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Bay area native here. I would consider living in SF and commuting via BART to Oakland. SF life is quite the mind expanding experience.... Oakland...... well honestly I don't know much about it except to stay away. I'm sure there are nice spots, and its certainly the most affordable part of the bay area, but its high risk low reward. Top 10 murder city every year, and nothing fun or exciting there, especially when compared with the rest of the bay area.
I have a friend who's an administrator at an Oakland hospital.... and she tells sad stories about the sights she see's on her way to work. Lots of street crime and under aged prostitution. She commutes from Palo Alto, about an hour away.
I think a commute and a nice location is a better option than being near a hospital in Oakland.
Good luck! Gratz to your wife
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I am from the East Bay and there's definitely positives and negatives about each neighborhood. I wouldn't recommend San Francisco because it's expensive, and it's easy enough to access by taking BART. I wouldn't recommend Walnut Creek either. Your wife would have to fight the commute with all of the people who live across the other side of the tunnel, trying to get to SF.
I recommend the Rockridge area of Oakland. It's located in between Downtown Oakland and Berkeley, with College Ave as the centerpoint. It's a very walkable neighborhood, relatively young, and good food. It's a safe neighborhood, unlike other parts of Oakland. http://sfbay.craigslist.org/search/hhh/eby?query=&srchType=A&minAsk=&maxAsk=&bedrooms=&nh=66
Others have suggested the El Cerrito/Albany area. This is also a great location. It's in between North Berkeley and Richmond and is pretty nice with lots of good restaurants, public transit access, and close to a nice Asian mall area, and there's also a fair amount of bars. http://sfbay.craigslist.org/search/hhh/eby?query=&srchType=A&minAsk=&maxAsk=&bedrooms=&nh=47
Also worth checking out is the Temescal area, which is also between Downtown Oakland and Berkeley, but centered around telegraph ave. It's got a ton of good restaurants, and is right next to Oakland's (Small) Koreatown. http://sfbay.craigslist.org/search/hhh/eby?query=&srchType=A&minAsk=&maxAsk=&bedrooms=&nh=62
Alameda is not a bad choice. It's pretty safe, but kind of boring, since it's on an artificial island and caters to its k-12 school system.
Piedmont is too pricey and has no rental units. Montclair is not bad, but is pretty much a soccer-mom town. South SF isn't bad but too far of a commute. Berkeley is very nice, but prices are inflated because of UC Berkeley. North Berkeley prices are even higher for some reason.
You may also want to check out downtown Oakland. It's becoming gentrified/hipsterfied with new condos, and lots of bars, but still not the safest area.
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On April 18 2012 11:33 Superiorwolf wrote:Grew up in Alamo / Danville (wow, didn't know so many people on TL are from there!) and now going to UC Berkeley (and living in Berkeley). Bay Area is seriously just awesome and I think you guys have made an awesome choice to come here Btw it does get hot on the east side of the tunnel over summer, but it's never unbearable because it's not humid, so even 100 degree whether is bearable. Alamo / Danville is a really nice quiet suburb, I'd probably suggest Pleasant Hill / Walnut Creek instead since they are a bit bigger and from what I know should be less expensive. If you're willing to live in Antioch I've heard the the housing there is all super cheap because of foreclosures and stuff, and the area is very new so everything looks nice, although the area isn't the best (it's not bad either I think). If you want to live at Berkeley in a Starcraft / gaming team house next year let me know LOL! Berkeley is a nice place to live too, lots of stuff going on and our CSL team has recently been trying to run a lot more events here and start up a nice community here Walnut Creek -> Berkeley is 20-25 minutes if you drive during non rush-hours so it's very close. Just don't go during rush hour as it could take upwards of an hour. i doubt nony would want to live in a teamhouse with his wife, but since he'll be in the area i'd ask him to help you get it set up like the bw prohouses have their practice schedules, just to know what it's like and how effective it is just for the chance that he does on free time
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People die in Oakland, you sure you wouldn't rather live somewhere nicer like Berkeley or SF? Let us know, I'll come visit you some day
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Come to Berzerkly please!
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stay away from Oakland .__., lots of stories from friends who got robbed going there/ in there, and also depends where your neighborhood is.
Honestly, i would rather look towards probably El Cerito, Berkely, around that area but not directly IN oakland. If your wallet is a bit tight, San Francisco won't forgive it, property here is ridiculously expesnive now >__<
Also, does this mean that we'll see you @ Bay Area BATTL LANs?
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On April 18 2012 13:11 kochanfe wrote: Come to Berzerkly please! he could hang out at eudomonia! I'd take the drive to hang out with him
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I think this is something fairly hard to gauge without knowing how comfortable you and your wife are with more urban areas. If you think you might fit in with a coastal (read snobbier) view of Texans as suburban drones who like safety, homogenity, and rent-a-cops outside your gated community, then absolutely, move to one of the suburbs over the hills (walnut creek, danville, concord, whatever). Personally, I think if you're somewhat excited about moving to a fairly diverse and unique as a young person interested in some things beyond having a lawn, you're going to be missing out hugely by living in one of these suburbs. I don't think there's anything explicitly wrong with that kind of suburban life beyond the myriad of socioeconomic and environmental issues arising from it, but if you're going to be paying hugely elevated Bay Area real estate prices, you might as well live in the actual Bay Area, and not the suburbs.
For a more peaceful/suburban experience in the East Bay where I'd suggest you look, the aforementioned Temescal area of Oakland, Albany, El Cerrito, and Emeryville are all extremely viable choices. Certain areas of Berkeley are also great, though real estate prices fluctuate wildly between neighborhoods. I imagine that your best bet in Berkeley is going to be looking for student neighborhoods, of which there are many even at some remove from the UC. The Oceanview neighborhood in which I reside is also a possibility; historically industrial/poor = cheaper housing/more land, recent gentrification via Fourth Street and the Apple Store they just built means things can only be looking up for upwardly mobile white individuals.
A note on public transportation and BART -- as others have said, absolutely use it. It's quite reasonably priced, and generally comfortable aside from the busiest rush hour or sports game times. However, be wary of any housing located TOO close to the BART tracks above ground, since they're hellishly noisy. This typically drives down the prices within a block or so of BART tracks immensely, and they don't run later than midnight usually, but there's a very good reason that these places are usually rock bottom deals.
Finally, it's great to hear that your wife is going to CHO, it's a great place from what I remember of my trips there, and I've never heard a negative thing about it.
EDIT: Yes, Oakland is a fairly dangerous area. Yes, there are bad neighborhoods and the police force is chronically understaffed, probably racist, maybe corrupt, and seemingly ineffective. That doesn't mean that you won't be almost entirely safe by avoiding shady areas late at night, having some confidence about you, and generally not looking like a vulnerable moneyed mark and having some street smarts.
Also, the Marin Headlands are a serious gem that gets overlooked way too much. GO.
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I live in north-ish Berkeley and it is nice. Tons of good restaurants, BART is walkable, as is Eudemonia for LAN parties and viewing events Walks in town are pleasant, folks have some amazing gardens and there are some fun pedestrian-only shortcuts climbing the hills. North and west of campus there's not as much designated undergrad housing so it's a bit quieter than if you were hugging the south side of campus. Put north Berkeley, and Albany on your list if they're not there already.
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Not really sure about the Oakland area. What is she doing her residency in? Which specialty? Good luck on the move.
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We have a group where we try to announce all local East Bay esports events like LANs and Barcrafts, would love to have you join it! Already have many people from IPL and Painuser and Axslav in it
https://www.facebook.com/groups/263481943728694/
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Move to Berkeley and come hang out with meeeee!!!!
I'm moving to the Bay Area in August; super pumped. I love the area, and I'm sure both you and your wife will as well.
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Few things: Don't live in SF its too expensive. The weather shouldn't be a concern for you, since you lived in Duke as well as are from Texas. A hot summer will have peak days of 105, no humidity, but most summers will max out like 95ish.
Alameda, Walnut Creek are nicer places, everything in the Bay Area is pretty expensive but those aren't AS bad I suppose. Keeping commute time to 30 minutes or less is a bit difficult because the traffic is notoriously bad in East Bay (I'm from South Bay), especially Highway 880. Maybe the Richmond area as well. I'm not AS familiar with the East Bay area as South Bay, but don't think of Oakland as ALL bad, just like all 'bad' cities its usually just certain areas. In fact I do believe TwitchTV's Fishstix and Thegunrun and IPL's Joshy all live in an area of Oakland together.
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I've lived in the Bay Area for my entire life but i can't really comment on the housing prices, but i hope to see you around!
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Try not to live in Oakland... It's dangerous.
I live in San Francisco and my mother works in Berkeley, about a 45 min commute by BART. If San Francisco is out of the question, try to look for a place in the north bay (north or northeast of berkeley) or even Berkeley itself.
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Congratulations to your wife on her residency and good luck with the move! Oakland has changed a lot since I was last out there years back so I can't offer much advice but I have heard its cleaned up a fair bit. Although all the funny comments in this thread cracked me up. The bay area is probably one of my favorite places on the western coastline and I think it will be really awesome for you two. I wish I live out there to be honest. Ocean, hills, hiking, so much within an hour or two driving distance, plus san fran is fully fantastic to explore around any time you two have a free afternoon. Good luck, have Batman!
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Ok so, according to my friend, West Oakland should be avoided, Lake Merritt is a nice area (but fairly pricy), and Jack London square may or may not be OK. They recently made it more upscaled, but people say it's still not as safe, not sure about this one. Being around or east of the BART stations will be fine.
But as I said earlier, I still think living in south Berkeley will be good for you guys.
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Visit Napa valley often, and become a wine snob. I think you'd make a good one. I mean that in a good way!
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Your wife went to med school! wow that is amazing, congratulations to her!
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