

Ask HN: Great place to live in SF? - vshlos

Hey, I am moving to SF in december/january. Whats a good place to live in the city? Whats a good area, and whats an area that I would be scared to walk at night?
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mikeleeorg
The answer can change slightly depending on your personal comfort zone &
preferences. But here's my swag at a generic answer. Judging by your profile,
I'm guessing you're coming from Washington DC. I'm originally from NYC, so
I'll try to frame this from a "big city point of view."

The north-east end of the city tends to be more expensive. North Beach has the
lively Columbus Ave cutting through it, with Italian restaurants, bars, and
strip clubs. Russian Hill & Nob Hill are more residential and quiet. The
Marina and Pacific Heights are trendier and there's good nightlife and
restaurants in the latter as well. I believe you can earn the "douchbag"
Foursquare badge by checking into too many places in the Marina, if that tells
you anything. The population is mostly Caucasian, though Chinatown is right
below North Beach.

The eastern center of the city has the Downtown area that has a lot of
tourists and a sizable homeless population. Tenderloin is known to be one of
the seedier parts of the city. That's here too. Some friends of mine see drug
dealings and prostitutes outside their window here. Then south of Market
street is SOMA (which stands for, quite appropriately, SOuth of MArket). This
district is home to many startups and AT&T Park (Go Giants!). This means
traffic can be horrible here, which is offset by the fairly abundant public
transportation options.

In the south-east end, we have Potrero Hill, which also has a sizable startup
contingent and slightly more affordable housing. Next to it is the Mission
district with a large Hispanic population. In the Dot-Com days, Potrero Hill
and the Mission were the places to be. Now, they're just a shadow of that.
Tons of nightlife in these areas though.

Central San Francisco is the Western Addition, which has a fair community of
African Americans. Japantown is smack in the middle of this area too, though
oddly most Japanese don't actually live here. There is a lot of low income
housing here as well. Below it is Haight, a colorful neighborhood reminiscent
of NYC's Greenwich Village in the heyday. The Castro is south of that and is
home to a sizable homosexual population.

The southern end of the city is Noe Valley, a bedroom community with a few
nice cafes and fairly easy access to highways. Bernal Heights is pretty
similar to that description too. Twin Peaks is very hilly and very
residential.

To continue this clock-wise movement through the city, next is the south-west
portion of the city, where you'll find Inner Sunset and Outer Sunset. Both are
very residential and more affordable. Taking a bus from here to the active
parts of the city is usually a 30-60 min ride. Inner Sunset has more
restaurants and is up against the Golden Gate Park.

The north-west side of the city has Inner Richmond and Outer Richmond. Both
are also very residential and again, the Inner Richmond district is the one
with restaurants and easy access to the Park. All four of the aforementioned
areas has a sizable Asian population. Some even consider a street in Inner
Richmond as a second Chinatown. North of these two is the Presidio, a former
military district turned residential. You can live here and wake up around
trees, hills, and the foggy Bay at your doorstep. Its winding roads make it a
delight for bicyclists and motorcyclists, though you'd have to drive out to go
to a supermarket. Prices here are usually pretty cheap too.

If you're worried about crime, here's a general guide:
<http://sanfrancisco.crimespotting.org/>

Finally, here's a fantastic detailed account from Paul Stamatiou about his
move to San Francisco: [http://paulstamatiou.com/atlanta-to-san-francisco-
moving-cro...](http://paulstamatiou.com/atlanta-to-san-francisco-moving-cross-
country)

I hope this helps.

~~~
icodestuff
That's a great guide, but it's missing some crucial details, I think.

The Mission looks seedier the further north you go, but the crime rate is
actually higher in the south. Don't live on Capp St. in the Mission; it's
known for stabbings and prostitution. In the 'loin, once you get above Geary,
things get nicer rapidly (as it's between the Tenderloin and Nob Hill, it gets
the appellation "Tendernob"), but I wouldn't live south of Sutter St.

Hunters' Point in the far southeast is about the worst place in the city to be
or be near, but I'm told Silver Terrace (between 101 and 280) isn't too bad.

30th St. is not the southern end of the city. There are (from West to East):

Lake Merced (far from everything) Park Merced (just south of the central
Sunset, not TOO bad a walk from the L streetcar) Ocean View, Stonestown, and
Ingleside (I don't know anything about them other than that the K and M
streetcars run there) West of Twin Peaks/West Portal (nice area at the end of
the Eureka Tunnel, kinda like Noe Valley, but with decent public transit)
Balboa Park (has BART and freeway access, but not a great neighborhood)
Excelsior/Outer Mission (like the Mission, but less convenient, worse food,
and whiter) Mission Terrace and Cayuga Terrace (like a suburban subdivision in
the middle of the south of the city, but more convenient to food. The J runs
right next to it) Glen Park (north of Mission Terrace, it has BART, 280, and
is slightly less seedy than Balboa Park; technically it has the J too, but
that's really kind of a stretch since you have to walk over 280 to get there.
The northern parts of Glen Park run into the south end of Noe Valley) Silver
Terrace (see above) Hunters' Point (see above)

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dwynings
[http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF&msa=0&msid=111...](http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF&msa=0&msid=111291639665197066699.00048b3c0d910bf1a232a)

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brackin
I'm not native or even living in SF so others will give better detail but was
in SF for a few weeks. At least in the day SoMa and The Mission were both
great. SoMa for working and The Mission for living from what I'm told.

The Mission has lots of great cafes and places to work from. I liked this as
there was a vibe, you could see everyone hacking, etc and was just a nice
environment to get things done.

Of course I'm told living in SF has lots of distractions and you get more work
done in Palo Alto and Mountain View.

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athst
It all depends on your budget and what kind of lifestyle you want, but if I
had a choice I'd live in the Mission or Mission Dolores. The Mission to me
feels like the most vibrant area of the city. There are a lot of the best
restaurants and coffee shops around there as well. Since BART is right there,
you can easily get to SoMa or downtown really easily. My second choice would
probably be SoMa - a lot of tech companies there and some stuff open during
the day, but at night it feels pretty dead.

------
buckwild
I would say where you would like to live depends on where you are moving from
:-D

I like Twin Peaks myself (although it's pricey). If you are moving out from a
suburb and would like to "ease" yourself into the city, Twin Peaks would suit
you just fine. One of the additional perks is that Twin Peaks is right in the
middle of SF.

I lived in Hunters Point for a while (super cheap), and taxi drivers would
refuse to take me home (due to the high crime rate in that area).

~~~
vshlos
I am currently living in DC, so I am used to the city and don't really like
suburbs that much. So whats a good place that has the big city feel with lots
of hacker activities?

~~~
steventruong
Majority, if not all Hacker activities are in SOMA, which is pretty much right
next to downtown. You can't get more city than that.

~~~
willpower101
I was under the impression that all the hackers lived in Palo Alto / Mountain
View.

~~~
steventruong
There's a lot down there too but he was referring specifically to SF and in
SF, SOMA is the place to be if he wants to be near all the hacker related
stuff. And in comparison, at least as far as technical meetups go, there
aren't as many good ones in the valley albeit the valley does have other
events.

