The San Francisco/Bay Area Megathread

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sinistersimian: May 24, 2004; go ape for our cause

i've lived in SF for the last 7 years and have moved neighborhoods at least once a year. i currently live in the castro (the gay district) and have lived in: hayes valley, lower haight, upper haight, twin peaks, mission, sunset, and potrero hill. happy to answer any questions people have about this place...

quote:

qirex came out of the closet to say:
Is it true there's lots of those, ya know, homos? And what spots specifically woud one not want to be lurking in the bushes or a bathroom stall on Friday night if you wanted to make sure that you didn't come in contact with any of them?

edit: meh...didn't get that you were being sarcastic. probably should wait to fully wake up before i blindly post...

sinistersimian fucked around with this message at 20:19 on Aug 8, 2005

# ¿ Aug 8, 2005 19:59

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# ¿ May 18, 2024 10:24

sinistersimian: May 24, 2004; go ape for our cause

quote:

Earwicker came out of the closet to say:

It doesn't take that long at all, really, but I guess it depends on what part of the city you live in because it really varies a lot. In the Outer Richmond and Outer Sunset you're lucky if you ever see blue sky but in the rest of the city it's usually pretty nice in the summer and fall from about 11 am till about 5 pm, when it starts rolling back in. The easiest way to get used to it is to focus on how beautiful that fog can be sometimes.

the fog wasn't that hard to get used to, at least for me. far more difficult was the distinct lack of seasons. or at least the inverted seasons. it's august and it's been pretty brisk lately.

quote:

Earwicker came out of the closet to say:

Oh that's a big political issue around here. I'm honestly not sure why we have so many more homeless people than most other major cities, but I get the feeling it goes all the way back to the 19th century and the "drive to the west" that had a lot of people end up out here after wandering aimlessly around the country. Then a similar thing happened in the 1960's, people came here from all over the country looking for a hippie paradise and free love. A lot of them got hooked on heroin and other lovely drugs pretty quick (the common legend is that the FBI deliberately marketed heroin in the Haight to get the hippies hooked, who knows where that one comes from) and ended up on the streets, and that's where they still are. This led to a vibrant and growing homeless population. As for what the city is doing, well there are a lot of shelters and such but the most talked about issue is "Care Not Cash" which is a policy that provides the homeless with rent and food vouchers instead of direct cash handouts. Personally I think the policy has had some good effects but it's still a bone of contention between our two major political factions, the liberals and the ultra-liberals. I work in an area notorious for it's homeless population (south of market between 5th and 6th streets) and while you see some disgusting things from time to time I get the idea in general that things are getting a bit better in this area, partially due to the city's ongoing redevelopment plans.

i read that a lot of it is attributable to a) then-governor reagan's drastic budget cuts to state-run mental health insitutions which put a lot of people with medical issues on the streets; b) san francisco's relatively mild clime; and c) san francisco's historically tolerant political atmosphere. (c) seems to be changing under mayor newsom though.

# ¿ Aug 8, 2005 20:42

sinistersimian: May 24, 2004; go ape for our cause

quote:

Celine Dion came out of the closet to say:
How does the average twenty-something make ends meet while living in the Bay Area and paying its exorbitant rent?

roommates, lots and lots of roommates. this is probably true of most major urban centers. living with 3-5 roommates makes a big difference and after awhile you stop thinking it odd to be paying $600 for a room.

# ¿ Aug 8, 2005 20:45

sinistersimian: May 24, 2004; go ape for our cause

quote:

Mr. Sleep came out of the closet to say:
I'm planning on moving into an apartment in January. Do you have any favorite places? Do you know which districts strike a nice balance between accessibility/crimerates/nightlife?

kinda depends what your looking for and what your price-range is. of all the neighborhoods i've lived in i liked hayes valley the best. i paid $1350 for a 1 br converted carriage house and garage. hayes valley isn't as big a scene as the mission or castro but there are awesome local cafes, restaurants, and bars. it's pretty centrally located too, so getting to the mission (for many, many more watering holes) is a short walk and getting downtown is really easy. near dolores park is really nice too...

quote:

NaPentothal42 came out of the closet to say:
I "read" in playboy or somesuch that San Francisco is the single heaviest drinking city in America. Which is pretty awesome.

in the same study they mention that san francisco also buys the most books per capita. i love that they go hand-in-hand...

quote:

Inga Monkey came out of the closet to say:
How hard is it to find housing with pets in the area? We're looking at moving there permanently in the coming year, and I have a 45 pound dog. How hard is it going to be to rent a place until we're ready to buy?

it can be pretty hard. i don't own a pet but my friends that too invariably have to spend more time looking, pay a little more, and have less options in terms of neighborhoods. of course that's all assuming you want to live in the city; if you're thinking outside then i'll let others who live there answer.

if you're thinking of coming here to buy you might want to check out the housing market first. it's insane. in order to buy in the city you have to be ready for a $100K deposit and a bidding war. i know people who commute over an hour each way just so they could buy a house for less than $500K. of course if you can buy here then you'll see some insane appreciation. i'm just holding out for a big earthquake before i can even think about buying...

sinistersimian fucked around with this message at 04:47 on Aug 9, 2005

# ¿ Aug 9, 2005 04:39

sinistersimian: May 24, 2004; go ape for our cause

quote:

Thufir came out of the closet to say:
I will have a BA in history, so my job search will probably be pretty similar to what you faced. Mich will have a BS in biology and wants to go to grad school eventually. Our friend that now lives out there has a liberal arts degree from the school we attend and temped for about 7-8 months before being offered a permanent position by one of his employers if I recall correctly, so I was actually a little surprised by the poster above who said jobs were pretty easy to find. I'm not super concerned about it, I'm perfectly willing to live in semi-poverty or work my rear end off at a poo poo job for a while until we can get our feet on the ground. Are apartments around $900 pretty common in decent parts of Oakland? That doesn't seem too too terrible but I suspect our best bet will still be to find a few other people to live with.

Thanks for the info Earwicker and asdf.

best thing you can really do is check out craigslist.org and poke around in the different neighborhoods. check out oakland, but you probably should check the place out before you rent it...

# ¿ Aug 9, 2005 05:47

sinistersimian: May 24, 2004; go ape for our cause

quote:

Crass came out of the closet to say:
Since this is the MEGATHREAD I thought I'd post here. I've read a lot of posts about where to live but I need more touristy information. I'm staying in San Mateo and attending training for the next 4 days or so and need some tips on how to spend my evenings. I'm looking for good restaurants and night spots in the San Fran area. Nothing too meat market-y, although if this is the MEGATHREAD someone else might be interested.

are you interested/willing in going into the city itself? what kind of food do you like? what's your price range? what kinda night spots would you be looking for (dance club, lounge, dive bar)?

# ¿ Aug 10, 2005 18:28

sinistersimian: May 24, 2004; go ape for our cause

quote:

Crass came out of the closet to say:
Sure I'm willing to go pretty much anywhere. Don't sweat the price range, and I think I'm generally looking for either something loungy or a dive bar. I'm not particularly interested in dance clubs.

i say hit the mission. bruno's is good but my fav's in the area (bar-wise) are:

drinks:
zeitgeist (dive bar at duboce and valencia)
casanova lounge (lounge near 16th and mission)
amnesia (lounge-ish place near 20th and valencia)
elbo room (bar and venue...depending on what's playing)

food:
little baobab (caribbean creole food near 19th and mission)
luna park (comfortish food at 18th and valencia)
tokyo gogo (awesome sushi near 16th and valencia)
platanos (great latin american at 18th and guerrero)

lemme know if none of those strike your fancy

# ¿ Aug 10, 2005 22:41

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# ¿ May 18, 2024 10:24

sinistersimian: May 24, 2004; go ape for our cause

from san mateo i'd almost just drive to a BART station and take that into the mission (16th and Mission is the stop you'd want). check out: http://www.bart.gov/index.asp

one thing to note is when they stop running tho...

# ¿ Aug 11, 2005 00:59

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