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Old 10-25-2011, 02:37 AM
 
6 posts, read 27,840 times
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Thank you all for your responses.

This past summer, I commuted alone from Berkeley to South Bay every single day, so a shuttle won't be half as bad (this is kind of the key point, because the 2 hour commute would seem much worse if I was used to a 10 minute walk, but I'm not)! Our work hours really aren't that crazy except the odd week, so if I take the shuttle I think it stops at the Mission at around 8am and leaves the office between 5pm and 6pm.

I'm pretty sure I don't want to live in South Bay, because I can see myself just being too lazy to go up to SF and end up getting bored on the weekends. Furthermore, I have a lot of friends from college who will be working in SF and already know people who work in the financial district and live in the Marina/North Beach areas. Given that I spent two years of my life in Manhattan, I think SF can be dull sometimes, so the San Jose/Mountain View nightlife really isn't going to suffice.

The cost of owning a car and driving to work would add up to nearly $500 a month, so I'm really not keen on doing that. Ideally, I'd want to live around the Marina because I know people there and the crowd seems quite nice, but the shuttles from the Marina leave at like 7am, and the Caltrain is too far to be a viable alternative. SOMA is nice because of its proximity to Caltrain, but rents seem high. The Mission district seems like a good area in terms of location (shuttle+caltrain), but it's not exactly my scene socially.

Hmmm...........
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Old 10-25-2011, 12:43 PM
 
1,658 posts, read 3,538,004 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tyler-Durden View Post
Thank you all for your responses.

This past summer, I commuted alone from Berkeley to South Bay every single day, so a shuttle won't be half as bad (this is kind of the key point, because the 2 hour commute would seem much worse if I was used to a 10 minute walk, but I'm not)! Our work hours really aren't that crazy except the odd week, so if I take the shuttle I think it stops at the Mission at around 8am and leaves the office between 5pm and 6pm.

I'm pretty sure I don't want to live in South Bay, because I can see myself just being too lazy to go up to SF and end up getting bored on the weekends. Furthermore, I have a lot of friends from college who will be working in SF and already know people who work in the financial district and live in the Marina/North Beach areas. Given that I spent two years of my life in Manhattan, I think SF can be dull sometimes, so the San Jose/Mountain View nightlife really isn't going to suffice.

The cost of owning a car and driving to work would add up to nearly $500 a month, so I'm really not keen on doing that. Ideally, I'd want to live around the Marina because I know people there and the crowd seems quite nice, but the shuttles from the Marina leave at like 7am, and the Caltrain is too far to be a viable alternative. SOMA is nice because of its proximity to Caltrain, but rents seem high. The Mission district seems like a good area in terms of location (shuttle+caltrain), but it's not exactly my scene socially.

Hmmm...........
I agree...don't live in the South Bay. SF>SJ (esp. taking the 280 or Caltrain) is nowhere near as bad as Berkeley>SJ. South Bay doesn't sound at all like what you're looking for and San Jose, or even worse, Mountain View, is no substitute. A shorter commute may be nice but isn't everything.

Does your company subsidize Caltrain passes? (Or do you make enough money that taking Caltrain every day won't be too much of a dent?) If so, SOMA wouldn't be bad...you can probably find something for your price range. If you can go in with roomates then you'll save even more. You can still hang out with your friends in the Marina or FiDi if you live in SOMA or The Mission.
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Old 10-25-2011, 01:49 PM
 
6 posts, read 27,840 times
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Yes, the company does subsidize Caltrain passes and I also have a bike. If I'm in the mission/SOMA, the combination of shuttle and Caltrain should be good enough to commute to Palo Alto.

I've been looking at prices on Craigslist over the past couple of weeks, and SOMA rents seem really high so I'll probably have to get a roommate to get something under $1500/month. Mission on the other hand should be easily doable in the $1000-$1500 range.

What's nightlife in SOMA like? I've heard the mission is supposed to be full of SF's hippie crowd and that I should only be looking at places west of Valencia street. Is the mission area a bit unsafe compared to the rest of the neighborhoods in question?
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Old 10-25-2011, 02:05 PM
 
Location: South Korea
5,242 posts, read 13,043,351 times
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I don't like SOMA, it does not feel like a normal SF neighborhood at all. It still has a lot of desolate warehouses. Lots of heavy traffic because it's all one-way streets that feed into or from the Bay Bridge and the highways. Not much foot traffic and there's not many places to eat or drink compared with other 'hoods in SF. There's a few small clubs scattered around and some big gay ones.

If you lived in San Jose you'd probably end up hanging out in the Mission if you came up to party anyway. Not sure what your aversion to it is. Mission Street is a grubby cesspit but you wouldn't have any reason to go there. Valencia has a lot of great bars and restaurants and is noisy, you wouldn't want to live on it. West of Valencia is way quieter and is way nicer and safer than the areas east of Mission. You might like it, it's a pretty wealthy area but with a lot of hipsters mixed in. Hippies? There aren't really any hippies left in SF, and they're mainly in the Haight. The Marina's not THAT different from the western Mission, though it's more of a blonde ditz sort of scene. The Mission used to be grittier, there's a lot more yuppies there than there were just 5 years ago, so there's a lot of polished new restaurants and bars to cater to them.
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Old 10-25-2011, 03:18 PM
 
1,658 posts, read 3,538,004 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tyler-Durden View Post
What's nightlife in SOMA like? I've heard the mission is supposed to be full of SF's hippie crowd and that I should only be looking at places west of Valencia street. Is the mission area a bit unsafe compared to the rest of the neighborhoods in question?
Mission = hipster, not hippie. It's less safe than the Marina, for sure, but against SOMA it's hit or miss..and yes, you should only be looking at places west of (or on) Valencia. SOMA has a fair number of underground clubs & big ones (not just big gay ones), but as mayorhaggar said it's def. more spread out.
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Old 10-26-2011, 06:55 AM
 
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Sounds good. I'll focus my search on the Mission area for now. Should I also be looking at Noe Valley? What about the Castro area (heard some not so good things about it)?
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Old 10-26-2011, 09:59 AM
 
Location: South Korea
5,242 posts, read 13,043,351 times
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What, are you a homophobe or something?

The Castro is very small, it's literally like 2 blocks on Castro and then a few blocks of shops on Market and that's it. The Western Mission basically blends into it just west of Noe Street.

Noe Valley is ok, I'd look there as well as in the western Mission. It's more yuppie stroller mom while the western Mission is more yuppies with no kids and hipsters.
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Old 10-26-2011, 10:40 AM
 
Location: A bit further north than before
1,651 posts, read 3,688,164 times
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I've been wondering for years what would Tyler Durden do, and now we get to find out!
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Old 10-26-2011, 11:45 AM
 
Location: Northern California
3,721 posts, read 14,688,136 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mayorhaggar View Post
What, are you a homophobe or something?

The Castro is very small, it's literally like 2 blocks on Castro and then a few blocks of shops on Market and that's it.
Maybe the OP doesn't want to look at ageing naked men leaving skid marks on public seating
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Old 10-26-2011, 11:46 AM
 
6 posts, read 27,840 times
Reputation: 12
Quote:
Originally Posted by mayorhaggar View Post
What, are you a homophobe or something?

The Castro is very small, it's literally like 2 blocks on Castro and then a few blocks of shops on Market and that's it. The Western Mission basically blends into it just west of Noe Street.

Noe Valley is ok, I'd look there as well as in the western Mission. It's more yuppie stroller mom while the western Mission is more yuppies with no kids and hipsters.
Oh yes, I'm quite the Pat Robertson. But I have heard that the Castro is a bit sketchy - similar to the area around 16th Street Mission Bart.

Is Western Mission basically +-2 blocks from Dolores park? What about longitudinally?


Quote:
Originally Posted by humboldtrat View Post
Maybe the OP doesn't want to look at ageing naked men leaving skid marks on public seating
Haha, that too.
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