Moving to SF: Where to live?
 

I am potentially moving to SF area, working around Sunnyvale.

I have a car, but hate commuting. I also enjoy restaurants and nitelife.

If I don't want to commute, what is a reasonable area to live around Sunnyvale, and what are the bars/restaurants like?

If I do commute, I assume San Francisco proper is the place to be - if so, what is a good area to live? I stayed around Union Square a couple of weeks ago (Monday nite though), and it was pretty dead. Jeanty on Jack's had great food.

One thing I heard was that the Marina area was a lot of fun - how is that for bars/restaurants?

Thanks

That is a tough one. Sunnyvale isn't a hotbed of excitement. And the SF commute isn't too great (but maybe if you are Caltrain close, it isn't so bad). Although I'm no expert on that area (my brother used to live in Sunnyvale), I'd think that Mountain View may be the best closer place if you want to live down that way. If you are wanting to live in SF (and I can't blame you), you will definitely want to be close to Caltrain, which means a more downtown/south of Market residence. From there, you'll be close to all the excitement you could want, for the west coast. Union Sq. area is all about the shopping. If you had taken a 15 min. walk through the Stockton St. tunnel to North Beach, you'd have found a lot of good eats and people out. For you, my instinct is SOMA or Inner Mission. But maybe I'm wrong.

There was an identical thread a while ago:
http://flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=655892

If you hate commuting, you won't want to live in SF, especially the Marina. Perhaps try downtown Mountain View or Palo Alto. I live in downtown MV and love it...there are tons of restaurants there of all different kinds, and while the nightlife isn't SF, it's okay. There are a couple clubs, a microbrewery, a latin club, a great latin restaurant that has live music every friday/saturday, a seafood place this weekend with live music, etc etc etc. I'm sure downtown Paly is similar, but I usually either stay in MV or if I want more, go to SF.

Totally agreed, as someone who used to live in Palo Alto, now lives near downtown Mountain View, and HATES commuting also. Palo Alto does have a much larger downtown, with more extensive nightlife and more upscale dining options, but you'll have to decide if that's worth the extra commute time (~10-15 minutes more) and higher rent/mortgage. You don't say if you're renting or buying, but neighborhood makes a huge difference so definitely take a peek at craigslist.org or a real estate site before deciding anything.

I think you're going to need to make a choice between nightlife and not commuting. Palo Alto and Mountain View do have some decent restaurants, but they are still very suburban and don't have either the nightlife or quantity of great restaurants found in SF and parts of Oakland/Berkeley. I'm not thrilled with my daily commute to Palo Alto but I just know I'd be bored in PA/MV. Thus, SF is the place for me and I just accept the commute as a necessary evil.

If you do decide to live in SF it will be important to be close to a good freeway onramp or Caltrain. That means the Marina is out unless you want to add 15-30 minutes of SF city street traffic to the beginning and end of your commute everyday. Depending on the type of nightlife you like, I'd look in SOMA/Ballpark area, Potrero Hill, Mission, Noe Valley, Lower Haight and Hayes Valley. All of these places have great, albeit somewhat different dining and bar scenes.

Put another way, when you go out in NYC would you prefer the Meatpacking District or the East Villiage?

What are these areas analagous to in SF? I like Soho and probably lean a bit toward Meatpacking rather than E. Village because it is closer (to Soho). The great thing about Soho is that it is easy to get pretty much anywhere in Manhattan. e.g. it is an easy walk to Union Square.

Thank to everyone who is replying.

There are no completely analogous areas in SF, but if you prefer Meatpacking in terms of scene then I would suggest the Soma/Ballpark area. East Villiage would be closer in ambiance to Lower Haight or the Mission. All SF neighborhoods will be far dirtier and have more homeless people than anything in NY.

Yes on homeless, not really on dirt. Hayes Valley is the "new Greenwich Village" in San Francisco. However, what really drives this question is your budget. How much are you anticipating spending a month?

Well, everything in SF seems to be cheaper than NYC, so not an issue! Just trying to find a quality of life comparable to that of NYC (which means bars, restaurants, etc). When I went out on a Monday nite in SF recently, pretty much everything was dead. I asked a couple of hotel concierges, and the only place that had more than 2 people present was the Redwood Room, but that was not exactly busy.

Whoa! Not really, particularly if you're looking to buy rather than rent.

Monday is a slower night in SF, and the Redwood Room is usually packed, though you need to remember, too, that the population of SF is 750,000 versus the 8,000,000+ in New York. Restaurants in SF are scattered all over though, of course, there is a concentration of them in and around the Union Square area which corresponds, very roughly, to the Broadway and the theater district (though the Redwood Room is also adjacent to the Tenderloin, which is definitely not an area in which you wish to live. You'd probably like the Haight or Hayes Valley. Both are kind of "villagy." North Beach might be another possibility. SF is more neighborhood-oriented than NY, and the neighborhoods are really quite small.

ex NY'er in SF for 20+ years :)
 

What you're saying in NY-speak, you'll be working in far long island or brooklyn but you want to live in Manhattan because it's more to do and more fun.
Sunnyvale and MV are not cities the way you might think of cities - SF is barely a city compared to NY (and I mean that in the best possible way..) There's lots of nightlife, esp in areas like Hayes valley, SOMA, Lower Haight and Upper Tenderloin. Would you want to live in those areas - SOMA would be the only one that would make Sunnyvale even doable on the train.

And nightlife in SF is not like in NY - not many places to eat after 12 midnight and not many at that; bars close at 2 AM etc. Lots of music venues, bars etc, just not in every neighborhood.

So unless you relish commuting over an hour each day no matter how you cut it (and maybe you wouldn't mind that) living in SF and working down in Sunnyvale would be tough.

And I do NOT find the cost of living much cheaper here - food can be somewhat cheaper, but gas is more expensive; and the disparity in rents is much less than it used to be.

I would guess that there is absolutely NO way you are going to "find a quality of life comparable to that of NYC," especially if you are used to living and working in Manhattan! :eek:

You'll really have to adjust your expectations. Of course, in time you may find that there are compensating factors, but still, you're going to experience a big shock if you move here. NYC (esp. Manhattan) is a 24/7 type of place, and there's nothing in the Bay Area (or for that matter, in most of the rest of the US) to compare to it.

Also, if you have flexible hours on your job, the car commute can be OK (I used to commute from SF to Silicon Valley for many years), but if you're locked into a regular 9-to-5 schedule, the commute could end up being miserable. So the advice about living near a Caltrain station makes a lot of sense -- and if you're also working near a station, even better. However, Caltrain doesn't run very often (again, this is NOT NYC), and you'll be a slave to its schedule if you use it.

So, go in with your eyes open.

Actually, I see the commute as being akin to driving from Soho to Greenwich! I don't think Caltrain suits me because I will likely be working a very early start. (So 2am bar closes are a plus;))

For restaurants, I prefer French influenced cuisine - for example, I quite like Jeanty on Jack's. In NY I like DB Bistro, Cafe Grey (if anyone knows any SF comparables, or has other dining suggestions!)

Thanks

Reading through the menu for Cafe Grey, you might like Spruce, which is in the Laurel Heights neighborhood.

http://www.sprucesf.com/

I've had two very enjoyable meals there. Biggest downside, IMO is the wine list - while extensive, it trends towards the very expensive with limited options if you are looking for something more reasonable.

The "feel" and decor of Spruce is also unlike many places in SF. One thing you'll notice is how laid back SF can feel (especially dining). Spruce definitely has a far swankier feel to it.