3 ms·

Living from a car in Silicon Valley

29 points by kurtvarner 15y ago

kurtvarner 15y ago
Original post: http://kurtvarner.com/post/19347794553/man-car-startup http://kurtvarner.com/post/19347794553/man-car-startup
dalke 15y ago
When I lived in the Bay Area during the dot-com era of the 1990s, the newspaper (yes children, the newspaper was on paper back then) had an article on housing difficulties. Some people lived in the state parks, where they could camp for up to a week before moving. One Stanford student lived on an RV in one of the parking lots. As for showering, go ahead and get the gym membership. Sound mind in a sound body, after all.
yters 15y ago
I'd be worried about getting mugged...
- softbuilder 15y ago
  I haven't been to Palo Alto in 12 years, so my info may be dated, but what no one ever talks about is "the EPA", East Palo Alto. Is it still sketchy?
OneBytePerGreen 15y ago
I like this. Hey, even Chris Sacca tweeted about sleeping in a Wal-Mart parking lot. (Not sure about his setup, though.) https://twitter.com/#!/sacca/status/156064344831045632 https://twitter.com/#!/sacca/status/156064344831045632 Hardship (even self-imposed) might even lead to new ideas. If life gets too cushy, there are few problems left to solve. Shelter is one of the most elementary human needs.
binarycrusader 15y ago
Many cities in the bay area have laws or regulations prohibiting this. I understand the sentiment, but he needs to be aware that an officer of the law may be knocking on his window in the middle of the night or placing a ticket on his window while he sleeps. Some cities allow overnight parking, but only with a permit which only residents can get (and it isn't cheap). Obviously all of these restrictions only apply to public property (streets, parks, etc.).
- kurtvarner 15y ago
  This was a concern I had, but it turns out that it is legal in Palo Alto. You can see the details of how all the logistics will work on my original blog post: http://kurtvarner.com/post/19347794553/man-car-startup http://kurtvarner.com/post/19347794553/man-car-startup
tfb 15y ago
I've actually considered doing the same just to get out to SV for the benefit of my startup. I'm in my early 20's with student loans to pay off, not a ton of free time (due to the startup) to freelance enough to pay for rent, and grew up in a pretty poor family as my parents screwed up and had my sister and I before my father was even out of high school. So renting a place wouldn't be easy, and I would prefer to bootstrap as long as I can; I feel like I'd learn the most that way. I was born and raised in NC, so moving out west would be pretty exciting regardless of my living situation. For the past 20 months or so I've been bumming it under my dad's roof, and I feel like the stagnation has really slowed my startup's development to a crawl; so when I get back in good shape (man, I've really let myself go!), I'm going to jump at the first opportunity to get out on my own again, even if that means living out of my car. I actually bought the car I have now because I expected to live out of it for a bit when I moved to SV. Luckily(?), doing this actually won't be new to me. Back when I toured with my old band, we practically lived out of our 15 passenger van - bunk beds and all - so I picked up a few tricks that help out when living on the road. The only damper on the situation would be that I have a dog, originally my father's but I've ended up taking care of him. Not sure what I'd do without the little guy by my side all this time. ;) Should I end up moving out west at some point, living out of my car or not, if anyone has any suggestions for good dog-friendly places for me to work out of (and network!)... I'd love to hear them!
starfox 15y ago
This illustrates that free parking is a major subsidy to auto owners. I've lived in some bohemian situations in the past, and largly, the most difficult part is dealing with people hassling you. People will literally call the police about, "I saw a guy living in a car", and then the police come to check it out, even if it's perfectly legal.
usaar333 15y ago
> PariSoma is in San Francisco and will cost $295 for full-time Wow that's relatively pricy. You can rent a room in SV for < $200 more (before utilities and furnishings)
cancelbubble 15y ago
When I lived in San Jose while working at Yahoo (Sunnyvale), I had a roommate. I guess since I moved out of the valley, they've outlawed this concept.
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
msisk6 15y ago
I did this back in the '90s. I was working for a software company in the north bay. I spent most of my awake time at work and most of my weekends in the mountains or visiting my girlfriend in LA. I realized I was spending a large sum of rent money for an apartment I was never in, except to sleep. So I got a storage unit to hold my few belongings, got a service I could drop my laundry at (I hate laundromats) and started sleeping in my car. Work had a shower so that wasn't a problem. Most nights I parked my car on the street near an apartment complex not far from the Golden Gate bridge. In six months I only got hassled by the police once and I just told 'em I worked at said software company in Sausalito and had drank too much that night and didn't feel it was safe to drive home (giving the address of a co-worker who lived further north I had an agreement with for this situation). They said fine and suggested parking somewhere else. Eventually I got a new girlfriend and being homeless just wasn't practical so I ended up renting a room from a friend. I sured saved a lot of money during those 6 months, though.
- kurtvarner 15y ago
  Thank you for sharing. It's nice knowing someone else was has successfully done this over an extended period of time.

29 points by kurtvarner 15y ago

Original post: http://kurtvarner.com/post/19347794553/man-car-startup http://kurtvarner.com/post/19347794553/man-car-startup

dalke 15y ago

When I lived in the Bay Area during the dot-com era of the 1990s, the newspaper (yes children, the newspaper was on paper back then) had an article on housing difficulties. Some people lived in the state parks, where they could camp for up to a week before moving. One Stanford student lived on an RV in one of the parking lots. As for showering, go ahead and get the gym membership. Sound mind in a sound body, after all.

yters 15y ago

I'd be worried about getting mugged...

softbuilder 15y ago
I haven't been to Palo Alto in 12 years, so my info may be dated, but what no one ever talks about is "the EPA", East Palo Alto. Is it still sketchy?

OneBytePerGreen 15y ago

I like this. Hey, even Chris Sacca tweeted about sleeping in a Wal-Mart parking lot. (Not sure about his setup, though.) https://twitter.com/#!/sacca/status/156064344831045632 https://twitter.com/#!/sacca/status/156064344831045632 Hardship (even self-imposed) might even lead to new ideas. If life gets too cushy, there are few problems left to solve. Shelter is one of the most elementary human needs.

binarycrusader 15y ago

Many cities in the bay area have laws or regulations prohibiting this. I understand the sentiment, but he needs to be aware that an officer of the law may be knocking on his window in the middle of the night or placing a ticket on his window while he sleeps. Some cities allow overnight parking, but only with a permit which only residents can get (and it isn't cheap). Obviously all of these restrictions only apply to public property (streets, parks, etc.).

kurtvarner 15y ago
This was a concern I had, but it turns out that it is legal in Palo Alto. You can see the details of how all the logistics will work on my original blog post: http://kurtvarner.com/post/19347794553/man-car-startup http://kurtvarner.com/post/19347794553/man-car-startup

tfb 15y ago

I've actually considered doing the same just to get out to SV for the benefit of my startup. I'm in my early 20's with student loans to pay off, not a ton of free time (due to the startup) to freelance enough to pay for rent, and grew up in a pretty poor family as my parents screwed up and had my sister and I before my father was even out of high school. So renting a place wouldn't be easy, and I would prefer to bootstrap as long as I can; I feel like I'd learn the most that way. I was born and raised in NC, so moving out west would be pretty exciting regardless of my living situation. For the past 20 months or so I've been bumming it under my dad's roof, and I feel like the stagnation has really slowed my startup's development to a crawl; so when I get back in good shape (man, I've really let myself go!), I'm going to jump at the first opportunity to get out on my own again, even if that means living out of my car. I actually bought the car I have now because I expected to live out of it for a bit when I moved to SV. Luckily(?), doing this actually won't be new to me. Back when I toured with my old band, we practically lived out of our 15 passenger van - bunk beds and all - so I picked up a few tricks that help out when living on the road. The only damper on the situation would be that I have a dog, originally my father's but I've ended up taking care of him. Not sure what I'd do without the little guy by my side all this time. ;) Should I end up moving out west at some point, living out of my car or not, if anyone has any suggestions for good dog-friendly places for me to work out of (and network!)... I'd love to hear them!

starfox 15y ago

This illustrates that free parking is a major subsidy to auto owners. I've lived in some bohemian situations in the past, and largly, the most difficult part is dealing with people hassling you. People will literally call the police about, "I saw a guy living in a car", and then the police come to check it out, even if it's perfectly legal.

usaar333 15y ago

> PariSoma is in San Francisco and will cost $295 for full-time Wow that's relatively pricy. You can rent a room in SV for < $200 more (before utilities and furnishings)

cancelbubble 15y ago

When I lived in San Jose while working at Yahoo (Sunnyvale), I had a roommate. I guess since I moved out of the valley, they've outlawed this concept.

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

msisk6 15y ago

I did this back in the '90s. I was working for a software company in the north bay. I spent most of my awake time at work and most of my weekends in the mountains or visiting my girlfriend in LA. I realized I was spending a large sum of rent money for an apartment I was never in, except to sleep. So I got a storage unit to hold my few belongings, got a service I could drop my laundry at (I hate laundromats) and started sleeping in my car. Work had a shower so that wasn't a problem. Most nights I parked my car on the street near an apartment complex not far from the Golden Gate bridge. In six months I only got hassled by the police once and I just told 'em I worked at said software company in Sausalito and had drank too much that night and didn't feel it was safe to drive home (giving the address of a co-worker who lived further north I had an agreement with for this situation). They said fine and suggested parking somewhere else. Eventually I got a new girlfriend and being homeless just wasn't practical so I ended up renting a room from a friend. I sured saved a lot of money during those 6 months, though.

kurtvarner 15y ago
Thank you for sharing. It's nice knowing someone else was has successfully done this over an extended period of time.