Bay-area bound

[trochee]

[ETA: Unlocked post now (and specifics removed); please feel free to point your Bay-area friends here!]

It's official as of Monday afternoon: we're going to the Bay Area. imtboo has been admitted to a San Francisco school for her chosen field.

School starts August 21 for her, so we'll be moving out of Seattle and down to the Bay Area in that first week of August, more or less.

I will be finishing up my dissertation at a desk in a research lab in Menlo Park. But D's school is downtown -- right by the Civic Center BART stop. Unfortunately, this means that one of us will be commuting a long way on the CalTrain and/or the BART. At the moment, it looks like it might be her, since at at least for the first semester she'll only have classes two (very full) days a week, while I'll be at ResearchLab five days a week.

Any suggestions or comments, from people who live in the Bay Area (or who have lived there) about places to live -- or to avoid? I think the East Bay is out for us -- the commute to Menlo Park is insane -- but we're considering paying more to live in the city, or paying less to live on the Peninsula. Any recommendations?

Bay Area roll call:
apollinax or bicoastal?
lunacow?
evan?
xaosenkosmos -- you've already sent us comments, thanks!
damidnara?
cleverpig?
I'm sure I've missed people in this roll-call. Anybody else?

Comments

[trochee.livejournal.com]

wow, this is a lot of useful information -- weather, crime, costs, commuting, local activities.

Thanks for all the tips! We don't own a car right now -- living in a dense neighborhood in Seattle with no parking, convenient bus routes, and a scooter. But if we decide to live on the Peninsula, we'll probably get one. Thank you for the reminder about the gas prices, and the pointer to the bullet train.

In some ways, cost is a barrier for us. I don't mind the train ride (though an hour-plus commute can be kinda grueling), but it's kinda hard to swallow the cost of living in SF for two when I am still on grad student income and Dorothy is going to a private school (no free-rides for counseling psychology students).

Is the Caltrain pleasant? Could I (or Dorothy) expect to get a reasonably comfortable seat for the 40-50 minute commute?

[bicoastal.livejournal.com]

You should talk to Kil, but from what I understand, the Baby Bullet is full of rich professionals on laptops drinking coffee. Very pleasant.

BTW - the Peninsula is not all that cheap, and buying a car might eliminate the discount of living there. I'd start checking Craigslist, which is how everyone finds a place here. In general, also, most people don't stay at the first place they pick - it's a starter home until you know the lay of the land. It's also more of a process to rent an apartment here than in other places. So another big piece of advice is to get a temp place (say, 2 to 6 months) to start, and then figure out where you really want to be and work towards that end. This can either be your own rental, or you could go for a temporary sublet in a group house and put your things in storage for those couple of months.

[bicoastal.livejournal.com]

Oh, two other things:

- Her school is in the Mission. That can be cheaper, depending.
- Scooters are great for getting around SF.

[bicoastal.livejournal.com]

Oh, also, I checked CL -- if you're willing to do a one-bedroom or studio, you can probably find something in SF for under $1500 for two. Obviously, that buys you more space on the Peninsula.