# Office in Fin. Dist. - Where to live?



## huckleberry (Jun 26, 2005)

Possibility of relocating to SF - office near 2nd & Market.

Looking at SOMA/South Beach for ease of access to work and minimizing commute time - access to the Embarcadero to take to GG and out to Marin for cycling.

Want to have a gym nearby. Access to grocery stores, etc.

Should I also consider Sausalito or Tiburon for a ferry commute?

Not so interested in East Bay - maybe Rockridge, but probably am going to focus on the above mentioned.

Any feedback/opinions would be greatly appreciated.

Oh yeah, cycling access is high on the list.


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## goloso (Feb 4, 2004)

*So close yet so far...*

The lack of readily available cycling has kept me out of SF for years. Riding on SF streets is pretty sketchy. That’s not to say a lot of people don’t do it but a lot of them get hit too. 

There is nowhere to sport cycle anywhere near downtown or SOMA. Biking down there is transportation only. I think your best bet is down the Peninsula. If you live north of San Mateo you will have a fairly short drive or Caltrain drops you a mile from your office.

I am definitely more of a city guy than a 'burbs guy but the biking (mountain and road) between San Mateo and Santa Cruz is so good that it is worth the drive into the city when I want to go out.

I think you have to decide whether you would rather drive to work or drive to bike.

Good luck-
G


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## SilasCL (Jun 14, 2004)

You have a lot of options.

Peninsula would work, as your new office would be a short ride from the Caltrain station. You could ride or drive to one of the caltrain stations and have a fairly pleasant commute. From what I hear, there is a ton of nice riding on the Peninsula.

You could also do Marin, Sausalito or Tiburon would work. One of my bosses lives in Sausalito and bikes to work in the Financial District every day. It's a pretty sweet 12 mile commute, Tiburon would be closer to 20-25 depending on where you live, maybe take the ferry home at night.

Lastly, living in San Francisco is great. Sure there isn't much riding actually in the city, but in 30 minutes I'm across the GG bridge and on pretty nice roads. Living anywhere on the northern or western half of SF will make for a pretty quick ride to the bridge. The riding will be the same as if you live in Marin.


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## huckleberry (Jun 26, 2005)

I guess I was assuming I would need to take the Embarcadero from SOMA to the GG and out to Marin - from my time there that didn't seem like such an ordeal. 

Am I missing something or is that an acceptable and somewhat safe route?

Thanks


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## California L33 (Jan 20, 2006)

Follow the BART tracks in either direction. That will make your life easier. Stay away from the Oakland flatlands. Ferries are nice, but they're slow, and don't run that often- they are nicer than BART, though.


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## SilasCL (Jun 14, 2004)

huckleberry said:


> I guess I was assuming I would need to take the Embarcadero from SOMA to the GG and out to Marin - from my time there that didn't seem like such an ordeal.
> 
> Am I missing something or is that an acceptable and somewhat safe route?
> 
> Thanks


There's either a bike lane or a separate bike path for 90% of that route. Fisherman's Wharf will be a bit of a mess to get through, but otherwise that's fine.

Check out the SF Bike Map. It's a pretty good resource for finding decent roads around the city.


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## RelevantAaron (Oct 16, 2007)

When you say cycling access, do you mean to work (BART/CalTrain) or access to great cycling?

Here is my run down:

Living in SF - fantastic, love it. Not good for cycling (other than commuting). Riding a flat 9 or so miles each way to get to Marin headlands isn't going to give you a lot of variety. Basically you end up throwing the bike in the car all the time and driving to the riding. but it is the city....

Marin - beautiful riding, longish commute. The Ferry is great, but slow and you have to get from home to the Ferry...Sausalito and Tiburon are good choices...

Peninsula - IMHO all around the best riding, but you need to get from home to Caltrain. And you need to be pretty far south to be in the right place to live for riding. A long commute.

Oakland/Berkeley - great riding, best restaurants outside the city and 20 minutes on BART to your office. We moved from the city to Berkeley (well with a stop in NYC). Best combination of urban feel (restaurants, arts, nightlife, diversity), city access, and proximity to lot's of open space I have found.


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## huckleberry (Jun 26, 2005)

Aaron -

Where in the Berkeley/Oakland area would be close to BART, close to good riding, restaurants, etc - and nice, safe? Rockridge?

Thanks


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## RelevantAaron (Oct 16, 2007)

huckleberry said:


> Aaron -
> 
> Where in the Berkeley/Oakland area would be close to BART, close to good riding, restaurants, etc - and nice, safe? Rockridge?
> 
> Thanks


Rockridge/Piedmont and the Elmwood section of Berkeley are good places to start. The cycling upside is that you are usually only a stoplight or two from the climb to the ridge. once up there you can go 20-25 miles with barely a stop sign. And you get to climb. Lot's. 

In terms of restaurants, etc you are close to College and Piedmont Avenues. And in terms of nice, not sure what price range you are looking at. Prices in those areas range from I'd say 700k for a nice 2 br cottage to easily 3-4 million in places like Crocker Highlands. The Oakland Hills, just above Rockridge has a lot of newer (post-fire) homes in the 1-2m range. However there are also a pretty good number of rentals, particularly smaller houses close to College.


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## numbnutz (Mar 14, 2005)

I live in Tiburon and bike commute or ferry commute to 1st and Howard. The ride is about 19 miles each way from downtown Tiburon to work. The ride is longish for a commute (1 hr for me), but is great riding nearly all along the water. It goes like this:

- bike path (tiburon to blackies pasture)
- wide shouldered road (Tiburon Blvd/Blithedale)
- bike path (Mill Valley)
- bike lane (Sausalito)
- wide shouldered road (Bridgeway up to GGB)
- GGB bike lane
- Bike Lane along crissy field
- Fishermans Wharf street riding (not too bad. about 8 blocks. I take Beach St.)
- Embarcadero bike lane to the office.

https://www.mapmyride.com/view_route?r=450c177e4a8a7d1bc7bdbf10e76ee0fc

If you get lazy, you can take the ferry home. And then you get to ride out your door in Marin when you're not working. It rules.


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## numbnutz (Mar 14, 2005)

RelevantAaron said:


> Marin - beautiful riding, longish commute. The Ferry is great, but slow and you have to get from home to the Ferry...Sausalito and Tiburon are good choices...


The tiburon ferry is not slow. take about 20 mins to cross the bay. Way faster than driving, and they are very bike friendly. Lots of bike commuters on board.


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## Gee3 (Jan 31, 2006)

I hope your company is compensating you very well for the move because if you want to live in or anywhere near the city be prepared to shell out a lot for rent or mortgage payment. I just don't want you to get shell-shocked on the home prices.

A good place to look to get an idea of places and costs to rent is on Craigslist. My buddy has a house in Pacifica that is right off Skyline (35) that is within biking distance to lots of riding in the Peninsula like Canada Rd, etc. He rents it out for about $1900/mo and it's about 900sq ft. So if you are expecting a big house for your buck think again. 

I guess a better question would be are you planning to rent or buy a house? 

If renting, look at Craigslist for an idea. If buying and you aren't making as much as Alex Rodriguez check out Mare Island near Vallejo. The Vallejo Ferry is right there and they have townhouses and homes. Lennar dropped prices from $700k to the mid $500k's and townhomes were in the $400k range and the sales person there seemed willing to negotiate due to the slow market.

But like others have said, be prepared to drive to places to ride. There are so many great places to ride in the Bay Area that you will want to drive all over the place to the spots.

Good luck!


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## huckleberry (Jun 26, 2005)

Renting.

No sticker shock here - have lived recently in Napa, West Hollywood and Encinitas - so I am familiar with the prices.

Craigslist is myfriend ; )


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## Merlin (May 6, 2002)

I live up in the Gold Country now but I used to live in Tiburon and have to say it is one the nicest places on the planet to live....as long as you got the $$$!
I took the ferry to the financial district every day, the ultimate commute.


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## Squidward (Dec 18, 2005)

My recommendation: Daly City on the west side of 280 (my apologies to anyone here living on the east side of 280 but I've lived in the 94014 and cannot recommend it). The closer to John Daly Blvd the better but the further south you are the better your access to the mid-peninsula where the best riding is. I live about a mile from JDB and can ride in to downtown via The Great Highway, through The Marina, then North Beach if I wanted to (about 16 miles) but I start work too early to try this. I've ridden home on days where the office closed early and I will continue to do so. From my front door I have ridden across The Golden Gate Bridge or as far south as Woodside (Robert's Market at Woodside Road and Canada Road). Daly City does get a lot more fog than even San Francisco but, when the rest of The Bay Area is in a heat wave, I have temps in the 60's or 70's.

Getting downtown is a ride to BART and hopping off at the Montgomery Street station. As long as you are not trying to enter the system during the blackout periods bringing a bike on BART is not a problem. Check out their bicycle rules page. I save money by riding into San Francisco then riding BART from there. It's half the cost of riding from the Daly City BART station or less if you have a Muni Fast Pass ($45/month for unlimited access to Muni and BART so long as you stay within the confines of San Francisco). I would not suggest trying to ride across town to the Financial District as this could take you into the seedier neighborhoods of SF.

I have lived in Oakland (no longer recommend it due to crime stats), Alameda (not bad but one day The Bay will reclaim it), Martinez (too warm for my tastes), Danville (too warm for my tastes), Fremont (too warm for my tastes) and San Francisco (real hit or miss, depending on the neighborhood). I have never lived in The North Peninsula nor the Southbay.


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## vilter (Aug 13, 2006)

*Pennisula riding*

How far south on the Pennisula do you have to go to get could access to road biking?

Is the Pennisula better than Marin or East Bay (say Orinda area)?

Thanks


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## California L33 (Jan 20, 2006)

vilter said:


> How far south on the Pennisula do you have to go to get could access to road biking?
> 
> Is the Pennisula better than Marin or East Bay (say Orinda area)?
> 
> Thanks


 If you get out as far as Orinda you're within easy driving range of the whole East Bay Regional Parks District open space, plus Mt. Diablo, plus city open spaces. The rules are as restrictive as you'll find down South (very little single track- a few trails on Diablo, and that's about it), but enforcement seems a bit more lax. (I've personally seen the Walnut Creek park police who are supposed to enforce W.C. open space laws, but never seen them off road). 

The good news is that you've got lot of riding opportunities and a BART station right there. It's low crime, but pricey. The bad news for your job is that you're on the other side of the tunnel. If you ever have to drive in during commute count on a half hour plus backup at both the tunnel and the bridge. That nice 20 mile drive can take an hour and a half in slow traffic, and if there are accidents even more. You probably will want to take BART. It's SRO during commute times, but probably only takes an hour max. Check their schedule. They usually keep to it.

Edit: Oops, thought this was Mountain Bike Review. You're probably not that interested in single track  For road bikes you've got the 25 mile paved Iron Horse Trail- from Concord to Dublin, plus a few others with at least a dozen more miles. On road there's good riding in and around Briones Regional Park, and Diablo is a challenge (at least for me). Most of the two lane roads aren't that suicidal as long as you don't get on a commuter shortcut.


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## robwh9 (Sep 2, 2004)

There was a similar thread a while back...

http://forums.roadbikereview.com/showthread.php?t=110281


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## RenoRider (Oct 17, 2007)

I spent 12 years between SF and and Marin, and still look forward to my visits periodically throughout the year for riding. There are classic road rides like the headlands Mt. Tam (from Mill Valley or Fairfax) Pt Reyes, etc. plus awsome Mt. bike riding that are all easily accessible. I hung out in the Marina District for a number of years, and although pricey, it's great. You Can Muni all over the city (no need for a car) including SOMA, and you have easy access to Marin via the GG Bridge. Lived in Sausalito Yacht Harbor for 4 years.... much quieter evenings than SF, but a unique setting. Even lived in Inverness for a year.... like being in another world.. but forget commuting. Presuming you've no kids.. I'd say check out the Marina...:thumbsup:


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## hdnoise (Apr 18, 2003)

*Rockridge is the one*

Banana belt weather, Bart or carpool to office in less than 30 minutes, great restaurants, Trader Joes etc stores within blocks, excellent bike rides out the door in the hills and beyond = must be willing to hill climb but not too bad....decent bike shops nearby etc etc


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## LouD-Reno (Mar 28, 2006)

My own experience with Rockridge has been hit or miss.... The hit... one of my favorite places to eat in the bay area, Zachary's pizza is a block from the Bart on college... the miss... one time while enjoying dinner there with the wife, reading a book on Bicycle Touring New Zealand, some street urchin broke into my van and stole our Santana tandem.... insurance covered it, then it showed up for service in a local shop.... somebody had bought it at the local swap meet.... insurance company took it back from the buyer though.... let's see... I lost, the ins. co lost, the guy who bought the Santana then lost it lost.... but the street urchin(s) won..... I eat at the Zachary's in Albany now.....


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## Squidward (Dec 18, 2005)

vilter said:


> How far south on the Pennisula do you have to go to get could access to road biking?
> 
> Thanks


It depends on whether or not you like MUTs. I live three blocks from Highway 35 and I can ride this all the way to San Bruno. Then I have to hop on to a MUT (Sawyer Camp Trail), hopping off in Milbrae as there is a section that does not allow bicycles, then back on to the MUT. You come out on the other side in San Mateo. From here you are, in my opinion, riding into one of the best areas to ride on The Peninsula. This is about 12 miles from Daly City. One of the issues that I have had to deal with while doing this ride is that it can be as much as 15 degrees cooler in Daly City than further south so I'm either freezing or I have to carry a windbreaker and put it on as I notice the temperature drop. I've had rides where it was sunny and warm all the way out and most of the way back then ride into a fog bank where the temps drop dramatically. That's Daly City for you.


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