Relocating to Northern California from Chicago - May 2013 (San Jose, San Francisco: apartment complexes, rent)

[GU - Relocation]

I am relocating to Northern California for work; I am looking to be located in the bay area. In particular, though it is a wide range, I am looking at Berkeley, Oakland, Walnut Creek, Sacramento, and even San Jose – San Francisco seems outside my price range – but am open to all suggestions. I will be traveling a lot for work so location and access to the highways is important. I am 25 and enjoy a neighborhood feel along with good quality restaurants, social bars that are sports centric and outdoor activities that would be ideal for running. My girlfriend will also be moving out come July and her working situation is up in the air. Any advice or suggestions on areas, neighborhoods, and even apartment complexes is welcome.

Thanks – Lifetime Chicagoan

[clongirl]

Those are very broad parameters (despite what it might look like on a map)! Where is your job going to be located, what is your budget and we can go from there. Highways are plentiful but we need to know which ones you need to be near.

[GU - Relocation]

Thanks for the response - I really appreciate it!

I will be based out of my apartment for my office and travel a ton for work, all by car but occasionally will fly back to headquarters in Boston. My territory will cover the Bay area, up to Redding, down to Fresno/SLO. I'd like to be centralized around Berkeley, Walnut Creek, Oakland but have never been to the area. I am planning to fly out a few times before hand to look at apartments and areas. I'd like to cap my rent budget at $2000 a month - 1 or 2 bed rooms. I am open to any suggestions and just threw out Sacramento and San Jose but I'd rather be a little closer to SF, Oakland, Berkeley.

[ttocs99]

Originally Posted by GU - Relocation

Thanks for the response - I really appreciate it!

I will be based out of my apartment for my office and travel a ton for work, all by car but occasionally will fly back to headquarters in Boston. My territory will cover the Bay area, up to Redding, down to Fresno/SLO. I'd like to be centralized around Berkeley, Walnut Creek, Oakland but have never been to the area. I am planning to fly out a few times before hand to look at apartments and areas. I'd like to cap my rent budget at $2000 a month - 1 or 2 bed rooms. I am open to any suggestions and just threw out Sacramento and San Jose but I'd rather be a little closer to SF, Oakland, Berkeley.

Just speaking from experience, I lived in Walnut Creek for 7 years. Seems like it would be a good place for you, in your budget, has tons of restaurants and stores, has some trails for biking and running, close to highways, has a neighborhood feel. My ex-wife's mother lived in Fresno, so I can tell you it's about a 2 1/12 hour drive from WC. You can probably get a really nice apartment for under $2000 a month. I had relocated from NYC back in 1999 and lived in WC from 1999-2006. I loved every minute of it.

[ketch89]

Originally Posted by GU - Relocation

occasionally will fly back to headquarters in Boston.

For ease of flying, do yourself a favor and locate yourself near a BART station. You can take bart to sfo, and by next year sometime you'll be able to take it to Oakland Intl too.

[GU - Relocation]

TTOCS99 -Thanks a ton for the personal experience! That really helps me get a feel for the area, I am looking forward to checking out the town. Any solid bars in Walnut creek?

Ketch89 - it seems like Walnutcreek would be a good spot given highways, BART, etc.

Any thoughts on Berkeley?

[mayorhaggar]

Berkeley is nice if you can afford it, I prefer Oakland because it's about the same as Berkeley but cheaper. With a budget of 2k I'd look at Rockridge, the eastern Temescal, and the Piedmont Ave area in Oakland. In Berkeley, downtown is the main hub of stuff to do (restaurants, bars, shopping, etc) but it is dominated by students. Elmwood in SE Berkeley is pretty nice but might be outside of your budget.

[sav858]

Originally Posted by GU - Relocation

TTOCS99 -Thanks a ton for the personal experience! That really helps me get a feel for the area, I am looking forward to checking out the town. Any solid bars in Walnut creek?

Ketch89 - it seems like Walnutcreek would be a good spot given highways, BART, etc.

Any thoughts on Berkeley?

If you're looking for "sports centric bars" I'd probably avoid Berkeley, SF is pretty bad in this too. In Walnut Creek I would check out Stadium Pub for a sports bar, food there is pretty bad imo but it's a good sports bar. McCovey's is decent too but more of a restaurant than typical sports bar.

Walnut Creek is a good choice but it is the suburbs, not sure if that will be your thing coming from Chicago. If you want more hip/urban I'd probably look at Oakland as well.

[ttocs99]

Originally Posted by GU - Relocation

TTOCS99 -Thanks a ton for the personal experience! That really helps me get a feel for the area, I am looking forward to checking out the town. Any solid bars in Walnut creek?

Ketch89 - it seems like Walnutcreek would be a good spot given highways, BART, etc.

Any thoughts on Berkeley?

You're welcome GU. I am a bit biased, since I can't tell you how much I enjoyed living in Walnut Creek. It was a joy living there. I plan on moving back some day. I was in a different situation than you are, since I was quite a bit older than you are, I was 36, and moving to California to be with my gf, who wound up my wife (now ex). So my partying days were kinda behind me, so you might be looking for different things than I was.

As far as bars, there are several, I really liked the Stadium Pub, I agree the food isn't the best, but it is still a cool place to hang out. I'm a Patriot's fan, and they actually had a preseason Patriot's game on in their Pub, I was impressed by that.

There are some more upscale types of bars, they are more like bar/restaurants. I was really impressed by the variety of restaurants in WC, from chain restauarants like Ruth's Chris Steakhouse and PF Chang's, to privately owned non chain restaurants, depending on what you are looking for, you can pretty much find any kind of food.

Then there is the shopping, there is mom and pop type of privately owned businesses, and then there is a large outdoor mall, that has a Macy's and Nordstom's (and pretty much every other chain store you could think of). There is even an Apple Store (bought my first iPod ever in 2004 there) and a Tiffany's (not many towns outside of large cities can claim that).

I don't think I ever had to leave downtown Walnut Creek to get my needs fullfilled. They pretty much have everything covered. When I moved there, I didn't have a car, yet I lived 3 blocks from BART, and 2 or three blocks from downtown Walnut Creek. It was just another thing I loved about WC, the convenience. Close to everything.

OK, enough crowing about Walnut Creek, I guess everyone can tell I love it, lol.

[mayorhaggar]

The Pyramid brewery in Berkeley is most definitely a sports bar, it's a big space with lots of giant TV's. Pretty much any bar in the Bay Area will have games on, especially if a local team like the Niners or Giants or Raiders are playing.