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

[gentlybreathing.livejournal.com]

*Sob* I will be arriving in Seattle July 28th, so hopefully we can fit in a final meet-up in amongst your packing.... I mean not final as in last one ever, but you know what I mean....

[damidnara.livejournal.com]

congratulations! Unfortunately, all i know is the East Bay. I think SF is pretty pricy, but I don't know how that compares to the peninsula. You're welcome to stay at our house (we have a guest bedroom) if you need someplace for a short while until you find some place. And do let us know if you want suggestions for venturing around the Bay, we have some interesting places here to explore.

[damidnara.livejournal.com]

er, i mean all i know in terms of places to live is the East Bay...

[localcharacter.livejournal.com]

On my last tour in the Bay Area (1996ish), I lived in MP and commuted to SF on Caltrain, so I have many non-specific and outdated tidbits. Probably good for conversation, though.

[beckyb.livejournal.com]

Am sending an email with old SRI/Nuance/SPI-SSLILab people to talk to. They live below MP though but these two won't be ones you find at SRI anymore. I lived in Mountain View when I was there, which had a CalTrain stop and was much cheaper than Palo Alto and MP, however I think it's all expensive now. Hopefully you will hear from someone who knows about places north of MP since that might be more convenient.

[penelopesque.livejournal.com]

I have a ton of Bay people on my flist. Would you like me to send them over here to comment? (Coincidentally, this is how I met champignon - on LJ while she was moving here and looking for apartment info.)

[isolt.livejournal.com]

Congratulations to imtboo! And good luck with the move...

[isolt.livejournal.com]

Also, you should talk to peculiaire, who is recent to the Bay Area, but well connected, as is her nature to be wherever she goes.

[evan.livejournal.com]

Rent in SF is usually around $1000 a person, unless you live in the ghetto. The commute to Menlo Park sucks, too. On the other hand, the commute the other way is also terrible, and south bay culture is really weird to me (suburban, driving-heavy).

One consideration (I can't believe I'm recommending this, but it actually isn't such a bad thing) is looking at the caltrain schedule and picking a place near one of the super bullet (red) trains, which take only 40 minutes to get to SF (and then you have to take more transit to get anywhere useful -- caltrain dumps you off in the middle of nowhere).

[bicoastal.livejournal.com]

OK, I have tons of recommendations. But the most important of them is this: Get the Caltrain Baby Bullet Schedule and plan your move around that.

Are you cool driving to the train? There's lots of options, then. I love San Francisco, but if I had to move down the Peninsula my preferred towns (north to south) are Brisbane, Burlingame, San Mateo (some parts, good downtown), San Carlos and MAYBE Redwood City. I hear decent things about Menlo Park itself but I don't know it and it's no cheaper than SF.

Rule out BART for your southbound commute. It goes around San Bruno Mountain and that takes to long.

If you live in SF and you want to bike to Caltrain, you need to live near either the 22nd or 4th Street stations. More on that later... gotta go to work.

[trochee.livejournal.com]

aww. that's really bad timing. :(

[trochee.livejournal.com]

thanks for the offer! I think we're going to fly down in July and find an apartment but it's always nice to know we've got friends who have our back.

I look forward to exploring the Bay very much. Been there a few times now and it really looks lovely. Of course, with my dissertation and Dorothy's first-year-in-grad-school, we will be finding our exploring-time wherever we can!

[trochee.livejournal.com]

great! It looks like I might be able to see you in the second half of your trip to Seattle -- after I get back from Berlin (!) -- and I'd like to hear about your experiences with Caltrain, even if it is ten years out.

thanks!

[trochee.livejournal.com]

isn't Mountain View where the Googleplex is? so yes, things may have changed.

And thank you for connecting the dots with the various alumni-ish contacts. that's a great place to start!

[gentlybreathing.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's sad, but of course I'm also totally happy for the two of you that you're doing what you want to do. Life is full of mixed blessings :) Who knows what strange twists of fate will bring us back into closer orbit in the future....

[bicoastal.livejournal.com]

Ok. So, about Caltrain in SF: if you want to live right within walking distance, you have two choices: SoMa/China Basin/the ballpark right near 4th Street, or the Dogpatch near 22nd Street.

If you want to bike to Caltrain, you can also consider Bernal Heights, Potrero Hill, the Mission, and the lower part of Noe Valley (where we live). Kil bikes to Caltrain every day -- that said, he is a hard-core biker who travels at the same speed as cars and shares Cesar Chavez Street with them. Cesar Chavez is the feeder route to the highway, so you can imagine what that means for his prime-time commutes.

If you are willing to drive to the station, you have more options with your residence, but you still want to live in the eastern half of the city - anything east of Twin Peaks is fine, really. That said, you can live in the western side if you really wanna - I know someone who lives near GG Park and takes public transit to Caltrain and Caltrain to Menlo Park or Mountain View or someplace like that. It's a long commute but he gets lots of reading in.

Some general things to consider for living in the city:
- Living in "safe" neighborhoods costs more.
- The further west you go, the cooler the weather is.
- If you will keep a car, you need to consider where you are going to park it. Be prepared to pay more for a place with a parking garage or lot -- parking is not standard for SF apartments.
- How much do you want wonderful pedestrian living? Be prepared to balance that against parking issues, crime (depending on the 'hood - I'm mostly talking about the Mission there) and whether you want to live on a hill -- living on a hillside often means great views but less pedestrian-ness, unless you are right on a retail corridor like Bernal's Cortland Ave. or Potrero's 18th Street.
- Potero Ave is not on Potrero Hill!
- $1,000 per person is a good bet for rent unless you wanna get real small.

Things to consider living on the Peninsula:
- the further south you go, the warmer it gets.
- Each community has the things that it's best at. Brisbane has amazing open space nestled into San Bruno Mountain. Burlingame has a brewpub and shopping. San Mateo has an actual downtown with a movie theater and a funky Latino section with great tacos.
- Only a few towns have Baby Bullet stops, so if you want to walk to the train, those will be your considerations.
- you can rent a house.
- It's not free of crime anywhere cheap.
- Mountain View is not bad, but it's a loooong way from SF.
- Gas here is the most expensive in the nation. Don't lock yourself into a long car commute if you can help it.
- Remember that the Baby Bullet only runs during commute time -- there are lots of other trains, but they don't get you from SF to Palo Alto in half an hour.
- If you do like a car lifestyle, though, some other things open up. Some people like Foster City, which is very clean and safe.
- There are obviously way more young professionals in SF. But on the Peninsula, young people tend to live in Burlingame or Mountain View.
- There are no "hippie" towns like Berkeley on the Peninsula.

Forgive my crime emphasis - I work in the field, now, so it's hard for me not to think of it.

[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?

[trochee.livejournal.com]

yes please! I'd be happy to have other contacts in the Bay. Not that we don't already have some, but more perspectives are good.

Accordingly, I've unlocked this post. Thanks!

[trochee.livejournal.com]

thanks! D. and I make a pretty good team, so I'm not worried! :)

[trochee.livejournal.com]

your advice and sense of the market matches bicoastal's below, and it's nice to hear it from another point of view. thanks!

Could you clarify for me: why do you say "I can't believe I'm recommending this"? The towns on the Peninsula are too... suburban? car-heavy?

[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.

[boobirdsfly.livejournal.com]

she was in the bay area before?
wow... i did not know that !
:)

[boobirdsfly.livejournal.com]

seen you've unlocked the post, could you please take out the specific school name and program ?
thanks !

[boobirdsfly.livejournal.com]

the crime thing is a consideration for me so thanks !
j might have to go to seattle a bunch and i want to feel safe when he is not around if i have to be alone in the house or apartment.
lots of good advice here, thanks !
looking a Noe Valley and biking/scooting to cal train might be a good option.
what do you know about south san francisco ?
is it horrid ?