Got a really, really great job in S.F, I don't know much about the city except a few things. Is there anyone from there that could tell me a little bit about it? Getting out of Houston is a blessing. I still will attend every game at At&t park when the Stros come to town. Thanks.
San Francisco is a nice place to live, I lived there from 2000-2003. Living in the city is different from living around the suburbs, so take advantage of it. If your looking for bars.. there are a bunch in the North Beach area. For food: Well lots of places, can't really choose one. You have to try House of Prime Rib though if your a beef eater. There's a cool crepe place in Haight and Ashbury, but the name escapes me right now. Anyway it should be a cool experience good luck and have fun!
My impression is that it is as nice a place to be as possible with the weather and the scenery but that there are a whole lot of @ssholes. The other thing that really bothered me is that there tons of nutjobs who like to speed through twisty roads outside of the city at 200mph on their sport bikes. It freaked me out the first 20 or 30 times some guy went ripping by me at the speed of light. Also, Oakland<-->San Francisco<-->San Jose is essentially one giant triangular metroplex.
SF is very expensive, parking is difficult, lots of homeless and the Sunset District is foggy. Otherwise its a great city and there's a lot to do. My favorite parts of the city are the Mission District, its still retains some of the old funkiness of San Francisco that hasn't wiped out by dot.com money, and the head lands around the Legion of Honor that are beautiful and you can feel like you're out of the city.
Dude, I'm jealous. SF is the best city to live in the US, hands down. The weather's great, the nightlife's cool, and the scenery is gorgeous. I recommend looking for a place in the Marina district, since its near a lot of bars and restaurants. And you're just a long walk/short ride from North Beach and Little Italy as well. Not to mention, going running along Embarcadero is badass. Like all big cities, you'll want to avoid some areas at night, such as the Tenderloin and the Haight-Ashbury. If you want to go for hike, Muir Woods is a short drive, and Point Reyes National Seashore is pretty damn nice too. During the summer, you can go lay out at Baker Beach with a cool view of the Golden Gate Bridge. Santa Cruz is also a short drive about 1.5 hours southeast, and the beach there is okay, but the redwood forest on the way is cool too.
I live in S.F. It's great. The Sunset is one of the best neighborhoods in the city. It's the most diverse city in the country. It's one of the few big cities that white people make up for less that 50% of the population. It's small geographically... being only 49 sq. miles. You can ride a bike from one end to another in just about an hour... or less if youre fast.
Actually, as far as personal safety, I think that the Tenderloin and the Haight are pretty safe at any time of the day, even late at night. There are, however, tons of homeless people and drug addicts who live there. After living in the city for a while, you'll get used to all of that, and come to realize that the city's homeless people are relatively harmless. They're definitely a black eye on the city, and the neighborhoods are not particularly pleasant to look at or be around, but its safe. Really, the ONLY place that you should avoid at all costs is the Visitation Valley area, in the southern part of the city. In VV, it includes Hunters Point/Bayview, Sunnydale, and many other places. Those are places where public bus drivers are scared to drive thru, postmen are afraid to deliver mail, and where cops are scared to get shot.
Get familiar with the Muni system (or Bart depending on where you're gonna work) (Munic & Bart are the two public transportation systems). Also, if you're into Asian Food (especially Chinese), you can find a lot of good stuff that's really quite inexpensive. Learn to parallel park really well, and that's all I can think of for now.
