that a lot of musicians live in loft developments in West Oakland - very dangerous area, but you get a lot of space for the money and there are a lot of interesting gigs in Emeryville and Berkeley.

Is there a place that artsy types can live and got get killed? I'd love to live in Oakland as I hear it has the art vibe that sf used to have before it became the extraordinarily expensive, smug, and dot-com boom place it is now.

[sonarrat]

Probably Emeryville would be the best bet.

[DMenscha]

One of my guitar playing buddies told me a joke;

"what's the difference between a musician and a pizza?"

The pizza can feed a family of 4

Sorry, but your post reminded me of that. Good luck to you finding what you're looking for.

[thegee77]

Wow, I totally forgot I posted this question, then I did a google search for "where musicians live in san francisco" and was quite surprised to find my post. Ha. Sorry, I don't usually post and then forget about it...I've just been really busy trying to get things together.

I'm finally flying in to SF on Saturday May 24, and I found a temp place.... a little room in the north beach/telegraph hill area...its at stockton and vallejo.
Theyve got weekly rental and i figured i could crash there for a little while. I'm totally open to sharing a place but couldnt work that out so i think i'll just take it for now. Thank you guys for the tips though, any more ideas or reactions would be welcome.

gizmo980, i'm an acoustic guitar player and singer songwriter.....which also means i'm alternative and not genre specific, but i do dance around folk/reggae/funk.