Are You Really Sure You Want To Move SF? (Los Angeles: prices, assess)

[cBach]

Originally Posted by HockeyMac18

Your assessment is spot on. You sound like you have similar interests to mine, and I get a long very well with Bay Area/Northern CA women. Very outdoorsy, independent/driven, intelligent/well-educated, and naturally beautiful. It's great!

I had a lot of fun dating here before I met my gf.



The ratio "issue" is very overblown. I think in the "people looking to date other heterosexual people" category, the ratios are very even in SF/Berkeley/Oakland.

That said, if you rely on online dating, expect lots of competition (that's just the reality of online dating everywhere - men message women a lot, women get overwhelmed a lot).

If you do move here, try to meet women in more "traditional" ways. Hiking/camping/climbing/biking/running/general adventure clubs and groups (meetup.com) are great for meeting single girls...and you know they're into something you're into right away (assuming you're interested in that club/group). I've had the most success here, personally.

Thanks, this is reassuring. I lived in the South Bay in the mid to late 90's during the Dot Com boom. I was in my 20's and it was the time of my life. I found my first (ex) wife there during that time. But when we started family planning we realized that we had to move somewhere cheaper to afford the lifestyle we desired. Now that I'm single again (twice divorced now), I don't mind a smaller living space for more activities.

Every weekend was a blast, a festival always going on, great restaurants, great hiking, it was perfect. People have told me it has changed but I went back this past summer and it seemed even nicer than I had remembered.

At the time I was in the South Bay (Sunnyvale/Santa Clara) but this time I'm thinking more either Northern Peninsula or East Bay.

[cBach]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

The Sierra Club has singles hikes, REI Co-op has singles social events, the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park has a cocktail hour once/week for singles that gets good reports. There's swing dancing on Sundays in GG Park, which is cool just for observing and enjoying the music, even if you don't dance. There are outdoor concerts (Stern Grove, a city park, is a great venue) and many other events and opportunities to meet people. And there's the greater Bay Area to explore, as well.

Would you be living in SF, or only working there? According to a demographic map someone posted here recently, there are parts of Berkeley and the East Bay generally where women are the majority, even in the younger age-range. Not that it matters that much; if you're friendly, you'll meet women.

I work from home so I can live anywhere I want. Unless someone could give me a very good reason to put up with the fog and the high home prices, SF itself may be out of the question. However, if the bulk of single activities requires a presence in SF, then I may consider it.

I visited this past summer all over the Bay, including SF, San Jose, and Santa Cruz, doing a recon mission so to speak. A few years ago I visited the North Bay area from Marin County all the way up to Santa Rosa. I'm a bit of a foodie as well, so living next to Sonoma Valley would be very nice as well, but I doubt that would help in the dating sense.

[HockeyMac18]

Originally Posted by cBach

I work from home so I can live anywhere I want. Unless someone could give me a very good reason to put up with the fog and the high home prices, SF itself may be out of the question. However, if the bulk of single activities requires a presence in SF, then I may consider it.

I visited this past summer all over the Bay, including SF, San Jose, and Santa Cruz, doing a recon mission so to speak. A few years ago I visited the North Bay area from Marin County all the way up to Santa Rosa. I'm a bit of a foodie as well, so living next to Sonoma Valley would be very nice as well, but I doubt that would help in the dating sense.

There's a decent dating scene all over the Bay Area - and you might even find more ladies to your liking in the more rural areas of the Bay Area. That said, the amount of activity in these places will be limited. And if you want to do more "city" things, you'll have to venture in to SF for those things (which makes the North Bay a harder sell).

I think Oakland and/or Berkeley could be great places to look. You're still in the SF dating sphere, and you get to enjoy the nicer weather of the East Bay. A lot of people have moved from SF to these parts of the East Bay in the last few years...and they have become trendy places to be as a result (a lot of the arts/music scene once dominated by SF has moved to Oakland, for instance).


This is all, of course, assuming you can afford the asinine market rate housing costs that one incurs when moving here today.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by cBach

I work from home so I can live anywhere I want. Unless someone could give me a very good reason to put up with the fog and the high home prices, SF itself may be out of the question. However, if the bulk of single activities requires a presence in SF, then I may consider it.

I visited this past summer all over the Bay, including SF, San Jose, and Santa Cruz, doing a recon mission so to speak. A few years ago I visited the North Bay area from Marin County all the way up to Santa Rosa. I'm a bit of a foodie as well, so living next to Sonoma Valley would be very nice as well, but I doubt that would help in the dating sense.

I made suggestions about SF because I took you literally, i.e. that you were interested in living in the City. The East Bay is plenty busy, too, and you can always attend events in the City now and then, as well. Housing-wise, El Cerrito and Albany are a little more affordable than Berkeley/Oakland, while being close enough for very easy access.

In terms of the north Bay, Marin also attracts top national music performance, and has an active schedule of free concerts in the summers as well. There are plenty of single women in the north Bay, but suit yourself. Santa Cruz county, btw, has an extremely impressive jazz scene that is attended mainly by an older demographic around your age and older. And there's always nearby Monterey, as well.

[cBach]

Originally Posted by HockeyMac18

There's a decent dating scene all over the Bay Area - and you might even find more ladies to your liking in the more rural areas of the Bay Area. That said, the amount of activity in these places will be limited. And if you want to do more "city" things, you'll have to venture in to SF for those things (which makes the North Bay a harder sell).

I think Oakland and/or Berkeley could be great places to look. You're still in the SF dating sphere, and you get to enjoy the nicer weather of the East Bay. A lot of people have moved from SF to these parts of the East Bay in the last few years...and they have become trendy places to be as a result (a lot of the arts/music scene once dominated by SF has moved to Oakland, for instance).


This is all, of course, assuming you can afford the asinine market rate housing costs that one incurs when moving here today.

This is the thing. I love the arts/music scene (one of the reasons I am in Austin is the music scene), but at heart I'm kind of a fan of a lifestyle of open spaces, great views, & vineyards that the North Bay would provide. I also miss professional sports which are lacking here in Austin. Of course, knowing my luck both the A's and the Raiders would be gone if I moved to Oakland...

So many choices!

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by cBach

So many choices!

So many choices, and each part of the Bay Area, or greater Bay Area (if you incl. Santa Cruz) has its own unique attractive features. You're fortunate to be able to locate anywhere, and bring your work with you. Let us know what you decide, and how you like it after you get settled in.

[cBach]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

So many choices, and each part of the Bay Area, or greater Bay Area (if you incl. Santa Cruz) has its own unique attractive features. You're fortunate to be able to locate anywhere, and bring your work with you. Let us know what you decide, and how you like it after you get settled in.

Thank you and others for your help. I will definitely let you know how I get along.

I feel with the Bay Area, you really can't go wrong. Every place is great and has its own positive attributes. For instance, in Santa Cruz you have the beach and boardwalk and I've always wanted to live on a beach. North Bay has vineyards and redwood forests. SF is the West Coast cultural mecca.

In other cities like NYC, you pretty much have to live in Manhattan (or possibly Brooklyn) to get any benefits. New Jersey has no lure at all. Same thing with Chicago and even Austin, the suburbs are the dumps. I live within Austin city limits but of course our prices are cheaper here. Even in Los Angeles, unless you are in the city proper or along the coast, when you get inland into San Bernadino the attraction diminishes.

In SF Bay, there really is no "bad decision".

[HockeyMac18]

Originally Posted by cBach

This is the thing. I love the arts/music scene (one of the reasons I am in Austin is the music scene), but at heart I'm kind of a fan of a lifestyle of open spaces, great views, & vineyards that the North Bay would provide. I also miss professional sports which are lacking here in Austin. Of course, knowing my luck both the A's and the Raiders would be gone if I moved to Oakland...

So many choices!

Well an advantage of the Bay Area is that you can live in one of the dense parts (for arts, nightlife, concerts, a critical mass of dating singles) and still be close to open space.

I live in downtown San Mateo and live a car-free (mostly urban) lifestyle for the most part, which I love. I'm in the City, Oakland, and Berkeley all of the time for various city things (concerts, art events, visiting a brewery, etc.). But, I'm also up in the regional mountains about once a week (usually Santa Cruz mountains, but sometimes in Marin and the East Bay)...I enjoy both of these qualities of the region, and they are very important to my QOL here.

The Bay Area has great access to a lot of natural beauty and open space. There's a reason it attracts so many people who like to be immersed in the outdoors. In about 30 minutes to an hour, you can be in some amazing scenery that feels a world's away...And within 3-6 hours, you can access some of the most picturesque places in the entire country.

Nothing against Austin as it's a nice place, but the Bay Area is hard to beat here. Major cities that can compete in this space, in my mind, can be counted on one hand...

I wouldn't sweat living in Oakland and feeling like you're missing out on things in the North Bay...you can get up to those places pretty easily.

[CaliRestoration]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

Well, it was a pretty good measure of Venice Beach, according to responses.

Whose responses? Other people like yourself who don't live in SoCal?

[CaliRestoration]

Originally Posted by SFsucks

Wow! I'm glad this post made it to 17 pages. So far It seems like all the pro SF posters couldn't answer the simple questions that I asked on my OP. Truth is that most people agree with me that SF is one of the most overrated city in the county. SF use to be a pretty fun city before 2013. I remember when I use to visit back in 2007-2012 the bar/social/nightlife scene was better. Now the scene is very dull. I heard some people mention that even mid-town Sacramento is more fun than Bay Area these days?


In beginning of 2017 I am relocating to either Chicago, Denver, Texas (Austin, maybe Dallas/Houston?). I hear Seattle/Portland are too much like SF these days with worse weather?

San Francisco was way cooler pre-1990. It was still dumpy back then, but at least it was charming dumpy.

2017 San Francisco is a public urinal. Literally.