# Moving from NY to San Francisco Area **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 18, 2014, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moving-from-ny-to-san-francisco-area/693438 "2014-07-18T10:44:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2014, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moving-from-ny-to-san-francisco-area/693438/21 "2014-07-19T06:40:27Z")
> [@sbunny8](#): > > Winters in SF area won’t be harshly cold like NYC. But remember that summer in SF basically doesn’t exist. It is almost as cold as winter. In August, never leave the house without a heavy jacket…you may not need it on a sunny afternoon, but by evening, you will. ---
**Author:** ![Incubus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c68b51/32.png) [@Incubus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Incubus)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2014, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moving-from-ny-to-san-francisco-area/693438/22 "2014-07-19T06:43:02Z")
The weather here is great, never too cold or humid. Yeah real estate is expensive, but jobs pay better here than in a lot of other places. There’s a reason so many people want to live here 😃 . I live south of San Francisco proper, among the area called “the penninsula”. But I’m still close enough to it to enjoy the mild weather. Most people drive, people complain about the traffic, but having lived here all my life I’m used to it. I also work in public transit, so at least I can feel I’m doing something about the problem. San Francisco has a great night life, its the reason everybody from San Jose (a comparatively big city in the south bay reigion) comes to party up here. And if you’re a sports fan, Levi Stadium is set to be completed later this year in Santa Clara. ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2014, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moving-from-ny-to-san-francisco-area/693438/23 "2014-07-19T14:23:46Z")
I moved from Manhattan to SF in 2004, and still live in SF proper. Cost of living is lower. Sure, housing is expensive, but try getting something with outdoor space in Manhattan! But, other things like the supermarkets sure seem like lower prices than I was used to in Manhattan. Not that it’s cheap here! Slower pace. I’m not outdoorsy, and that’s viewed as very odd here. Say that you don’t like hiking, and everyone thinks you’re a weirdo! Great food. Similar to Manhattan, but mid range restaurants easier to get reservations and are less expensive. Great local produce at farmer’s markets all around the city year round. But… Like everyone else, we will probably move to the suburbs when my oldest kid hits Kindergarten. The well meaning school lottery system is a nightmare, and that’s the major reason that there are fewer kids in SF than most (all?) other cities. You put a list of 15 schools that you want your kid to go to, and then they decide based on some lottery that only a handful of people understand whether to give you any of those schools or just send your kid to a random school on the other side of the city. I have many friends who vowed to stay in the city, and only two succeeded, and they somehow actually got their kids into decent schools. The others lost the lottery and moved. We’re gonna give it a shot, and are not particularly picky about schools, but we are not optimistic. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2014, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moving-from-ny-to-san-francisco-area/693438/24 "2014-07-19T16:16:50Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > And there are plenty of great Italian restaurants. SF is a foodie’s mecca. You can get pretty much any kind of food you like. The restaurant scene in San Francisco doesn’t even compare to Philadelphia, let alone NYC. That was one of my biggest disappointments moving out here. ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2014, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moving-from-ny-to-san-francisco-area/693438/25 "2014-07-19T17:52:11Z")
> [@ultrafilter](#): > > The restaurant scene in San Francisco doesn’t even compare to Philadelphia, let alone NYC. That was one of my biggest disappointments moving out here. I disagree. I think at the very top end, Manhattan is better. But mid range, say 20-30 dollar entrees, I think I would put SF in the same category. Except pizza. That said, I have found 1-2 decent pizza places now. But, it ain’t like Manhattan where if you just pop in to a random place for a slice, you can expect, at the least, a decent to good slice of pizza. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2014, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moving-from-ny-to-san-francisco-area/693438/26 "2014-07-19T17:59:22Z")
> [@Fiveyearlurker](#): > > Like everyone else, we will probably move to the suburbs when my oldest kid hits Kindergarten. The well meaning school lottery system is a nightmare, and that’s the major reason that there are fewer kids in SF than most (all?) other cities. You put a list of 15 schools that you want your kid to go to, and then they decide based on some lottery that only a handful of people understand whether to give you any of those schools or just send your kid to a random school on the other side of the city. I have many friends who vowed to stay in the city, and only two succeeded, and they somehow actually got their kids into decent schools. The others lost the lottery and moved. We’re gonna give it a shot, and are not particularly picky about schools, but we are not optimistic. I meant to mention that earlier. Probably one of the least kid-friendly cities in the country. Notoriously so. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2014, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moving-from-ny-to-san-francisco-area/693438/27 "2014-07-19T18:09:01Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > I meant to mention that earlier. Probably one of the least kid-friendly cities in the country. Notoriously so. In SF, there are [more dogs than children.](http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/S-F-S-BEST-FRIEND-Where-pooches-outnumber-2555688.php) And they seem quite proud of that. ---
**Author:** ![wevets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9a140/32.png) [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2014, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moving-from-ny-to-san-francisco-area/693438/28 "2014-07-19T19:12:54Z")
> [@usedtobe](#): > > Yes kid, the opening to SF Bay was called “The Golden Gate” long, long before anyone was so foolhardy to suggest bridging it. > > The obvious origin was the Gold Rush - you got to SF by ship. Sending a ship to SF in those days meant you would never get it back - the crews jumped ship and headed for the hills. Except that wasn’t the origin - it was named the Golden Gate before gold was discovered in California: > [@wikipedia](#): > > On 1 July 1846, before the discovery of gold in California, the entrance acquired a new name. In his memoirs, John C. Frémont wrote, “To this Gate I gave the name of “Chrysopylae”, or “Golden Gate”; for the same reasons that the harbor of Byzantium was called Chrysoceras, or Golden Horn.”[3] ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2014, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moving-from-ny-to-san-francisco-area/693438/29 "2014-07-19T19:57:26Z")
> [@Fiveyearlurker](#): > > Like everyone else, we will probably move to the suburbs when my oldest kid hits Kindergarten. The well meaning school lottery system is a nightmare, and that’s the major reason that there are fewer kids in SF than most (all?) other cities. You put a list of 15 schools that you want your kid to go to, and then they decide based on some lottery that only a handful of people understand whether to give you any of those schools or just send your kid to a random school on the other side of the city. I have many friends who vowed to stay in the city, and only two succeeded, and they somehow actually got their kids into decent schools. The others lost the lottery and moved. We’re gonna give it a shot, and are not particularly picky about schools, but we are not optimistic. Interesting. The East Bay Way is to have a relative or someone who lives in a nicer area, and pretend your kid lives there because otherwise you have to go to the nearest shitty school. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2014, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moving-from-ny-to-san-francisco-area/693438/30 "2014-07-19T21:18:14Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Where I live, a typical nightly low in the winter is low 40s. Daytime highs are typically around 55- 60, in the dead of winter. Chilly nights, but pleasant days, at least around noon. Frost is not common, and we can sometimes have none in a given year, but usually a few times. Temps below freezing at night a few times every year. Once in a while we’ll have a cold spell with 4 or 5 nights in a row below freezing. But that’s usually when the weather is dry. You can tell that John has been here a long time because he considers winter nighttime temperatures in the '40s “chilly.” As you in the rest of the country know, snow seen on the tops of mountains for a day or two tops is not really snow. If you don’t have to shovel it, it ain’t snow. Very often temperatures here stay nearly constant for days on end. 72, 73, 72, 75 - ooh, a warming trend. When we lived in NJ my wife watched the Weather Channel religiously, now she watches it only when there is a weather disaster somewhere. We mostly have climate, not weather. ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2014, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moving-from-ny-to-san-francisco-area/693438/31 "2014-07-19T23:06:00Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > Interesting. The East Bay Way is to have a relative or someone who lives in a nicer area, and pretend your kid lives there because otherwise you have to go to the nearest shitty school. Exactly the opposite here. They have certain “low test score zones” where people pretend to live to get their kids into better city schools. You know what, I’m not doing it, but i don’t blame them. SF has no school districts at all. Your geographic location has, essentially no bearing on your school assignment (it is like the fifth “tie breaker”, but that never comes into play). The way this system was set up makes me slightly less liberal every time I think about it… ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Little\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Pig)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2014, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moving-from-ny-to-san-francisco-area/693438/32 "2014-07-20T03:41:07Z")
> [@ultrafilter](#): > > The restaurant scene in San Francisco doesn’t even compare to Philadelphia, let alone NYC. That was one of my biggest disappointments moving out here. Huh? Really? If you expand your range to North/East/South Bay, there’s no comparison. ---
**Author:** ![Snnipe\_70E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5a626/32.png) [@Snnipe\_70E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snnipe_70E)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2014, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moving-from-ny-to-san-francisco-area/693438/33 "2014-07-20T08:24:08Z")
> [@usedtobe](#): > > Glad to meet you, you person from near US 101. If you follow 101 south, you’ll find the Golden Gate and its famous bridge. > > Yes kid, the opening to SF Bay was called “The Golden Gate” long, long before anyone was so foolhardy to suggest bridging it. > > The obvious origin was the Gold Rush - you got to SF by ship. Sending a ship to SF in those days meant you would never get it back - the crews jumped ship and headed for the hills. > Find Battery Street: it was the original coastal road - everything east is fill; when Levi Strauss built its campus, they struck wood - one of the abandoned ships which had been sunk to create fill. From Monterey County it is necessary to go North on The 101. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2014, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moving-from-ny-to-san-francisco-area/693438/34 "2014-07-20T13:48:53Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > To clarify, you wont find ANY snow in the SF Bay Area, unless you live on Mt Hamilton… > [@Voyager](#): > > You can tell that John has been here a long time because he considers winter nighttime temperatures in the '40s “chilly.” Eh. I’ll stand by that description. I’d use it if I was still living in Boston. > [@](#): > > As you in the rest of the country know, snow seen on the tops of mountains for a day or two tops is not really snow. If you don’t have to shovel it, it ain’t snow. Note that I was responding to someone who said if “you live on Mt Hamilton”. Now, few people do live on Mt Hamilton, but they get snow. Regularly. Every winter. I can see if from my house, and not in the way SP can see Russia from her house-- it is literally visible from my house. > [@](#): > > Very often temperatures here stay nearly constant for days on end. 72, 73, 72, 75 - ooh, a warming trend. When we lived in NJ my wife watched the Weather Channel religiously, now she watches it only when there is a weather disaster somewhere. We mostly have climate, not weather. That’s pretty misleading. First, I assume you mean “daytime highs”, and that’s true of most place at a certain time of the year. It’s probably true of SF itself in the summer, but not most of the Bay Area. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2014, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moving-from-ny-to-san-francisco-area/693438/35 "2014-07-20T14:17:43Z")
> [@BaldDudePeekskill](#): > > There’s a vey real possibility I will be offered the job of a lifetime in SF… Can I just congratulate you on the job? I have no stake in the neighborhood/restaurant/theater/highway/vineyard/sushi wars… ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2014, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moving-from-ny-to-san-francisco-area/693438/36 "2014-07-20T20:15:45Z")
> [@Snnipe\_70E](#): > > From Monterey County it is necessary to go North on The 101. In Southern California, you might have to travel north or south on THE 101. In Northern California, you could travel north or south on any old 101. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moving-from-ny-to-san-francisco-area/693438/37 "2014-07-22T22:17:04Z")
Just to update… We had rain today!! In July!! Now, it was only a few sprinkles, but they were big, legit raindrops. Not the drizzle we get on the coast, even in summer. Probably not enough to register, but there were raindrops fallin’ on my head this morning. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Little\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Pig)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moving-from-ny-to-san-francisco-area/693438/38 "2014-07-22T22:35:08Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Just to update… We had rain today!! In July!! Now, it was only a few sprinkles, but they were big, legit raindrops. Not the drizzle we get on the coast, even in summer. Probably not enough to register, but there were raindrops fallin’ on my head this morning. On my car too in the East Bay. This weather phenomenon was an aberration. Please disregard. Its bright and sunny, palm trees, surfs up, blondes, etc. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moving-from-ny-to-san-francisco-area/693438.md?page=1)