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I do stand corrected on Sunnyvale's centrality (i'm actually looking for a place to move to, so this discussion is superb) -- but wouldn't you be 90+min away fr

I do stand corrected on Sunnyvale's centrality (i'm actually looking for a place to move to, so this discussion is superb) -- but wouldn't you be 90+min away from all the SF jobs? Perhaps I'm not weighting this correctly, but the center of gravity seemed to reside somewhere between Palo Alto and SF west of PA and east of SF...thoughts? Is there a good visualization on this? BTW, Manhattan presents something even better than single car friendly -- zero-car friendly. We only temporarily got a car once we had infants, since carrying around car-seats was a pain. Most other times, we've been just-in-time with Uber or just plain walking/subway.

ChuckMcM 10y ago
Like most things it is a bit nuanced. San Francisco is a bit over 40 miles north of "Silicon Valley[1]". The "big" companies often have large campuses closer to Silicon Valley than San Francisco as it is generally possible to build on larger lots and less expensively (outward rather than upward). The big new Apple campus? In Cupertino which is further south than Sunnyvale. The big new Google campus? Near Moffett field and Mountain View, a bit north of Sunnyvale. The Facebook campus, Menlo Park (north of Sunnyvale, about 1/4 of the way to San Francisco). However, there are a bunch of startups actually in San Francisco, Uber and AirBnB being ones that get a lot of airtime, and Twitter (which is no longer a startup). There are lots and lots of pre-revenue 2 - 15 employee companies there as well. YCombinator is in Mountain View which is right next to Sunnyvale, and about 36 miles from San Francisco. San Francisco is urban and hip and all of that, and a lot of people want to live there. Then they take bespoke busses and ride down the peninsula to places in the "south bay" (the collective term for the communities at the southern end of San Francisco bay). That is part of the issue that SF residents have, which is people who live in SF but work somewhere else, they are able to pay higher prices and the bus eliminates the commute disincentive. On either side of the bay between these two loci are a number of vibrant and interesting places as well, on the west side you have the peninsula cities of Burlingame, San Mateo, Redwood City, San Carlos, and on the eastern side you have Oakland, Hayward, Berkeley, and Richmond. Somewhat remarkably they have their own micro-climates so you get different weather depending on where you are. Cities in the north and on the east of the bay have BART service, cities on the south and west of the bay have CalTrain service. There are three major airports one east (Oakland), one south (San Jose), and one west (SFO). Efforts to turn Hamilton Air Force base in Marin county into a northern airport have been rebuffed several times. If you are not working at a company that is actually located in San Francisco you will have a shorter/easier commute if you live outside of San Francisco (typically on the east or west side of the bay that your company is on). You will also pay less for an apartment/house. [1] Which is nominally the Santa Clara Valley where all of the semiconductor companies were located.
- foobarian 10y ago
  Appreciate all comments in this thread. I never lived on the west coast (Boston mostly) but I was always puzzled by how many of my acquaintances who moved there over the years to work for $BIG_TECH_CO chose to live in San Francisco proper. This usually meant at least an hour commute each way. The typical explanation was that SF was a "fun" place to live with much better leisure options than the desolate office parks and suburbs of the SV towns.
  - yarou 10y ago
    > The typical explanation was that SF was a "fun" place to live with much better leisure options than the desolate office parks and suburbs of the SV towns. Depends on your definition of fun - being harassed constantly by both homeless people and SFPD? If so, then a paradise awaits you.
    - Hydraulix989 10y ago
      Everything in SF closes at 10 PM. Even the bars shut down at midnight. Not very fun.
      - dragonwriter 10y ago
        Now, it's been a few years sin e I've bothered with SF nightlife (having lived near, but not in, the city) but has it really changed that much? Because I remember there being plenty open much later, and many times starting at 10 or later.
      - webrender 10y ago
        This is inaccurate. Most bars in SF are open until 2am, and The Endup is open all night and into the morning.
- astrange 10y ago
  > On either side of the bay between these two loci are a number of vibrant and interesting places as well I wouldn't call them either of those things; they're very nice suburbs on the Peninsula (west side) and less nice suburbs in East Bay. The northeastern ones (Danville, Oakland, Berkeley, Richmond) are too far to commute to South Bay from. And none of them are interesting. There's also public transit up and down the Peninsula but it's very unreliable because the governments here refuse to invest in anything, or build anything, in the hopes it'll make everyone leave again.

ChuckMcM 10y ago

Like most things it is a bit nuanced. San Francisco is a bit over 40 miles north of "Silicon Valley[1]". The "big" companies often have large campuses closer to Silicon Valley than San Francisco as it is generally possible to build on larger lots and less expensively (outward rather than upward). The big new Apple campus? In Cupertino which is further south than Sunnyvale. The big new Google campus? Near Moffett field and Mountain View, a bit north of Sunnyvale. The Facebook campus, Menlo Park (north of Sunnyvale, about 1/4 of the way to San Francisco). However, there are a bunch of startups actually in San Francisco, Uber and AirBnB being ones that get a lot of airtime, and Twitter (which is no longer a startup). There are lots and lots of pre-revenue 2 - 15 employee companies there as well. YCombinator is in Mountain View which is right next to Sunnyvale, and about 36 miles from San Francisco. San Francisco is urban and hip and all of that, and a lot of people want to live there. Then they take bespoke busses and ride down the peninsula to places in the "south bay" (the collective term for the communities at the southern end of San Francisco bay). That is part of the issue that SF residents have, which is people who live in SF but work somewhere else, they are able to pay higher prices and the bus eliminates the commute disincentive. On either side of the bay between these two loci are a number of vibrant and interesting places as well, on the west side you have the peninsula cities of Burlingame, San Mateo, Redwood City, San Carlos, and on the eastern side you have Oakland, Hayward, Berkeley, and Richmond. Somewhat remarkably they have their own micro-climates so you get different weather depending on where you are. Cities in the north and on the east of the bay have BART service, cities on the south and west of the bay have CalTrain service. There are three major airports one east (Oakland), one south (San Jose), and one west (SFO). Efforts to turn Hamilton Air Force base in Marin county into a northern airport have been rebuffed several times. If you are not working at a company that is actually located in San Francisco you will have a shorter/easier commute if you live outside of San Francisco (typically on the east or west side of the bay that your company is on). You will also pay less for an apartment/house. [1] Which is nominally the Santa Clara Valley where all of the semiconductor companies were located.

foobarian 10y ago
Appreciate all comments in this thread. I never lived on the west coast (Boston mostly) but I was always puzzled by how many of my acquaintances who moved there over the years to work for $BIG_TECH_CO chose to live in San Francisco proper. This usually meant at least an hour commute each way. The typical explanation was that SF was a "fun" place to live with much better leisure options than the desolate office parks and suburbs of the SV towns.
- yarou 10y ago
  > The typical explanation was that SF was a "fun" place to live with much better leisure options than the desolate office parks and suburbs of the SV towns. Depends on your definition of fun - being harassed constantly by both homeless people and SFPD? If so, then a paradise awaits you.
  - Hydraulix989 10y ago
    Everything in SF closes at 10 PM. Even the bars shut down at midnight. Not very fun.
    - dragonwriter 10y ago
      Now, it's been a few years sin e I've bothered with SF nightlife (having lived near, but not in, the city) but has it really changed that much? Because I remember there being plenty open much later, and many times starting at 10 or later.
    - webrender 10y ago
      This is inaccurate. Most bars in SF are open until 2am, and The Endup is open all night and into the morning.
astrange 10y ago
> On either side of the bay between these two loci are a number of vibrant and interesting places as well I wouldn't call them either of those things; they're very nice suburbs on the Peninsula (west side) and less nice suburbs in East Bay. The northeastern ones (Danville, Oakland, Berkeley, Richmond) are too far to commute to South Bay from. And none of them are interesting. There's also public transit up and down the Peninsula but it's very unreliable because the governments here refuse to invest in anything, or build anything, in the hopes it'll make everyone leave again.