My First Impressions of San Francisco (houses, live in, restaurants)

[mayorhaggar]

Originally Posted by pch1013

Oh hi!

I'm sure he meant Pacific Coast Highway, which is what they call Highway 1 down south. Note to OP: up here it's officially called "Shoreline Highway," "Highway 1," or just plain "One." Within SF it's called Park Presidio Blvd. and 19th Ave.

Yeah I know, I was just ribbing him. I live pretty close to the so-called "PCH."


30 rock: Liz in Los Angeles - YouTube

[Ruth4Truth]

OP, I loved your review of my favorite city, and I agree with everything! I'm glad the City is still friendly (I haven't been back there for awhile). You'll find that the Bay Area in general is like that. People sometimes say "hello" when passing in the street, just as if you were in a small village, and you can have a lot of fun chatting with random strangers in stores, who surprise you with spontaneity and a great sense of humor.

And the restaurants!! It would take at least a couple of lifetimes to sample them all! And I'm glad you mentioned the European feel. This is the feedback I get from Europeans who visit San Franscisco. Did you check out the beach? Golden Gate Park? My favorite amenities. You probably weren't there long enough to notice, but the diversity of high-quality entertainment can't be beat, imo, except possibly in NYC, which is much more challenging to live in than S.F. Oh, and the views!! The Bay views as you walk up and down the hills, the ocean view--neither DC nor NYC measure up.

Let us know if you move there. I'd be game to read a blog you set up about your observations and experiences. Thanks for sharing.

[InternationalOrange]

Originally Posted by 5thgenSF

nice post! and i gotta say...my favorite user name in this forum is "international orange".

Thanks! I love that GG Bridge...

[bentobox34]

You didn't have a category for transit access/ease of car free living, although you mention it under COL. DC would easily win in that category.

That being said, if you are paying the top $$$ to live in one of the tiny slivers of walkability & transit access in the Bay Area (e.g. the SF neighborhoods you named), AND you think you need to "buy a car" (AND pay for parking in SF!) just so you can "drive to Napa" every once in a while, you are either tremendously rich or have warped priorities. Just use Zipcar and/or rentals and save yourself $$hundreds per month.

[nasridian]

Originally Posted by bentobox34

You didn't have a category for transit access/ease of car free living, although you mention it under COL. DC would easily win in that category.

That being said, if you are paying the top $$$ to live in one of the tiny slivers of walkability & transit access in the Bay Area (e.g. the SF neighborhoods you named), AND you think you need to "buy a car" (AND pay for parking in SF!) just so you can "drive to Napa" every once in a while, you are either tremendously rich or have warped priorities. Just use Zipcar and/or rentals and save yourself $$hundreds per month.

That's true - DC wins hands-down in "car free living". The metro and bus system (even though it seems to kill commuters on a monthly basis) is more expansive than in SF. I really like this about DC.

I guess one doesn't need a car in SF but I was describing it to my level of quality of life - if I moved out to SF, it would be in order to take full advantage of the city and the surrounding areas. I wouldn't move out there if I had to slum it in some crap neighborhood or had to beg for rides all the time.

But funny thing is that I actually rented a zipcar for one day at the cost of $110 - which is about 30% more expensive than renting one in DC for a whole day as well. Nevertheless, if I do move out there (negotiations are still underway), I'll see what life is like without a car and go from there.

I heard from many residents that there's a "parking gestapo" in town and the slightest infractions are noticed immediately - that's a definite turnoff.

[matt345]

Originally Posted by nasridian

That's true - DC wins hands-down in "car free living".

The Metro is a huge source of civic pride in DC, I’d say even more so than in NYC. I’ve seen the DC Metro map printed on everything from t-shirts to shower curtains (yes, shower curtains) and many residents will refuse to go anywhere that isn’t directly accessible via the train. In my experience, the Metro is brought up in casual conversation more so in DC than other transit agencies in other cities. People there just love talking about the Metro. Riding the train system itself is viewed as part of the quintessential DC experience, whereas in SF, Muni/BART are more of just a means to an end.

[jade408]

Originally Posted by nasridian

That's true - DC wins hands-down in "car free living". The metro and bus system (even though it seems to kill commuters on a monthly basis) is more expansive than in SF. I really like this about DC.

I guess one doesn't need a car in SF but I was describing it to my level of quality of life - if I moved out to SF, it would be in order to take full advantage of the city and the surrounding areas. I wouldn't move out there if I had to slum it in some crap neighborhood or had to beg for rides all the time.

But funny thing is that I actually rented a zipcar for one day at the cost of $110 - which is about 30% more expensive than renting one in DC for a whole day as well. Nevertheless, if I do move out there (negotiations are still underway), I'll see what life is like without a car and go from there.

I heard from many residents that there's a "parking gestapo" in town and the slightest infractions are noticed immediately - that's a definite turnoff.

Car in SF = Not a fun proposition. It would be a good plan to budget $200-300 a month for parking infractions if you don't have a spot. Oh and get used to walking. Unless you live in the western part of the city, your odds of finding a spot within a block is pretty low. So by the time you factor in the hassles of circling the block for spots and parking 3 blocks away, you might as well walk or take the bus.

[pch1013]

Originally Posted by jade408

Car in SF = Not a fun proposition. It would be a good plan to budget $200-300 a month for parking infractions if you don't have a spot. Oh and get used to walking. Unless you live in the western part of the city, your odds of finding a spot within a block is pretty low. So by the time you factor in the hassles of circling the block for spots and parking 3 blocks away, you might as well walk or take the bus.

Or ride a motorcycle, as I do. No parking hassles, ever!

[nasridian]

Originally Posted by matt345

The Metro is a huge source of civic pride in DC, I’d say even more so than in NYC. I’ve seen the DC Metro map printed on everything from t-shirts to shower curtains (yes, shower curtains) and many residents will refuse to go anywhere that isn’t directly accessible via the train. In my experience, the Metro is brought up in casual conversation more so in DC than other transit agencies in other cities. People there just love talking about the Metro. Riding the train system itself is viewed as part of the quintessential DC experience, whereas in SF, Muni/BART are more of just a means to an end.

Yeah, I really don't understand this about DC. I wouldn't say, however, that people in DC talk about the metro system as a pride and joy of the cit, although there are those who do speak highly of it. I think the main reason is because it's a very clean system, the subways are clean, the stations are clean and they're the most beautiful stations I've ever seen anywhere in the world.

However if you lived here you'll easily understand how much of a headache they also are when it comes to timing. The metro ends at about 230 or 3 o'clock in the morning and on the weekends they don't begin until about 730 In the morning which means that you have to really plan your schedules around if you plan to go out at night on Friday or Saturday, or wake up early in the morning to, for instance, meet people to go hiking, then it's a real pain.

But what really gets me is how often the DC metro breaks down, it's almost every single week and this is not a joke. The metro has killed a number of people in the last five years. I believe the last accident was just about a year ago. It's amazing since New York City has probably 10 times more riders on their subway than DC, but yet they don't nearly have as many breakdowns or deaths. I think the people who manage our metro system just can't get their act together, for instance it's taking almost one year to just switch out an escalator in one of the stations, that's unbelievable. And further, the buses bunch together at all times of the hour so that you'll have three or four of the same bus coming at the same time, which means that you'll have to wait a bit of time if you if you miss those buses.

But even with all the faults I am glad that we have such an expansive system that stretches out to all areas of DC and even outside into Virginia and Maryland. I didn't see this in San Francisco at all and so I wonder how inconvenient it is to get to work if you don't live near a metro station there.

[mayorhaggar]

Is DC anywhere as walkable as SF though? Having good public transit is fine but if it only drops you off in sprawly areas there's way less reason to take it. Public transit can suck in SF, the Metro light rail is a pain in the ass to use for daily commuting and the buses get way to crowded, and BART is dirty. But SF's saving grace is how walkable and dense it is, if you live in a good area like the Mission or Hayes Valley or Nob Hill you never need to leave a small radius to go out to eat, go shopping, etc, except to go to work.