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Old 12-09-2018, 08:31 PM
 
4 posts, read 3,758 times
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I am a 28/F considering a job offer with a tech giant in Sunnyvale. I like city / downtown living where I can be within walking distance to grocery stores, amenities and restaurants. I also prefer high-rise living with amenities. I visited Sunnyvale and it looks very suburban to me. I need advice on where I should live that is within 15 minutes of Sunnyvale and is still a bit more urban / city feel with mid-high rise apartments / condos? I do not know anything about the Bay Area and I know that San Francisco is at least 90 minutes away so that is out.
Thank you so much.
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Old 12-09-2018, 08:40 PM
 
Location: SoCal
20,160 posts, read 12,713,073 times
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Maybe Palo Alto or San Jose?
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Old 12-09-2018, 08:46 PM
 
2,670 posts, read 2,609,708 times
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15 minutes during rush hour isn't very far. Mountain View near Castro Street is a possibility. No high rises, but plenty of restaurants. There are some apartments next to the train stop on University Avenue in Palo Alto that might work. Depending on distance from Sunnyvale train station to your work you may be able to take the train to work. Again, no high rises, but it's downtown.

San Jose will be more like what you want, but that's going in the main commute direction, so you won't do it in 15 minutes.
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Old 12-09-2018, 10:10 PM
 
Location: Silicon Valley
18,813 posts, read 32,382,398 times
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No such thing. The entire Bay Area is suburbia, except the major cities, or the very small downtown areas of the towns.

You have to kind of understand how the entire SF Bay Area grew. There were a couple of cities and a bunch of tiny towns that were surrounded by agriculture, like orchards. Eventually, the orchards and farm lands were developed into some small businesses and housing tracts, and after time, those all ended up butting up against each other, until the entire SF Bay Area was covered in strip malls and housing tracts, with the original small town downtowns incorporated into the separate, but adjacent neighborhoods.

So, if you want an urban lifestyle, you need to go to one of the few original urban cores, like SF or Oakland. Next best thing is any of the original small downtown areas that were the original tiny business cores of the little towns that were originally surrounded by farm lands or orchards, such as Sunnyvale, Mountain View, San Jose, etc. But, any of the original separate towns, have very tiny original downtown areas. You're talking about a few restaurants, bars, stores, etc.

They may be walkable, in that you can get your groceries and go to a post office and go out to eat and have a drink, within walking distance, but it's not going to be like living in SF.

We just don't really have the kind of downtown urban lifestyle options here like you have in New York, for instance.

You can find some neighborhoods that will give you a walkable neighborhood, but you're always still going to need a car, or spend a bunch of money on Uber.

For instance, I have some friends who are wives of nerds who work for Google, etc., who live in Santa Clara. They can walk to a few grocery stores and to a light rail station, but they spend a ton of money on Uber rides just to go to the library or to other shopping options, etc.

Honestly, this would be true, even if you lived in SF. Public transportation, and all shopping options, etc., and entertainment venues, etc., just aren't convenient.
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Old 12-11-2018, 09:09 PM
 
352 posts, read 434,695 times
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NoMoreSnow is right. Everything outside SF and Oakland are suburbs. Sunnyvale, Mountain View, Santa Clara, Palo Alto, Los Gatos, Los Altos, Cupertino, Saratoga are all, with some small differences, pretty much the same. Downtown San Jose (not the suburban outskirts like south or east SJ) is a tiny bit more urban, but still....probably not what you are really looking for. If you want only a 15 minute commute, you won't be living outside Sunnyvale (possibly Mountain View). Depending on traffic, you may have a hard time getting across Sunnyvale in 15 minutes.
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Old 12-12-2018, 03:32 PM
 
Location: Paranoid State
13,044 posts, read 13,828,187 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jdhpa View Post
15 minutes during rush hour isn't very far.
Indeed. Probably about 3 stoplights. If you're lucky.
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Old 12-17-2018, 05:17 PM
 
1,658 posts, read 3,541,096 times
Reputation: 1710
Quote:
Originally Posted by NoMoreSnowForMe View Post

So, if you want an urban lifestyle, you need to go to one of the few original urban cores, like SF or Oakland. Next best thing is any of the original small downtown areas that were the original tiny business cores of the little towns that were originally surrounded by farm lands or orchards, such as Sunnyvale, Mountain View, San Jose, etc. But, any of the original separate towns, have very tiny original downtown areas. You're talking about a few restaurants, bars, stores, etc.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jane M View Post
NoMoreSnow is right. Everything outside SF and Oakland are suburbs. Sunnyvale, Mountain View, Santa Clara, Palo Alto, Los Gatos, Los Altos, Cupertino, Saratoga are all, with some small differences, pretty much the same. Downtown San Jose (not the suburban outskirts like south or east SJ) is a tiny bit more urban, but still....probably not what you are really looking for. If you want only a 15 minute commute, you won't be living outside Sunnyvale (possibly Mountain View). Depending on traffic, you may have a hard time getting across Sunnyvale in 15 minutes.
These posts are mostly correct, but there is one glaring error -- While San Jose no SF, San Jose is far more urban than any of the other cities mentioned except for SF and Oakland. As far as urban-ness goes, San Jose is on a completely different scale than Sunnyvale, Mountain View, or Palo Alto. What MV and PA have going for them is that they have cute little one-street main streets full of one or two story buildings where you can get most of what you need, but that's not exactly what comes to mind when I think of "downtown living" or "high-rise living".
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Old 12-17-2018, 05:39 PM
 
Location: planet earth
8,620 posts, read 5,620,113 times
Reputation: 19644
Mountain View
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Old 01-01-2019, 10:40 AM
 
Location: Sunnyvale, CA
6,288 posts, read 11,752,024 times
Reputation: 3369
OP is probably going to work at LinkedIn, the only high-tech "giant" here in Sunnyvale right now.
Downtown Palo Alto (University Avenue) and downtown San Jose are the closest things approximating an urban feel. Moreso than Castro Street in Mountain View which to me is just suburbia with more shops. Whether these would satisfy the OP - maybe, maybe not. Likely she's just going to have to resign herself to living in boring suburbia with her $140k salary.
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