And regarding weather: east side of SF weather is a little worse than Oakland but a LOT better than the west side of SF.

SJC airport to 1 California St.
56.7 mi, 1 hour 1 min In current traffic: 1 hour 2 mins
I-280 N


Cops ticket exactly zero people for driving 75-80mph on 280 unless you're driving like a jerk. 50 minutes on a bad day.


I think it would be fun to live in the city for about a week. Then...not so much. But that's just me and I'm sure it works great for some.

JL,

Just in case you're wondering, you don't need to consider anything south of the city. SF, Oakland, Berkeley is basically what you're looking at.

No love for the peninsula ITT.

Every time I see one of these on the road, I catch up to it, only to find there is someone inside.

I have a 7pm flight tomorrow , and would like to grab sushi for lunch beforehand. I'll be eating by myself, so ideally I would like to eat at the sushi bar. Price isn't an issue. I'm staying in the financial district, proximity to either the airport or my hotel is nice but not a requirement.

Ino is the consensus in this thread, but unfortunately they don't open until 5pm. Thanks!

Also, last night I checked out Nopa. Highly recommended, everything was delicious. It was great place to go and share dishes, since everything on the menu was interesting. I especially enjoyed the duck and pork chops mains, and the goat cheese and kale appetizers.

Agreed but this is gonna be tight on 90k. Granted I have 2 kids to feed; but that's "getting by" monies even east of Sacto where I am.

3-6 mo. sublet in some SOMA place (assume they're easier to come by there) seems like the safe bet IMO. Lots of good suggestions, but places you want to check out/vibe for yourselves before committing to them for a year.

King,

Doesn't look like any good sushi is open Saturday daytime. Here are some options for you:

Ebisu sushi at SFO - no idea how good this is, but their sf restaurant is excellent

Tons of awesome brunch places in SF - mission beach cafe, olea, zero zero are a few of tons of great places

Waterbar - excellent expensive American style seafood (oysters and lobster, not sushi) and brunch stuff (close to you)

I'll be Petaluma all next week (arriving and leaving through SF obv). Can anyone please recommend anything to check out/do/eat in non working hours? Must do's for SF as well since I'll be there for a short time? Thanks

Man, what a great city. Definitely a place I can see myself living.

I spent all of Saturday lounging around Golden Gate park, was incredibly beautiful. One of the best parks I've ever visited for sure. Wish I was in town for a few more days to get to do some more outdoorsy activities. I ended up eating sushi last night at Ozumo which was good, worth a visit if you're in the area. Casual, laid back atmosphere.

I had a late lunch at Waterbar (thanks for the rec!) and had some great oysters and sashimi. Service was very slow, but since I wasn't in a hurry that wasn't an issue.

As already said itt, Hotel Vitale is a great hotel and in an awesome location. Staff was awesome as well, definitely recommend staying there.

Been kinda late getting to this thread. Right now seems to be a pretty good time to house hunt. I just had a friend come up cuz she and her boyfriend are getting a place as he is working in Fremont and they locked up a really cool loft space in Emeryville for 2350 a month without too much drama (unlike when euro and I house hunted in July and it was madness).

They were both somewhat put off by rentals in the city - being able to get rid of cars not withstanding and they really liked the craftsman home type places that are available here. They were really surprised when I showed them my house and what we were getting for the same money or cheaper that they were looking at apartments for.

Commute to financial district should be super easy from Berkeley area. From Ashby to Montgomery is 20 minutes on BART. I know people who go from Rockridge to Daly City - it's just worth it to them to be over in the east bay. Friends also cited that they like that it's a bit quieter and less crowded here, but it's super easy to get to the city so you get best of both worlds. That's where I fall. But some people really like being in the center of the city. Totally a personal choice. We have a garden and it's adorable :-) Going to be working in it today since I neglected it over the winter.

Oh! And wanted to add my friend talked the landlord down to a 6 month lease because she is feisty but also because they want to get a feel for the area and not feel locked in for a year. So that is a very real possibility for you if you are nervous about long commitment to one area.

My girlfreind and I are flying in this weekend for the WBC finals. We have most our food / activity ideas in place, so my question is about bars. We tend to like more lounge / dive bar type places, especially if there's live music. We went to Cafe Delux on Haight St. last time in town and enjoyed that. Any advice on similar places would be appreciated.

Also thanks for all the other great advice in this thread.

Just an update, I am about to sign on a quick 2 month sublet in SOMA about a half mile from work. It's 3k/mo but it's a good starting point to get to know the city. I was talking to few people looking to rent a room in a 2BR condo/apt for ~$2300, but we'd want to meet them in person before hand and we're running out of time.

Would love to meet you guys and buy you a beer for your help.

I can't imagine shelling out $3k/mo for a rental. The city is great and all, but seriously -- you don't have to live in it to enjoy it.

If it is at all possible, you should consider buying (outside the city probably). Real estate prices in the Bay Area are very much on the rebound right now. If you have anything for a downpayment, and you can afford $3k/mo, you can probably get a loan. My mortgage + insurance and taxes is half what you'll be paying for rent, and I live in a much nicer place than what you'll get for $3k/mo renting in the City. And our house has picked up six figures in value since we bought it a year and a half ago.

Outside the City, a real hot area right now is the Temescal/Uptown area of Oakland. Dozens of great restaurants and clubs opening up, and they have the monthly Art Murmur festival, which is a lot of fun. You could get a place near BART and you could get to the Financial District in 15 mins or less.

Seriously, unless you really enjoy throwing away your money, think twice about renting in the City.

I don't doubt any of this and I appreciate the insight. Just as I stated, gf and I need to give the city a try, even for a few months. I would love to be living $1k/mo cheaper, trust me.

I do have a good amount tucked away that I could put towards a house, but that's probably not something we're going to even consider until we've spent some time in the area and living with each other, as we live separately at the moment.

Staying at the Omni in August for 3 nights before heading to Napa. Is this a good area? It was the most reasonable rate that I could find in the area. Thanks.

I stayed in the Omni in Feb, I really liked the hotel, they do free pressings and shoe shinings and stuff. It's in the Financial District so it's not in the heart of SF, but it's close to Embarcadero and the Ferry Building so there's still plenty to do

I actually work across the street from the Omni. It's a good area as far as cleanliness and crime, but there's not much going on in the area after 6:00 PM or so. Luckily Chinatown and North Beach(little Italy) are a very short walk away. North Beach especially has plenty of nightlife(and strip clubs if you are so inclined).

Taking California St. over the hill from the Omni will lead you to the Polk St corridor which is also populated with plenty of bars and restaurants and continues to add new places all the time.

There's also the California St. cable car line that runs right in front of the hotel but I would skip it. The best cable car line in my opinion is the Hyde St line which is best to catch at the Powell St cable car turnaround. The Hyde St line takes you to the top of Lombard St, which is the crooked street.

The Omni is also around the corner from the Transamerica building, which is the pyramid building.

hope this helps

Thanks guys. Actually going with my wife so no boobies on this trip (well one pair).

We have some a restaurant reservation at the Wayfair Tavern one night. On a map I thought this looked fairly close to Union Square, which from what I gather is the best spot to be. We are just looking for nice bars and places to eat. Any cool areas we should check out?

Quick question for any SFers: Do you guys get called in for jury duty like pretty much ALL THE TIME? I've been living here for eight years and this is my fifth or sixth summons; I'm honestly starting to wonder if this one US Attorney dude who I'm supposed to be friends with although secretly we are always kind of annoyed with each other is somehow exacting his revenge. (And if so, then well played sir.)

OK scratch that, just found a column from 2007 where among other things the writer says:

So I guess nothing to see here. If they're really asking 25K people per month and if the potential pool of jurors was, say, 750K people, then the trusty binomial calculator says that my chance of being asked at least five times in eight years is 17%, blah.

I would check out Hayes Valley and the Mission District. They are completely different in vibe but both cool areas nonetheless. Hayes Valley is also a short walk from Alamo Square park, where the painted ladies are located. Be forewarned, the Mission is a little grimy, but it's not as bad as the Tenderloin.

There's also the Marina District which has some cool spots but is very douchy/yuppie.

BTW the Wayfare and your hotel are a quick walk from Union Square.

I've been here for a little over 15 years and it feels like I get a summons every year and a half or so.

I got called in and I've lived here 6 months. Apparently in Alameda County it's standard to be called up every year. Lol Oakland.

Empire,

Yep, I get called almost every year.