Who can tell me about the bay area - San Francisco & San Jose?

[Aerkuld]

Trying to draw on the encyclopedic knowledge of the group . . .

Two main avenues of question;

1) Long story short, flying in to San Jose on a Friday & need to be back there Sunday night. Current line of thought would be to fly into SJ, stay in San Francisco for two nights to do all the touristy stuff, before returning to SJ and leave early Monday morning. Based on the above, if visiting for a long weekend where would you suggest for good places to stay, eat, & visit on a moderate budget? Rent a car, or use public transport? It's been a few years since I've been there but the friend I'm meeting has never been - any 'must see' or 'must do' things?

OK, vaguely connected but this one is probably more complex. Ready?

2) What can you tell me about San Jose and the surrounding area? The friend I mentioned above is considering moving out that way. All I know is it's expensive, which isn't much help. Could anyone offer more insight? Any areas within a 45 minute commute that would be more reasonable than others? Head for the hills, or up the sides of the bay? Any areas to avoid? General thoughts? All I'm able to offer is my experience spending five years living in SoCal (Orange County). Other than that, I visited Sunnyvale and Santa Clara back in the late '70's and early '80's when my Uncle was working out there. Does anyone have more recent experience, or direct connections?

I'd appreciate any information and opinions you guys are able to offer.

[ckissick]

First of all, rent a car. Much more freedom that way.

Must-sees in and near SF:
1) Park at the south end of the Golden Gate Bridge and walk across part of it. Park on the west side and walk through the tunnel to the east side.
2) Lombard Street and Filbert Street one block over, the steepest street in SF.
3) Coit Tower for the views and walk down the Filbert Street steps.
4) Fisherman's Wharf - get an Irish coffee at the Buena Vista, followed by a treat at Girardelli Square. Pier 39 is way touristy, but hey, you're a tourist. Get some sea food!
5) China Town is interesting
6) Sausalito
7) Muir Woods - take the shuttle, as parking there is impossible
8) Visit the museums, botanical gardens, and Japanese tea garden in Golden Gate Park. Park along Stowe Lake and walk.
9) Cocktails at the Cliff House

As for living near SJ, a discussion on prices would be rather lengthy. Best to look on Zillow to see prices on a map. He should rent for a year and figure it out. I hope he makes a lot of money.

[motion]

I have a buddy who lives in SJ, so I've been there quite a few times recently.

Thoughts:

Traffic is a nightmare

BART is extremely difficult to figure out and doesn't take you everywhere in the Bay area

Rents aren't too bad. A 1 BDR apartment in Willow Glen is $1600ish

Food and drinks are ridiculously overpriced, at least by SoCal standards

Real estate values are very high

Wait times at decent restaurants are long everywhere you go

Just my 0.02

[Don Ro]

Excellent, Charlie. Couldn't have said it better.
Lived on the peninsula for 35 years.
.
And I witnessed CA go downhill.

[pitargue]

If your friend works, best to let us know where that would be, because the commute can suck royally.

Due to all the facebook/google millionaire kids, a lot of property have broken the $1million barrier. In some places, that's a tear down and rebuild a house type of deal. It all depends on where you friend wants to live.

Expensive doesn't even cover it sometimes. Have loads of cash.

[vash]

does your friend poop money?

first, public trans from san ho, to san fran is a nightmare. no bart. you take caltrain, and some surface commute train as well.

for reference, i believe a single bedroom in a marginal part of town is now going for $3000 per month in san fran. san jose is not much better since they run the world from there via the internet.

food? you cant swing a dead cat from the tail and not smack some great chef in the face. even the dive joints in san francisco will amaze you.

i love it here. glad i got on this ride closer to the ground level.

[ckissick]

When driving from SJ to SF, 280 is very scenic while 101 is not scenic at all. It takes about 45 minutes. But if you want to make a day of it, go over to Santa Cruz and then up the coast on Highway 1 through Half Moon Bay and Pacifica. It's a beautiful drive. Sam's Chowderhouse in HMB for lunch is a fun stop.

[dan88911]

Hotels in S.F. Hotel NikKO is very nice. Handlery Hotel which is near by has a promotion with a local very popular radio station KGO News some kind of long weekend deal.
The ferry building at the foot of Market in a live on the weekend from there down to Fishermans Warf .
In San Jose downtown has lot restaurants Improv comedy club is nice, and I think they has a live music festival coming up next month its an annual thing very popular. Not sure of the date.

In general there is stuff going on all over the bay area.
street fairs, city music festivals , jazz clubs, comedy clubs.
In addition to all the stuff Ckissick mentioned.

[LakeCleElum]

My daughter lives in Sunnyvale. Her other 1/2 has a Dr. degree in Computer engineering and works for Google......Crazy expensive area......For SJ, I'd go south, toward Gilroy and Morgan Hill.

To the list of what to see in SF, add Twin Peaks Park......360 degree view.....

[wildthing]

Rent a car.

Why not just stay in SF or fly into SFO. OTOH if you have been to SF enough, fly to SJC, rent a car, then drive down to Monterey. Or Santa Cruz then up to Half Moon Bay. Or vice versa. Half Moon Bay to a Santa Cruz means the ocean is on your right. This is a matter of personal preference.

Living in SJ... No kids, buy a new development west, south, or north. Never East. Downtown condos are fine too if that's their thing. If they prefer older communities, Willow Glen is great.

With kids, go somewhere where there are good schools. Good schools = expensive houses. Evergreen. Palo Alto. Pleasanton.

Traffic sucks. Telecommute options would be good. South SJ to Sunnyvale is 45 minutes but it's only 22 miles.

Everything is close enough except snow which is 4 hours away.

[Aerkuld]

Thanks guys. Really appreciating the input for me to pass along. Travel plans are somewhat restricted regarding which airport to use, but it would make more sense to use SFO I agree.
Great point about Highway 1, PCH will make for a great drive.
Some great locations to check out in SF too. I think this will be a busy few days.
Regarding the area of San Jose, I believe her potential work location is fairly close to the airport. I dont know exactly, but that may help with location suggestions.
Rental for the first year is an excellent idea. Thanks. I think that was going to be a likely choice anyway. It provides a chance to look around in more depth and find the right place without getting pinned down.
Gilroy - I remember heading out of town and being stuck in traffic for the Gilroy Garlic festival! I'm assuming property is slightly less ridiculous out that way then?
I read about going West, South, or North but NOT East - are these bad areas, or is there some other reason?
Regarding the comments about money; I can only reference it to where I am, but if I were moving I'd need a 50% raise as a minimum. I can't speak for her though. It's not my department, but I think she has that covered.
A question crossed my mind - Obviously not everyone out there is working in the Tech industry, so what do people with regular jobs do for somewhere to live? There has to be something a regular person could afford, or who works in the Best Buy? Maybe that's why you don't go out to the East - it's full of WalMart employees ;-)

Well, thanks again and please keep it coming if you have more thoughts.

[RANDY P]

worst roads on the west coast. Traffic impossible. Property values insane.

[wildthing]

East SJ is where the shootings and gangs are. You know you're in a bad neighborhood when there are metal doors over the regular ones. Not as bad as East Oakland but...

Does it have to be SJ? There's Cupertino, or Sunnyvale, or Mountain View.

[aigel]

I live in the south bay. It is boring as hell and inversely proportionally expensive. Definitely don't expect a lot of excitement.

What I do in my spare time close by is hit the open spaces and ride my bike, run the dogs, hunt the bay for waterfowl. Day trips are often to the beach in Half Moon Bay. The local Porsche club is great - I continue to instruct at AX.

Restaurants are good in terms of finding every ethnic food in the world a few blocks away. And being an immigrant myself, it is great to blend in with the crowd, including my kids who won't get any grief for being different. Everyone is. And I love meeting and working with people from around the globe.

SJ has some nuggets of restaurants and nightlife. The San Pedro square area is neat and if you like German food, go check out Teske's Germania on 1st street - the beergarden is fun in the summer with live music on most Fri/Sat evenings.

There is nothing really "cheaper" in a 45 min commute distance, IMHO. It gets cheaper if you are willing to go 1+ hour. And the traffic will be a mess - 1h will be 2+ on Friday.
I am looking at ranch type suburban homes 3bdr/2bh and nothing decent under a million in the south bay. You get to 800k in Fremont and if you are willing to hump it into the tri-valley (Dublin/Pleasanton/Livermore) you'll get into the 700s. That's the discount for 1+ h commuting. I am speaking of a home that's in an area with a public school that's at least testing at state average. There are cheaper homes in the hoods but good luck raising a family there or even keeping the wheels on your car while you park it in the street.

If you are in tech, ther is NO place in the world with the same opportunities. I had to look for a new job earlier this year and it took literally a week to find one. And that's mid-career in a fairly specialized field. A 3-6 month job search along with a move would have been inevitable anywhere else in the country.

If you would like to talk on the phone about your upcoming visit, or would like me to show you around, PM me.

Cheers,

G

[speeder]

The power of Pelican. ^^^

[vash]

best damn Vietnamese sandwich in the bay area is in San jose.

about $3. so while you're hemorrhaging money for rent..at least you can eat healthy-ish.

i like san jose. just to damn crowded.

[Don Ro]

Speaking of property values going up in the Bay Area...
Several years before I sold in '08, the property values in Menlo Park were increasing by ~ $100,000/yr. according to real estate info.
A 900 sq. ft. 1 bdrm. cottage on a tiny lot on University Ave. in Palo Alto sold for $90k above asking price...for $1.1 million.
When I sold my 3 bdrm/2 bath after 20 yrs. of ownership, I owed $160,000 and got $1.85 million.
Real estate folks told me that if I had sold in '05 I could have easily reached $2 million.
.
Absolutely vulgar!

[john70t]

Originally Posted by wildthing

Not as bad as East Oakland but...

How is it now?

When I left a decade ago, Oakland downtown was empty.
Business were boarded up, there was a cop car on every corner, and because of the f'n traffic-light timing you could drive exactly 1 block every 5 minutes on the average.

I considered buying property near East O-town at one point, and drove through there a bit.
There were some affordable hidden jems but the neighborhood was mixed:
-One block would have burnt out rustbuckets on blocks, with homies standing around drinking in the middle of the road.
-The next block would be new white picket fences with an escalade in the drive, art coffee shops, and kids writing chaulk on the sidewalk.

[vash]

Oakland is now badass. I backed out of a house purchase and regret it.

There are awesome restaurants and bars without the stick up your arse attitude you find in SF.


Typos and bad grammar sponsored by iPhone!

[Don Ro]

Believe it or not, when I left in '08 single women were buying condos in East Palo Alto.
Employed Mexicans were moving in and buying in droves and pushing out the welfare/druggie blacks.