San Francisco Bay Area, CA

[bleistift]

How easy is it to get to a real beach (warm enough water, swimmable, etc.) from Stanford? How about the mountains?

There's a wonderful beach at Santa Cruz, about an hour and a half south. There are beaches along the Peninsula that are a lot closer, but I've never been to any of them so I can't say how good they are. By mountains I assume you want to ski? You'll need to head east to the Sierra mountains. Tahoe's a fairly common destination.

[Leavinmyheartinsf]

Hmmmm, Nothern CA doesn't have swimmable water at its beaches most of the year, particularly near Stanford where the closest would be half Moon Bay. Our beaches are pretty foggy and you see a lot of wetsuits. Santa cruz is probably best around July- August, but it is still COLD!

[materialgirl]

Hm...oh well, it was worth a try. Time to get a wetsuit!

[emusinfrance]

[quote name="Louiselab

[twert]

hey does anyone have any advice or tips about dog friendly housing in SF or the Bay Area on a grad student's budget? I'll need to get downtown a lot (market/powell) so any neighbourhoods not to brutal to commute from would be great. I've been browsing through craigslist and when you press the dogs button the results get cut by more than half! SFRENT seems to be popping up a lot, anyone know about this company? also is it true that landlords are allowed to have no pets stipulations? any tips/advice is appreciated!

[GenderMediaGrad]

I've lived in the Palo Alto area for 24 years and I can definitely recommend some good places to live. You don't want to look north of Palo Alto because things tend to get more expensive as move up the Peninsula (so I would avoid Redwood City and San Mateo). The best place to look for housing would probably be Mountain View (Sunnyvale is good too). Mountain View is only 10-15 minutes south of Palo Altos and it is a nice, friendly city with a good downtown area (with coffee shops) and quite a bit less expensive than Palo Alto. Sunnyvale is similar just about 5-8 minutes further south. I have a friend who currently shares an apartment in Mountain View with 2 roommates and she pays $650/month. You can definitely get a one bedroom for $1,000 or less. If you simply go south down El Camino Real from Stanford Campus, you will arrive at El Camino & Castro in about 15 minutes-- this is the heart of downtown Mountain View. If you drive around in a 10 block raidus, you will find several nice apartment complexes and I would recommend checking prices there. It is a good, safe area that should be in your price range... you'll even a little money left over for that cofee!

[pepper84]

Where would one want to live if attending UC Berkeley that's relatively cheap? Does anyone know if they try to help set up roommate connections or how does all of that work?

Thanks!

[socialpsych]

You don't want to look north of Palo Alto because things tend to get more expensive as move up the Peninsula (so I would avoid Redwood City and San Mateo).

Really? I don't think that's true at all. Redwood City and Menlo Park (just north of PA) can be quite reasonable. At any rate, even if that is true, I don't think there is anything wrong with those cities per se, so if you do find a nice and inexpensive place, I don't see any reason to avoid moving there!

[Colin]

transportation / commute / car necessary?

re: SFAI and commuting from San Jose?

to save $ (rent) but...

How much of a commute/pain would it be to get in and out of SF-- daily? oh, and parking?

The alternative is to ditch the car and use the money saved to go toward rent IN town.

But will I regret that?

I visited SF last October and did pub trans fine.

Lived in Boston and NYC without a car for 10 years.

[grad_intern]

Hi everyone! I am moving from small-town Missouri to Sunnyvale CA for an graduate internship with Yahoo!... I am very excited about moving but I know NOTHING about living in the Bay area, or California for that matter. I have been looking for apartments/corporate housing with little luck. I know they are expensive, but geeze I cannot believe the prices! Does anyone know of any good areas to live in or areas to STAY AWAY from? Also, do people actively take public transportation or should I bring my car to that area? Any suggestions on areas to live in if I want to take caltrain or VTA (I am not sure if those are the correct names or not)? ANY suggestions or advice will be GREATLY appreciated! Thank you so much!

[grad_intern]

It is common for students/young professionals to utilize the public transportation in these areas and not have a car? I am moving to do a graduate internship in Sunnyvale (just for the summer) and I don't want to bring my car. Do people use the CalTrain, buses and light rail? Do they connect with each other? Are they safe? Also, does anyone have any names of specific apartment complexes that students live in and can walk to public transportation safely?

[nervousnelly]

Hi all,

I will probably be attending Stanford in the fall, and my partner may be at Berkeley (if fortune smiles on us -- fingers crossed!!). We have two dogs, and are not independently wealthy, lol. He's a young professor, and I'm an older-ish grad student. Where might be a good place for us to live? We currently live in a large city and prefer that to a suburban feel, but we would also need to have reasonable commutes on both ends. And, no matter what, our dogs are coming with us!!

Any suggestions would be great, so that I could start looking for housing. Thanks for any help you can provide!!

[BlueRose]

That depends on your definition of "reasonable commute". Driving from Stanford-Berkeley takes a solid two hours (off-peak), and 3+ if you're anywhere near rush hour.

One option might be living in San Francisco. There's reasonable public transit to both Stanford and Berkeley (not much time savings, but you can work on the Caltrain/BART). This might be more than you can afford, though.

A cheaper option might be to live at an intermediate point in the East Bay. (Maybe Fremont?) It gets more urban-ish the more northward you go...in the case of Hayward/Oakland, not necessarily in a good way.

Congratulations, btw. And good luck.

<- former Silicon Valley resident

[FionatheFeminist]

I've just been accepted to San Francisco State and I'm ecstatic!! I've never been to SF before but I think I'd really love it. Does anyone know anything about the area SFSU is located in? Ideally, I'd love to live near the queer/lesbian area of town but would really love to not have a huge commute (and preferably by public transport).. Does anyone know how doable this is?

Many thanks!!

[sbowman]

I've just been accepted to San Francisco State and I'm ecstatic!! I've never been to SF before but I think I'd really love it. Does anyone know anything about the area SFSU is located in? Ideally, I'd love to live near the queer/lesbian area of town but would really love to not have a huge commute (and preferably by public transport).. Does anyone know how doable this is?

Many thanks!!

The Parkmerced/Parkside area is probably the least interesting bit of the city. Late 40s streetcar suburbs with no real retail to speak of. However, it's 10-15 minutes by very frequent rail from Castro station, which itself is at least a gay nightlife mecca, and is also a good transfer point for the Mission, NOPA, SOMA and Potrero Hill nearby, which are probably cheaper, and are all perfectly young/progressive/LGBTQ friendly. Your real issue will be finding an apartment at all... it takes time, money, and dedication anywhere in the inner Bay Area.

[Sic6]

Just got accepted to SFAI, i've never been to Sf but i am moving out there obviously! Anyone have suggestions where to look in a certain area? Im not living on campus because im living with a roomate. Any advice will help, how about a car situation also? Does it really cost more? Help!

[FionatheFeminist]

The Parkmerced/Parkside area is probably the least interesting bit of the city. Late 40s streetcar suburbs with no real retail to speak of. However, it's 10-15 minutes by very frequent rail from Castro station, which itself is at least a gay nightlife mecca, and is also a good transfer point for the Mission, NOPA, SOMA and Potrero Hill nearby, which are probably cheaper, and are all perfectly young/progressive/LGBTQ friendly. Your real issue will be finding an apartment at all... it takes time, money, and dedication anywhere in the inner Bay Area.

Thanks for your input!!

[nanotechgrl]

I haven't seen a thread about SF, so I thought I'd start it. Where are good/cheap places to live in SF that are either walking or easy commuting distance from the UCSF campuses?

[Tsuroyu]

Hey nano, I lived in SF for about the last 8 years or so, let me see if I can get you started here.

Unfortunately, "cheap" and "in SF" are not likely to be found in the same sentence very often. On the bright side, the other part of your question ("walking or easy commuting distance) has a better answer: from pretty much any point in the city, you can easily commute to any other point. UCSF in particular is right on the MUNI's N line, so it's very accessible, regardless of where you live. And if you end up somewhere that's not close to a MUNI line, busses will have you covered.

So then your question gets a little trickier. Are you willing to spend more money to live in SF proper, making your commute a lot easier? Or would you rather spend a little less to live outside of the city, but perhaps deal with a nightmarish commute? I personally opted for the first option when I was a student at SFSU: I found that my gas expenditures to drive in a given month were nearly as much as the pricey rent anyway, and the commute can be really terrible by car. Caltrain or BART are both options, depending on where you end up living, but they may take significantly more of your time each day. But if you don't mind that, it's definitely an option, and I've found them both to be pretty good compared to what you get in other parts of the US.

Living in the city is great, even though expensive, and I really loved it there. If you're a city person at all, it's a great place to live. You do need to be careful when apartment hunting, though, and avoid a few neighborhoods that will immediately be the obvious "inexpensive" places to live. The Tenderloin, parts of the Mission District, Excelsior, Bayview, Hunter's Point, these are generally cheap, but can range from a little slummy to downright awful. There are some really nice places (and closer to UCSF anyway) in the Sunset, Richmond, Parkside, Cole Valley, Haight, and Noe Valley areas, and even farther out like Daly City (a little bit of a commute, but easily tolerable), Pacifica, etc down the peninsula depending on how far you wanna travel each day. I have commuted daily from as far south as Morgan Hill, but this is at least 1 hour each way with NO traffic, much much longer in rush hour; I don't recommend it.

To give you some idea, I lived in the outer sunset with my girlfriend and our small dog in a 1 bedroom apartment (old, but not bad) for $1500/month. It was hard to live on the tight budget we kept, but I loved the area while I was there. I would go back, if it were in my price range. For a bit more, the apartments at Park Merced aren't bad, although that area is swarming with SFSU undergrads. Also, you can save a TON of money if you're willing to take room/housemates, depending on your situation.

Feel free to ask if you have other questions, I love the city (which is what people from there usually call SF), and I'm happy to try to help

[radagast]

I am from the city as well and I am going to have a super difficult time leaving this fall. It's a wonderful place to be and really has a lot to offer!

So, housing ranges from moderately to really expensive. I currently live in the lower Haight and pay 825 dollars per month in rent plus utilities. However, I live with four roommates (who are awesome and there are absolutely no problems but I wanted to give you that caveat.) You can find great deals on rooms in shared apartments but living on your own can be expensive.

As my best friend is in a PhD program at UCSF, I actually have some insight into what areas are best to live in. She lives in the Nob Hill area which, while not super far from school, has been pretty isolating at times. I would suggest looking around in the lower Haight, Haight Ashbury, NoPa, Cole Valley, inner Sunset, Hayes Valley and some parts of the Mission for location and convenience sake. Just a reminder, if you are in neuro or bio you will be spending time at both the Parnassus and Mission Bay campuses so you want to locate yourself in the middle of the two places. Rents in the areas I mentioned for shared rooms are usually around 800 dollars but I don't know how much a single apartment would cost. Buses run through the city as do rail lines so you can getting between places isn't difficult at all. People complain about Muni but I think it is perfectly fine.

Craigslist is a great way to find a place in the city. Pretty much everyone uses it to find roommates and though there are some sketchy people, it's relatively safe.

OOOO also the outer Richmond and outer Sunset are way colder than the rest of the city. Just something to take into account.

[ca010]

Yes I am also having trouble with leaving San Francisco for graduate school this fall.

The Inner Sunset, Haight and Cole Valley neighborhoods basically surround UCSF and all seem to have a high concentration of UC students walking up the hill at all hours. All 3 are excellent neighborhoods but quite expensive. The outer sunset isn't quite as nice as the inner sunset because the inner sunset is just a little easier access to the rest of the city and has a great collection of cafes and restaurants. Cole Valley is the nicest of the areas right next to UC.

[alyss]

I haven't seen a thread about SF, so I thought I'd start it. Where are good/cheap places to live in SF that are either walking or easy commuting distance from the UCSF campuses?

There is a thread for SF

[Stitch808]

So I think I'll revive this thread. I was just accepted to SFSU (yay!) and I need some place to live. I would like to live as close as possible to SFSU but still be able to afford living in the city or near the city (I'm referring to living in Daly City). What areas should I look into? What resources are there for me to look into? Thanks folks!

[Stitch808]

So I think I'll revive this thread. I was just accepted to SFSU (yay!) and I need some place to live. I would like to live as close as possible to SFSU but still be able to afford living in the city or near the city (I'm referring to living in Daly City). What areas should I look into? What resources are there for me to look into? Thanks folks!

[gatsby8724]

Wanted to bump this thread since the last post was about a year ago.

 

My husband and I are likely to move to the Bay area this summer.  I will be attending a program at Stanford University and he will be working (job TBD).  From what I've seen on this chain, it is advisable to live in the Palo Alto area and have him commute to San Francisco (if that's were his job ends up being based) versus the other way around.  Besides Palo Alto, other recs include Mountain View, Menlo Park, Redwood Park and Sunnyvale.  Are there others?  We're relocating from Washington, DC so moving to a more suburban area will definitely be an adjustment!

 

Any advice/guidance from folks in the area would be much appreciated!