Bay area people, help meh

[porfiry]

My wife and I just decided we're going to fly out to SF for the second year in a row, intending this time to get a little more out of our trip and start gathering info about what it's going to take for us to move there in the next year or so.

The main thing I want to know is, what's the best time to come in September/October, events-wise? Any great shows/festivals/yearly cultural events coming up that we don't want to miss? I'm looking at some bay area events sites and stuff, but there's so much stuff going on all the time in a city that size, it's a little hard to pick through. I want this trip to be a little more focused on music and art, and a little less on the wharfy cheese. Not that I didn't enjoy the bread bowl of chowder.

Any info would be appreciated.

[Tone Deft]

http://www.foopee.com/punk/the-list/ <--- awesome list

http://www.sfbg.com/ <--- local entertainment rag

http://www.sfweekly.com/ <--- the competing entertainment rag

http://sanfrancisco.citysearch.com/ <-- more general info

search for my name and San Francisco there's more hits

[McQ714]

info about what it's going to take for us to move there in the next year or so.

about 3 times your income for half the standard of living you have now.

[Tone Deft]

half the standard of living in Nebraska? uhhhh no offense to Nebraska but the standard of living is pretty phat in SF, it's not LA.

you'll definitely have a smaller home, but the standard of living is great.

keep in mind, there's SF and then there's the 'Bay Area' which is a HUGE area.

[porfiry]

Hahah, word.

It kind of depends on how you measure standard of living...if you measure by whether or not you can own a house, we do own one here, we won't be able to own one there. If you measure it by, is there fucking *anything* to do, well, that's an entirely different picture. I just love it there. I was riding around on a vintage streetcar last November, and was suddenly hit with, "I think I need to live here." I've been a few places, and that has never happened before.

Thanks much for the info so far; anyone else feel free to pile on.

[McQ714]

half the standard of living in Nebraska? uhhhh no offense to Nebraska but the standard of living is pretty phat in SF, it's not LA.

you'll definitely have a smaller home, but the standard of living is great.

keep in mind, there's SF and then there's the 'Bay Area' which is a HUGE area.

ya... smaller home is what i meant by that. and all i was really trying to point out is that the bay area and SF, in particular, are really expensive places to live in. sorry for the confusion.

[Tone Deft]

totally. I think all 3 of us had the same idea at the same time.

it's also a plus that you don't have kids. I don't know how people do that.

I'd rent out the place in Nebraska, rent a place in SF, live here a few years and see how it jibes with you. city living can be in-your-face annoying or maybe you won't mind it. definitely something to try, IMO. life's too short.

I love the SF/LA rivalry, but hey, we're still Californians. LA is a dirty ashtray lying on the beach and SF is an expensive hippy hamlet in the cold and fog.

[beats me]

I recommend the Alviso area.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alviso,_Sa ... California

How could you not move there after reading the rich history and then viewing the property improvement picture from 1981 to 2007.

[McQ714]

i hate LA.. i like visiting SF but i couldn't live there. i couldn't see myself living anywhere but the OC. everything i need is here... family, friends, work, stores. don't have to drive five miles to get to a grocery store. don't have to walk five miles to get to your car. don't have to pay to park a car yourself.

[Tone Deft]

funny. that's the important part, being able to live where you're happy and appreciating it. there's no single answer for everyone. I'm the same way, I love driving down to So. Cal but I could never live there. I'd love to live in one of the 'Beach' cities down there but they're way too conservative.

Alviso - LOL!! I love that pic of 1980s Alviso vs today, I've seen that storefront!

[porfiry]

Yeah, punch "95002" (Alviso zip code) into google maps and look at where the pointer comes up. Inside joke or something?

I'm not certain whether or not I'm cut out for metropolitan living, but I can say for sure that I couldn't live in a suburban sprawl type of area, full of soon-to-be-dead big box stores with equally doomed clusters of shitty strip malls around them. I'm sure a lot of the greater bay area is like this...I know Concord made me want to barf last year when we stayed there the first couple nights for my wife's job stuff. Like, is anything here not new?

(Really great taco truck at the BART station there though...pupusas... )

I also know that the one time I was in LA 10 years ago, on the way into town from the east, it seemed like endless miles and miles of that prefab shit. Depressing. I've been to Atlanta a couple times, and the whole city is that way. "Oh look, another CVS pharmacy and Home Depot."

Sadly, Nebraska, despite the endless space and much lower population, has the exact same tear-it-down-and-put-a-walmart-there mentality. I suppose that's just the US for you.

[McQ714]

whoa.... i just punched in that zip but i had google maps set to satellite view still... it's a pretty cool image when zoomed in a couple notches past the halfway point.

[beats me]

funny. that's the important part, being able to live where you're happy and appreciating it. there's no single answer for everyone. I'm the same way, I love driving down to So. Cal but I could never live there. I'd love to live in one of the 'Beach' cities down there but they're way too conservative.

Alviso - LOL!! I love that pic of 1980s Alviso vs today, I've seen that storefront!

You know I've been talking up to recently about moving to SF and at some point just decided it's too busy and crowded for me. Not a diss on SF, but just where I am at personally.

Whenever I'm leaving SF after a fun night with friends I have a severe sense of tension until I get on the "free"way on my way to my sprawling suburbia and forests of strip malls.

This last weekend really took the cake though. I was on the road Sunday morning about 8:30 AM using my usual route. But when I got to Folsom, freeway in site, the whole street was gated off for blocks for whatever festival was going on.

So I navigated my way towards another freeway ramp, but 2 blocks down from that with no warning the intersection was blocked by a few cones and cops stopping my direction of traffic for some race/jogathon going on. I watched the light turn green 8 times before I was finally waived through.

Here's the real pisser that defies explanation. The very next block up the exact same thing happened to me, cops and runners again blocking me going in the exact same direction (wasn't like they were running a loop I was in the middle of).

If there was ever a moment for road rage in my life that would be it. But I'll admit that isn't a common event.

[Tone Deft]

that was the SF Marathon, it's tough to find a 26 mile course in a town that's only 7 miles across. damn exercisers!! you should've stood by the course smoking cigarettes!!

what the hell are you doing up at 8:30am?!?!?!!

[mike_o]

I love the SF/LA rivalry, but hey, we're still Californians. LA is a dirty ashtray lying on the beach and SF is an expensive hippy hamlet in the cold and fog.

6 months in LA and I'm kinda agreeing with you on that, a bay area homecoming might not be so bad, but it would def be in SF, not in any of the surrounding areas again, the city is a unique vibe, but the homeless and their in your face attitude has always been a big turn off to SF, but I can overlook that.

and another thing is that women in SF are so much hotter and more stylish than in LA, here they're mostly porn-start wanna be types, that can be a good thing some nights and a bad thing most others though.