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What I wish I knew before moving to San Francisco

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Re: What I wish I knew before moving to San Francisco

#21

Post by thisisdallas »

The list:

It gets cold at 4pm

Neighborhoods define you

Rent is insane

Cost of living overall is sky high

There are crazy and cool things always going on

Costumes are a way of life

Lots of homeless, beggars and crackheads

PBR is the official beverage of San Francisco

An extremely pro-dog city

The Divisadero is the fog line

Palo Alto and Mountain View are farther away than you think

The 3 things you need to know about MUNI (Google Maps is never right about what time the bus will come; Half of the buses require you to step down into the steps to get the back door to open; Chinatown is a bottleneck on any route going through it)

There are tons of amazing views

Startup Central is in SoMa

SF is a super fit city

If you’re a foodie, welcome to heaven

The 3 hour time zone difference is a big deal

Watching sports matters a lot less

Everything is taken to the extreme

You’ll turn into an early adopter even if you weren’t one before

All the best tech startups are at their best here

Working in tech is the norm, not the exception

People love novelty and new experiences

Tons of awesome lies just beyond SF’s borders

Come with an explorer’s attitude

Re: What I wish I knew before moving to San Francisco

#22

Post by DeepDuh »

Thanks for all the great info, it's very helpful for someone like me, who's gonna come to the SF area the first time in march (attending / giving a talk at GTC San Jose 2013).

One more question, is there something like a weekly pass for the Caltrain, such that I could visit SF in the evenings after conference?

Re: What I wish I knew before moving to San Francisco

#23

Post by mstefanko »

bluetidepro wrote: post #8

OP, did you honestly not know how expensive it was, as well as a few of these other points in the article? I would be shocked if that's the case. Most of the items in the post are pretty well-known things about the San Fran area. More or less, the title is a bit of link bait, and I doubt most of you don't already know these things about San Fran (or the bay area, for that matter).

With that logic, no one should write anything. Living here for a year, I was happy to read this piece. Everyone knows the cost of living is sky high. But unless you have to pay it, research it, live it, it's higher than most people expect. I knew i'd be paying up the ass, but when i saw the 2k+ for my studio, it was still an eye opener. Things like the divisidero being the fog line is actually pretty important. Muni having to step down, and china town being a bottle neck, may be picked up quickly, but it's still nice to know if you're moving here. Majority of article is accurate, and half of it were not known to me before moving here.

Re: What I wish I knew before moving to San Francisco

#24

Post by hudibras » 

   Meanwhile, NFL Sundays will never be the same as 10am kickoffs is something I don’t think I’ll ever get used to.
Born and raised in Seattle. Some of my fondest memories growing up were rolling out of bed at 9:45 and sitting down to watch some football in my underwear with a bowl of cereal in my lap. (In college, sweatpants replaced underwear and screwdrivers replaced the cereal.) Now I live in D.C. and it's weird that there's nothing on until the afternoon and you can stay up until midnight watching football.

Re: What I wish I knew before moving to San Francisco

#26

Post by lmm »

DanBC2 wrote: post #13

>The most crushing aspect I saved for last though. Taxes here are significantly higher than I’ve experienced anywhere. This means you’re squeezed both on your take home pay and your expenses. ...and some weirdness means they don't spend that money on roads, so the road surfaces are lousy . Maybe I've been spoiled by our great road surfaces in UK.

I'm guessing you never drove through Essex?

Re: What I wish I knew before moving to San Francisco

#27

Post by jfb »

kaolinite wrote: post #2

Palo Alto and Mountain View are farther away than you think Hm, when I visited it felt like a pretty quick journey - no more than 30 minutes via Caltrain. Perhaps it was just excitement though!

Caltrain isn't bad headed south in the morning, although getting to Caltrain can be a real PITA, however. Coming north in rush hour, things get uglier.

I commuted from the Mission to Cupertino (MV station) for three years on Caltrain. Wouldn't recommend it.

Re: What I wish I knew before moving to San Francisco

#28

Post by encoderer »

fearless wrote: post #10
bluetidepro wrote: post #8

OP, did you honestly not know how expensive it was, as well as a few of these other points in the article? I would be shocked if that's the case. Most of the items in the post are pretty well-known things about the San Fran area. More or less, the title is a bit of link bait, and I doubt most of you don't already know these things about San Fran (or the bay area, for that matter).

Well, for one, if you knew as much as you say you do about SF you would know nobody calls it "San Fran".

So, so true.

In my group of east-coast friends and family:

Under 50ish: it's San Fran Over: Frisco

Locally? Bay Area. The City. Etc.

Re: What I wish I knew before moving to San Francisco

#29

Post by arethuza »

Aloisius wrote: post #15
kaolinite wrote: post #2

Palo Alto and Mountain View are farther away than you think Hm, when I visited it felt like a pretty quick journey - no more than 30 minutes via Caltrain. Perhaps it was just excitement though!

I commuted to Mountain View from San Francisco on Caltrain. It is doable, but it gets old pretty quick. Also those sports fans that the OP say don't exist much? They all take Caltrain to go to the ballpark at peak commute hours during the season. Also, they allow alcohol on Caltrain. Imagine a packed train full of orange and black with lots of alcohol. With the coming electrification of Caltrain in preparation for hi…

"Imagine a packed train full of orange and black with lots of alcohol."

Try the last train out of Glasgow after an Old Firm Derby... :-|

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