How is Belmont?

[gizmo980]

No offense to anyone, but I think Santa Clara is rather dull... my best friend owns a place there, and only bought it because it was cheap & new - she's been talking about moving north for years! It's basically just a family community, mostly for the techies & engineers who work in Silicon Valley. They have a very large Asian (Indian in particular) population, if that matters, and no real downtown area that I know of. As for San Jose, I don't know much about it, but I'm sure the social life would be more active than in Santa Clara! It's a big city, so you won't have any problems finding people & activities.

[sonarrat]

Originally Posted by gizmo980

Yes, that's almost true, but it can slow down earlier than Belmont. I briefly commuted from EPA to San Francisco, and the pattern always went like this - easy from EPA to Redwood City, slowed down until Hillsdale/92, sped up until Broadway/Burlingame, and was slow until we passed 380... then it was pretty smooth until my exit @ Silver Ave., but was probably heavy into downtown. Traffic on 101 is so annoying!!

P.S. My commute was sometimes a bit later, since I worked either at 9am, 10am, or 12pm - so maybe it shifts south a little as the morning goes on.

I leave Whipple/Redwood City at 7:30, and it's always easy from there to 92 (or to 3rd Avenue on a good day), then inch inch inch all the way through San Mateo to Burlingame. Still only takes 30-35 minutes.

[humboldtrat]

Also check out San Carlos just south of Belmont. Lots of apartments in the downtown area and within walking distance of shopping, restaurants on Laurel St. and the Caltrain station and a library are nearby. San Carlos has more of a "downtown" than Belmont. I think a commute between Belmont and San Jose/Santa Clara area would be too far (about 20-25 miles one way).

[Ile Flottante]

Thanks for the suggestion on San Carlos. How easy is the commute between San Carlos and Belmont during traffic hours?

[sonarrat]

Originally Posted by Ile Flottante

Thanks for the suggestion on San Carlos. How easy is the commute between San Carlos and Belmont during traffic hours?

I wouldn't even get on the freeway.. I'd just take El Camino, by the time you get over to 101 you could have been there already. Very short commute.

[gizmo980]

Originally Posted by Ile Flottante

Thanks for the suggestion on San Carlos. How easy is the commute between San Carlos and Belmont during traffic hours?

It's nothing... like sonarrat said, you can take El Camino the whole way, or Alameda de las Pulgas depending on your exact location. I'd always use Alameda when I lived there (Belmont), since I lived right off it, and the traffic is minimal to empty most times of the day. You shouldn't have more than 5-10 minutes - TOPS - with a commute between the two cities.

[Ile Flottante]

San Carlos seems on the top of the list. What about Foster City? Is it good to live and commute from? Thanks

[sonarrat]

Originally Posted by Ile Flottante

San Carlos seems on the top of the list. What about Foster City? Is it good to live and commute from? Thanks

101 is horrible in that direction, but if you're just going to Belmont it's not a big deal. You could take E Hillsdale to 101 and dodge the nastiness coming off the San Mateo Bridge, and then it's only about a mile of crawling to the Belmont exit at Ralston. Unfortunately there's no surface street joining Foster City to Redwood Shores east of the freeway.

[AA702]

If you guys dont like the Nightlife in Palo Alto, I use to frequent downtown Mt. View. Castro St. Has a lot of cool little places. I know downtown Sunnyvale was ok for a while but that was the early 2000's.