Downtown San Jose vs San Francisco (Sacramento, Oakland: lawyers, houses, neighborhood)

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by BayAreaHillbilly

"Downtown" SJ is actually a more residential and well peopled neighborhood than "downtown" (as in, the Financial District) SF..

Yes, this is 100% true . I have a good friend who lives a block away from the Montgomery BART in SF. No grocery store nearby except an overpriced Walgreens (which has more groceries than your typical Walgreens, but still...). And the Walgreens is actually closed on Sundays. Not that much residential.

i'm not trying to brag, but my everyday life in downtown SJ is better than my friend's in downtown SF. I have a library, a movie theater, a decent grocery store (and a Walgreens), and plenty of bars/restaurants within walking distance. I also hate the perpetually chilly SF weather. And for that matter, taking the light rail/bus connection to SJ airport is faster than taking BART to SFO. SJ's weather is better than SF's at least 80% of the time, (unless you happen to like temperatures in the 50s & 60s almost year 'round with frequent fog & wind).We both have had issues with homeless people at times so it's a wash on that issue.

Originally Posted by BayAreaHillbilly

"Now granted, the close in SF neighborhoods are an order of magnitude more happening than the SJ equivalents, but if strictly comparing downtowns SJ actually wins.

Correct. SF on the whole has more fun, interesting, & unique things to do than SJ. But downtown SJ is more livable than downtown SF.

[madhaus at burbed]

I lived in Western Addition/edge of Pacific Heights in SF, 10 minutes from downtown. Walking up and down the hills (6 blocks to Union Street) got me in great shape. Very nice area to live, although there was the one time someone got into our apartment garage and broke into every car.

Never lived in downtown SJ, just various suburbs (which is 95% of SJ).

As to Sunnyvale, that's where I live now. It's supposed to be boring. I wouldn't recommend Sunnyvale for singles who want a life outside work. For families, it's nice and stable. If you like quiet, you'll get that in many parts of Sunnyvale, but there's not much to do after 9 pm.

I suppose you could try living in a shopping mall (excuse me, ersatz Eurovillage) and check out Santana Row. Most of the places there are going for deep discounts from original selling prices.

[gone down south]

Originally Posted by BayAreaHillbilly

"Downtown" SJ is actually a more residential and well peopled neighborhood than "downtown" (as in, the Financial District) SF. Now granted, the close in SF neighborhoods are an order of magnitude more happening than the SJ equivalents, but if strictly comparing downtowns SJ actually wins.

It's a little misleading to look the FiDi / downtown when considering nightlife and culture. That's the business district, it shuts down pretty early, but there are large swathes of the city that are active and happening until the wee hours.

[80skeys]

Originally Posted by madhaus at burbed

I lived in Western Addition/edge of Pacific Heights in SF, 10 minutes from downtown. Walking up and down the hills (6 blocks to Union Street) got me in great shape. Very nice area to live, although there was the one time someone got into our apartment garage and broke into every car.

Here's a funny, true and very sage piece of advice that I learned from a couple coworkers who live in San Francisco:

Bums avoid walking up the hills, it's too much work. So if you choose a place to live that's on a hill, you can avoid seeing the street people.

[chessgeek]

Originally Posted by puneet1984

@Everybody:


How different is downtown SJ from downtown Mountain view? I've been around downtown mountain view and castro street was nothing spectacular...

Also, any good areas to look for apartments? Any bad areas to avoid?

I am a fan of Castro Street in Mountain View. I like that funky book store there with its varied selection of books, movies, calendars, etc and admire that it is still thriving in the big box era (sepcifically the Barnes and Noble era!). It is nice to know they have a center for performing arts and still a good selection of restaurants. Maybe my expectations are lower as we are talking about a city of 75,000 people.

Downtown San Jose will offer more nightlife and just slightly more restaurants than Mountain View and of course you have Sharks hockey there/concerts and an annual tennis tournament.

Downtown Mountain View has the better retail scene with more interesting stores including two bookstores. There is no significant retail in downtown San Jose...maybe a few places on South First. San Pedro Square is primarily dining. I believe you can go anywhere in downtown Mountain View at almost any time and be safe while that is probably not true for downtown San Jose. I hung out in downtown Mountain View a lot when I worked in Mountain View (lived in Sunnyvale) between 1999 and 2001.

If I worked in Santa Clara or cities north of there I would choose to live in or near downtown Mountain View. If I lived in Campbell/Los Gatos, the north San Jose area or right in downtown San Jose then downtown San Jose would probably be the better choice. A lot will depend on where you work and what your preferred commute will be.

[bobby_guz_man]

Originally Posted by chessgeek

I believe you can go anywhere in downtown Mountain View at almost any time and be safe while that is probably not true for downtown San Jose.

Sorry. Gotta refute this.

You are comparing an area that encompasses about 7 blocks along a main street (downtown Mountain View) to an area the size of the city of Campbell (San Jose's Greater Downtown area is bounded by 87 to the west, 280 to the south, 101 to the east, and 880 to the north).

Yes, San Jose is THAT big. I know you guys take a while to wrap your head around that fact, but we are the largest city in Northern California by a HUGE margin. Our Greater Downtown is the size of a small city!

If you are comparing downtown Mountain View to just San Jose's Downtown Urban Core, you're still comparing a 7-block main street against a core area with a 20x10 street grid = 200 blocks

Because downtown San Jose (both the Core and the Greater Downtown areas) is so large, it thus holds many small neighborhoods within it, some are very safe/upscale (Naglee Park, Henley, Japantown, Northside, Ryland), most normally safe (SoFA, Santa Clara, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th), and a few that are really ragged and unsafe areas (anything south of Williams, and east of 5th/north of City Hall).

Sorry guys/gals, there are only 3 cities with REAL downtowns in the Bay Area. They are San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland. Every other cities besides the 3 just have a "Main Street" downtown. Stop comparing your main streets to a REAL downtown. Go and compare your main street against San Mateo's, or Campbell's, or Palo Alto's.

[josephjohn00]

Nice Post thanks..

[Wry_Martini]

Speaking as a resident of DTSJ for the past 2.5 years... it's quite DTSJ livable. No, its not SF or SJ, and no, it's not a shopping destination.

But it's much closer to my job than SF, means I have an exponentially shorter commute (which translates to a generally higher quality of life for me). I can get groceries downtown, walk to coffee shops, wine bars, movie theatre, live theatres, the library, post office, and many places for dinner. I have weekends where I park the car after work on Friday and don't get the car out again until Monday morning.

[blue bird]

I'm very impressed with Downtown San Jose. Check out San Pedro Sq. Market-tons of food places and activities. I also like Paseo De San Antonio. SF has a great downtown but too spread out and too big.

[WestCoastBestCoast2]

Originally Posted by blue bird

I'm very impressed with Downtown San Jose. Check out San Pedro Sq. Market-tons of food places and activities. I also like Paseo De San Antonio. SF has a great downtown but too spread out and too big.

Umm sorry?