Ask HN: Best place to start in San Francisco? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Best place to start in San Francisco?

#21

Post by michaelhalligan » Fri, Oct 01, 2010, 5:48 PM UTC

It's a super dump, but you can get a studio for $1k/month at Trinity Plaza on Market St. Expect to lose your deposit from what I'm told, but hey it has a pool, and plenty of meth dealers, and it's right at Market & 9th so it's central to everything.

But seriously, for $1k -> $1,200 you can actually find a decent studio on nob hill. I just helped my ex-girlfriend move into a beautiful and very well-laid out 450 square foot studio for $1,100/month at Clay & Leavenworth with all utilities included.

Re: Ask HN: Best place to start in San Francisco?

#22

Post by maxawaytoolong » Fri, Oct 01, 2010, 5:50 PM UTC

_delirium wrote: post #20

maxawaytoolong wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A scooter would be a fun way to get around SF. It's theoretically possible (I think?) to get to San Jose on local roads but it would take so long it would be impractical. It wouldn't be much faster than bicycling there. I had a motorcycle in SF and found the freeways to and from the South Bay terrifying on a motorcycle. You can lane split in California, though... so a motorcycle is probably the most practical vehicle…

It's not too terrible to get all the way up/down the peninsula on local roads, but it does take a while (~2 hours). The directions are easy, though, because El Camino Real (CA-82) goes the whole way.

Yeah, CA-82 was what I was thinking of. But even driving a car on CA-82 from SF to MV(?) takes 2+ hours (I actually don't remember where I was coming from; just that it took forever). Riding a motorcycle would suck because of all the stops and starts. A scooter might actually be better for this as the step through design makes it a bit less painful to wait at intersections.

Re: Ask HN: Best place to start in San Francisco?

#23

Post by wyclif » Fri, Oct 01, 2010, 5:54 PM UTC

kroger wrote: post #10

Azuldolphin wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yea, we were hoping for $1000 total, for a small studio. What price range should we expect to find? Please keep in mind we have no idea what the neighborhoods are in SF, so please include that as well.

For $1000 you can find a small studio, but also consider the advice to look for places in the peninsula (Mountain View, Menlo Park, Palo Alto) and East bay (Oakland, etc) As a rule of the thumb, the places north in the city (nob hill, south beach, marina, etc) tend to be upscale. Downtown is not so bad, but I'd stay away from tenderloin. I don't particularly like the Mission and SOMA, but it seems a good number of st…

Ditto on "stay away from the Tenderloin." I can't stress this enough. Homeless people and drug addicts there think nothing of dumping a giant brown turd on the sidewalk wherever they happen to be walking at the time.

Re: Ask HN: Best place to start in San Francisco?

#24

Post by janj » Fri, Oct 01, 2010, 6:00 PM UTC

Azuldolphin wrote: post #16

Also, can anyone speak to the social scene of the different neighborhoods? Since we're not going to know anyone when we get out there it's important that we live somewhere where we can make friends either through good bar scenes, or startup meetups. Does anyone have experience moving to Sf without knowing anyone and making friends?

I moved to SanFran with my girlfriend without knowing anyone about 8 months ago. I live in between the Mission and Noe, on Guerrero St. I still don't really know anyone outside of my job but it's a great area full of friendly people. You can easily strike up casual conversation with most people in Doloros park. I joined a couple meetups and met some good people but then got to busy at work and haven't attended any in a while. There's noisebridge on Mission St where you could go hang out and meet some people. https://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/Noisebridge

Re: Ask HN: Best place to start in San Francisco?

#25

Post by fido » Fri, Oct 01, 2010, 6:01 PM UTC

I'm in the process of moving from Austin->San Francisco and I've been using PadMapper to see apartments per neighborhood. Once I find a place I think is cool, I click over to google maps and "explore" a bit with street view. Incredibly useful...

I also use google maps to check transit times on Caltrain to various SV locations. Include times from apartment -> transit stops -> final location, etc etc to get a good feel for total travel time to events/meetings.

Good luck!

Re: Ask HN: Best place to start in San Francisco?

#26

Post by kroger » Fri, Oct 01, 2010, 6:03 PM UTC

Azuldolphin wrote: post #16

Also, can anyone speak to the social scene of the different neighborhoods? Since we're not going to know anyone when we get out there it's important that we live somewhere where we can make friends either through good bar scenes, or startup meetups. Does anyone have experience moving to Sf without knowing anyone and making friends?

My view is that people in the bay area are very friendly and it's reasonably easy to make friends (accounting the geek factor ;-). A good start is to check meetup.com for groups with similar interest (startups, programming languages, food, etc). If you're into hiking, the Stanford Outing Group is pretty good:

https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/outing

They are not affiliated with Stanford anymore and they have user-organized group hikes regularly (sometimes every week) around the bay area.

Re: Ask HN: Best place to start in San Francisco?

#27

Post by tylrdotorg » Fri, Oct 01, 2010, 6:26 PM UTC

I'm a software developer who lived in San Francisco. I highly doubt you'll find anything for $1,000 in the city. You can get a studio in San Leandro for $950. For $1k you can probably find a nice room share in just about any neighborhood.

I highly recommend not having a car. Parking is a nightmare in San Francisco, I actually find it much easier living in Williamsburg/Brooklyn. Renting a space is anywhere from $125-250 per month.

I really enjoy living in the sunset, but it's always overcast. I also lived in SOMA and the heart of the Mission. I would advise against SOMA.

You need a bike. San Francisco cyclists are well respected by drivers and once you learn the routes (ie, the wiggle) you are set. It's the fastest way to get around the city.

Good luck

Re: Ask HN: Best place to start in San Francisco?

#28

Post by dmak » Fri, Oct 01, 2010, 6:48 PM UTC

I honestly do not get what is so great about SF. If you lived here long enough, you guys would realize how boring it is. If you want IN-N-OUT that is not overpriced (like Fishman's Wharf) then you go to Daly City. If you want Krispy Kremes, Daly City. If you want to go Bowling, Daly City. However, there are bars and the clubs here for the night life.

If you're getting a studio for $1,000. I guarantee you it will be small, especially for two people unless (read below). Now let me tell you about Sunset. Around 19th street (the main street) is the most expensive and safest, but as you go closer to the ocean the housing is noticeably less great. Trust me on this.

A tip on housing, not much people know about this, so listen up. You will find better housing if you post in the wanted section. I found a few places that were really nice at $1500 excluding utilities (but utilities ended up around ~$70 with dryer and washing machine) and including DSL with two bedrooms. Like how you like to pick your housing, owners like to pick their renters. So, put something nice in your description when you're posting in the wanted section.

Re: Ask HN: Best place to start in San Francisco?

#29

Post by ryanwaggoner » Fri, Oct 01, 2010, 6:49 PM UTC

If you're determined to life in SF, don't want to have a car, and want to be reasonably close to where most tech events happen (SOMA), I'd recommend "lower nob hill", which is a nicer way of saying the northern part of the tenderloin. The northern borders would be Pine or california, and the southern borders would be Geary. I wouldn't go any farther south than geary, and the closer to union square, the better. There's studios in that area to be had for $1200 or so. You can always go out the sunset or the richmond, but then transportation becomes a pain and there's nothing out there.

Also, if you're trying to minimize expenses, you're probably better off finding a 1-bedroom or 2-bedroom and getting another 1-2 roommates, as the price of rentals doesn't scale linearly with the number of bedrooms.

Re: Ask HN: Best place to start in San Francisco?

#30

Post by jeffreymcmanus » Fri, Oct 01, 2010, 7:22 PM UTC

Azuldolphin wrote: post #16

Also, can anyone speak to the social scene of the different neighborhoods? Since we're not going to know anyone when we get out there it's important that we live somewhere where we can make friends either through good bar scenes, or startup meetups. Does anyone have experience moving to Sf without knowing anyone and making friends?

The Height and nearby neighborhoods like Cole valley and inner sunset are fun, central and have plenty to do. That said there is no shortage of geek socialization opportunities (meetups, etc.) seemingly every night of the week.