Really dislike the suburbs, help! (San Jose, San Francisco: condo, hotels, theater)

[debbie421]

I have a great job opportunity in Silicon Valley, but I really really dislike the suburbs. My husband and I are in our mid 30's, do NOT have children, and love the city life. I know one option is to live in San Francisco and commute, but I might like a long commute even less than I like suburbs. Are there any communities in Silicon Valley that don't have a suburb feel? Thanks in advance!

[humboldtrat]

Downtown San Jose with its highrise office buildings and hotels. Plenty of clubs and restaurants in the downtown area. There is light rail to get you around the area.

As for commuting, it's 50 miles between San Francisco and San Jose (100 miles round trip) - a horrible commute that will eat up a lot of your time.

[mstnghu2]

Unfortunately, you will not be able to escape the suburbs in Silicon Valley. Personally, I like suburban living, so it's fine with me. If you're looking for true urban living, you can almost find it in downtown San Jose, but not quite. There are downtowns of many Silicon Valley cities (Campbell, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Los Gatos etc.) that are somewhat vibrant, but nothing like a typical big city with an urban feel.

I personally would not want to commute from SF to the Silicon Valley area, but I know many people do. To me, it's much easier to just visit SF when I want to and live an easier day to day life by not wasting all my time commuting.

[bigdumbgod]

Live in SF, work in South Bay, and learn to enjoy life in between on 280. Only way you're going to satisfy a deep lust for city life.

[SportyandMisty]

When you come out to visit, check out downtown Mountain View, downtown Los Gatos, downtown Palo Alto.

These are not urban like SF, but at least get a feel for them before committing to SF. You'll probably still end up in SF, but at least you'll know what some alternatives feel like.

[DMenscha]

The rural parts of Morgan Hill or Gilroy might suit you.

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by mstnghu2

Unfortunately, you will not be able to escape the suburbs in Silicon Valley. Personally, I like suburban living, so it's fine with me. If you're looking for true urban living, you can almost find it in downtown San Jose, but not quite. There are downtowns of many Silicon Valley cities (Campbell, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Los Gatos etc.) that are somewhat vibrant, but nothing like a typical big city with an urban feel.

I personally would not want to commute from SF to the Silicon Valley area, but I know many people do. To me, it's much easier to just visit SF when I want to and live an easier day to day life by not wasting all my time commuting.

I'll second what mstnghu2 says about downtown SJ. I live downtown. It's almost a true urban downtown. Fortunately, it seems to be moving in the right direction, with a fair amount of new high rise condo units, a downtown grocery store, etc. The City of SJ has been working on downtown redevelopment for many years, and I can see in the 13 years I've lived here, they've made steady progress, which I expect will continue.

It is San Francisco? No way. But is there lots of stuff to do within walking distance? Yes. (restaurants, theaters, a large main library, grocery store, museums, university campus, etc). The flip side is that downtown SJ is easier to access, & has less crowding and cheaper prices than anything in SF. Of course, SF has more "world class" art & culture. San Jose's is merely good enough (or maybe not good enough if you must have "world class").

If you can manage to live and work within walking distance or mass transit is convenient to work, I'd say downtown SJ would be worth the trade off, but I admit to being biased

San Francisco is a lot of hassle, especially when you have to commute 45 minutes to an hour (or more) every day to the South Bay. I have a friend who lives near the financial district in San Francisco, but who takes BART across the Bay to San Leandro. He parks his car at the BART station most weekends because he doesn't want to pay $450 a month to park his car where he lives. Many of the stores (like the drugstore) are closed on the weekends where he lives since they cater to weekday commuters. He has a way cool condo, but in many ways, I think my every day quality of life in downtown SJ is better than what he has in SF.

Campbell, Mountain View, and Palo Alto also have cute downtowns. Campbell, in particualar, has made some real progress in the past few years, but of course those downtowns are smaller with fewer offerings than San Jose's. The plus to living in those cities is they're smaller and better managed than San Jose. Depending where the job is located, they may or may not be closer. Palo Alto is lovely but also pricey (and some would say pretentious), and if the job is in San Jose, it's a bit of a commute (but not horrible).

[gone down south]

I'm in the same situation - hate the suburbs, like living in the middle of all the action, but need to be further down for work. Palo Alto ended up fitting the bill perfectly for us - enough energy to satisfy our need for being in an urban area, but at the same time ample free parking, little to no homeless, graffitti or vandalism, no sirens blaring all night.

[ToulaHawaiiBound]

Another suburban hater here. We examined the possibility of commuting from SF but figured it would be too much, even taking into account that husband's employer provides shuttles from SF to SV.

We ended up in Los Gatos, figure it is probably one of the better locations. We considered Campbell, but besides the 6 stores that are on the downtown strip there is really nothing there. Saratoga is as dead as dodo, we lived in Sunnyvale in a previous life and would say never again. We often go to Mountain View for lunch on the weekend, but whilst it is adequate it has nowhere near the buzz of SF. Palo Alto would probably be one of the better choices.

[krudmonk]

Odd that these types would consider various little burbs before DTSJ....