Manhattan to Napa - young couple without children (San Francisco, Vallejo: live in, move)

[PeixeGato]

Hi there, my wife and I moved here from Jersey City almost 5 years ago and now have a 2-year old. We lived there for about 8 years before we decided we wanted a change in lifestyle.

My first question to you would be what are you looking for in a city to live in? You mentioned your concern about commute, but what about after work? Do you want the suburbs (which is what Walnut Creek and Novato are), do you want slightly more Urban (like Berkeley, Alameda, and Rockridge/Montclair sections of Oakland), or do you want full-on urban living (i.e. SF)?

This will have a HUGE impact on what would be the best places for you to consider for where you live. One thing you should look at is the median age of the town. That will tell you a lot about what to expect. Its something we took too lightly when we moved out here.

Feel free to PM me if you need more detailed advice from a former NYer's perspective.

[Stacy From Cali]

One thing that needs to be addressed is that a commute from Napa to San Francisco is simply not possible within your one hour preference. During rush hour you would be driving in the same direction as the bulk of the traffic, and I would guess that it could take up to two hours just to get to the city. When I first started working in Napa I lived in San Francisco (Outer Richmond, so I took the Golden Gate Bridge route) and it took me about an hour and 15 minutes without speeding (I could do it in an hour, but that's another story)...but that was a reverse commute.

The Bay Area is a huge supporter of social justice programs and not all of them are in San Francisco. I would recommend looking in as well in Marin and Sonoma counties for possible job prospects. That way you could consiter living somewhere like Sonoma (which is FAR better than Napa in my opinion). Sonoma is still a fairly easy commute to St. Helena, but also puts you in commuting distance to Santa Rosa.

It might be better to make your husband drive to St. Helena every day from San Francisco if you truly want to work there. At least its a reverse commute.

[bellalunatic]

Originally Posted by PeixeGato

Feel free to PM me if you need more detailed advice from a former NYer's perspective.

ditto that, feel free to PM me as well, a former NYer that's been in the SF/East and North Bay since 93.

[nycbra]

Dear all, thank you so much for all the information. We just came back from our short trip to Napa and we loved it. Well... I have a slightly fear that we would get bored but I think a drive to SF once a month would be enough so we could go out, see other people, etc.
We ate at a nice restaurant that seemed really popular and with live music which I love. The name of the restaurant is Uva. Are there other places like that, meaning, live music at night?

While we drove back from Napa to SF (through Marin county) on a Sunday, I wonder how long does it actually take on a normal daily week commute from Napa to Novato. It seems around 45 min - 1 hour? Do you think it would be much more than that? There is a prospective job for me there.

[bellalunatic]

The Napa to Novato commute is about 45-1hr, you're about right...The biggest problem as you get closer to Sonoma etc...it's narrow....in other words, if you're stuck behind the concrete truck that's going his speed limit 55mph...you will too. so that's the weird unknown with that drive, but all in all it's a pretty stress free one since it's not one of the most major commute routes in the Bay Area.
Glad to hear that you enjoyed yourselves! Good luck to you...and my personal message offer still stands!
cheers!

[Stacy From Cali]

Yeah, Napa to Novato is not bad. Traffic usually does not back up until right before you hit 101 on 37 (around the 37/Lakeville Road intersection)...and then 101 is bumper to bumper. If you are going to undertake this drive you might also want to check out Sonoma...or heck even Petaluma. My mom drives from Petaluma to San Rafael everyday and its not fun but its doable.

IMO Sonoma is a way more chill town than Napa.

[nycbra]

Originally Posted by Stacy From Cali

Yeah, Napa to Novato is not bad. Traffic usually does not back up until right before you hit 101 on 37 (around the 37/Lakeville Road intersection)...and then 101 is bumper to bumper. If you are going to undertake this drive you might also want to check out Sonoma...or heck even Petaluma. My mom drives from Petaluma to San Rafael everyday and its not fun but its doable.

IMO Sonoma is a way more chill town than Napa.

Hi Stacy, thanks for the input. It sounded like the commute would not be bad at all.
What do you mean by saying that Sonoma is more a chill town? Do you mean more a young crowd? Or more things to do?
Thanks again!

[Stacy From Cali]

Originally Posted by nycbra

Hi Satacy, thanks for the input. It sounded like the commute would not be bad at all.
What do you mean by saying that Sonoma is more a chill town? Do you mean more a young crowd? Or more things to do?
Thanks again!

There is more to do in Sonoma, but its not just that. Sonoma doesn't take itself as seriously as Napa does...I mean Napa truly believes its not just a town its a lifestyle...its NAPA (if that makes any sense). But the unfortunate thing with Napa is that it is so focused on creating their image it does not give enough attention to maintaining a liveable town for locals.

One silly case in point is the lack of good neighborhood coffee houses in Napa. The one cool one that opened while I was there (the Smoking Cat) had nothing but issues with the City because they had live music and wanted to have smoking allowed on the back patio...both were shot down because it was see as a nusience. It also came out that some local folks did not like the fact that young people were hanging out there ( again, young people = bad image) I have never seen anything like this happening in Sonoma (which has a good selection of coffee houses), and having moved to Napa from San Francisco I found the way it was handled by the city to be very provincial.

There are other issues like the new hotels that are going up around town and the lack of conversation about their impact on local neighborhoods...that sort of thing. Sonoma keeps itself more real.

Plus I like Sonoma's farmer's market better...LOL!

[djzuehlke]

Napa has no night life other than eating at over prices restaurants, and drinking wine. There are two bars in the city and I go to neither of them, and a few bar/restaurants. Nightlife usually involves Fairfield but that isn't for everybody. It's a very down-to-earth atmosphere. Vacaville has a couple nice bars for nightlife. After that, you're looking at San Francisco and Sacramento.

[nmnita]

well it has been 6 months, I wonder what the OP and hubby ended up doing and where they are living???

Nita