If you're going from the East Bay to the South Bay every day, the trip will make you insane. I did this for far too long, and it was a terrible idea. Even in

If you're going from the East Bay to the South Bay every day, the trip will make you insane. I did this for far too long, and it was a terrible idea. Even in the best of circumstances, it takes half an hour to get from Oakland or Berkeley into San Francisco, making it unlikely that you will go to anything without advance planning. Oakland has some bright spots (particularly Rockridge) but you are still unlikely to have serendipitous encounters with anyone. I've never lived in Downtown Berkeley, but it is the one place in the East Bay where the streets are full of people.