considering moving to SF

[MendoDave]

I didn't know they sell in in quantities that small up in growin' country.   

That's just a freebee sample amount. 

[MendoDave]

agree on the roads, am a S.F. native but lived in Mendo. Co for 10 years and am now in Sonoma Co.....anyway, don't know if you are aware, but the former Moto Meccanica in Santa Rosa has reopened as a used MC shop but still has some Ducati parts and still services them

There is a duc mechanic from San Diego that opened up a service shop in Pt Arena.

http://www.thezenhouse.net/

[desmoquattro]

That's just a freebee sample amount. 

...or the amount you lose in the couch cushions.

[B.Rock]

Don't be.  Everyone is saying the same thing (just with a lot of words).    If you're going to car commute as opposed to a BART commute and don't want to spend your entire life in traffic, North Bay is ok only if you're close to the Golden Gate (Mill Valley, etc.).  East Bay is ok if you're close to the Bay Bridge (Berkeley, Oakland, Alameda).  SF is ok (check my list for areas).  Penninsula is ok.  All of them have pretty immediate access (less than 20 mins) to insanely good twisties.

And if you don't mind an LA-style commute, you can live wherever you want.  

Exactly. The Bay Area is pretty broad, like 7000 sq miles, and has about 7M people. We were sort of throwing things out without knowing your commute and so on. Obviously you can scratch the South Bay and Sonoma and easterly Contra Costa or Alameda off pretty easy unless you are cool with an hour plus drive.
Then there's all our personal preferences. I personally don't like the peninsula that much for the cost, I'd much rather live in Oaktown or Berkeley or Albany / El Cerrito. But... that's just me. The proximity to SJ doesn't help me at all though; if it did I'd feel differently.
One other thing mentioned above, San Francisco is diverse enough to have pretty much any kind of housing you need, unless it's over about a 5000 sf lot, but it's different in that driving in it sucks, like, more than you'd think. People who live there might feel differently, and are probably better at it, but driving across the city involves a lot of slow surface streets. If you're in like Outer Richmond it's going to take a while to get to Bayview or wherever your work is.
That's exciting for you though, there's a lot of choices!

[sugarcrook]

Reminds me that when I was looking for a place to live in the Bay, I found some really great houses in San Carlos.  Ultimately I got a place in San Jose, but I would have preferred San Carlos. 

[victor441]

There is a duc mechanic from San Diego that opened up a service shop in Pt Arena.

http://www.thezenhouse.net/

wow!  would never have expected that in such a remote area, hope it flys and will check it out next time I'm up there, good excuse  for a ride [moto]....

so far as the original question, lived in San Mateo briefly in the mid-90's and liked it much better than I expected, it has a real downtown, an excellent library, and commuting to S.F. is reasonable by vehicle or Caltrain....

[desmoquattro]

There is a duc mechanic from San Diego that opened up a service shop in Pt Arena.

http://www.thezenhouse.net/

The name of the place seems eerily similar to a recent book:
http://bit.ly/4FaOt3

Are they connected? Or just a bit of copyright infringement?

[hihhs]

Opinions please!


http://sfbay.craigslist.org/pen/apa/1440918514.html

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/nby/apa/1439209782.html

[Popeye the Sailor]

The Half moon bay one would definitely be a shorter commute. You could take 1, or zip over 92 to 280.

Half moon bay is a nice place-fairly quiet (gets touristy on weekends), big enough to have a number of good stores with good hours, south enough on the coast to get plenty of sun.

The North bayers can chime in on the larkspur one.

[sugarcrook]

Getting to Half Moon on west-bound 92 can be a painful experience on the weekends. 

[desmoquattro]

The North bayers can chime in on the larkspur one.

Larkspur = Picco.

[somegirl]

Getting to Half Moon on west-bound 92 can be a painful experience on the weekends. 

Yes but leaving from HMB is not so bad.

Pacifica is another option, much better for commuting to SF and prices are probably better than HMB, but parts of it are very foggy (there are some non-foggy parts, believe it or not) and it's just kind of a blah town.  Convenient for SF and HMB.

[desmoquattro]

Yes but leaving from HMB is not so bad.

Pacifica is another option, much better for commuting to SF and prices are probably better than HMB, but parts of it are very foggy (there are some non-foggy parts, believe it or not) and it's just kind of a blah town.  Convenient for SF and HMB.

HMB's pretty foggy too.

[hihhs]

Larkspur = Picco.

So Larkspur has good pizza? I absolutely consider pizza one of the food groups and firmly believe it should be eaten in quantity at least once a week.

[hihhs]

Yes but leaving from HMB is not so bad.

Pacifica is another option, much better for commuting to SF and prices are probably better than HMB, but parts of it are very foggy (there are some non-foggy parts, believe it or not) and it's just kind of a blah town.  Convenient for SF and HMB.

Someone I know recommended Pacifica, and I looked on CL. It rally does seem kinda blah.