Culturally: The San Francisco Bay Area consists of many distinct regions and neighborhoods.
In the city itself (known as "the City" or sometimes "the Ci-Teeeeeh" if you're referencing Izzard) rents are high and there are a correspondingly high number of homeless persons. The Mission District is becoming a trendy place to live; it's still inexpensive and Boho because it is a "person of color" neighborhood. %Be afraid, be very afraid.% Also there is a good bit of drug use and like many parts of the City it can be dodgy at night. The Tenderloin (parts of which are optimistically called "the Theatre District") is still an area to be legitimately wary of. You probably cannot afford to live anywhere called "Hill," "Peaks," or "Valley." Culturally the City is pretty fun, with lots of festivals and events. The default is left of center, but racism, poverty, and homophobia (yes, homophobia, even in San Francisco; go figure) are still problems. I have discovered that in the Bay Area the only places open late are bars, clubs, and the occasional diner; coffeeshops and other less alcoholic establishments like to close at nine. Why? I have no idea. Aren't there any other quiet insomniacs around here?
The East Bay consists of several cities in its own right. Because the entire area is served by BART, it really is not hard to get into The City from the East Bay, but the Bay creates a psychological divide which means that your friends in the City never come to see you and always expect you to go see them, which always feels like more of a hassle than it is.
Berkeley is trendy and still trades on a hippy reputation, but there's a tension between the groovy white hippies and the narrow white jocks with everyone else feeling marginalized. I have been hassled in Berkeley for looking too queer, something I would not previously have believed possible. But the frats here are decent sorts as frats go. Some of them come to our parties. A few are even invited.
Oakland, south of Berkeley, is famous for a high crime rate, but rents are often affordable, and places in Oakland have good culture and good community. Berkeley students are gentrifying it pretty quickly. Residents would like for them not to whitewash it as well. If you're going to live here, do good things for the community and go outside and meet your neighbors— it's not only the right thing to do, it's better protection against crime than you will likely get from the PD.
Emeryville is somewhat between Oakland and Berkeley in a lot of ways. It's a good place to check out these days, and it's growing fast.
Alameda is a what a resident calls a "moated community"— a small island with a very suburbanite feel. You can't afford to live there.
There are other towns along the BART line which could also be considered, such as Daly City, Richmond, Fremont, Walnut Creek, El Cerrito, Pleasant Hill, Pittsburg (yes, we have one too) and Bay Point. I don't know much abut any of them. Some friends just moved to El Cerrito, so the rent must not be too bad there. |
