Comment by tptacek | Hacker News Reader

Comment by tptacek | Hacker News Reader

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I second al3x and add what I said last time:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=170750

Bill Wyman, who has never written a word that rang false to me, said it better than either of us back in '99:

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/1999/11/03/sf/index.html

Alex sees an upside to SF that I don't. Apparently you can DJ at a club in San Francisco. But your favorite band skips San Francisco, because there are so few venues to play at. I could opine about that, but JWZ said it better than I did:

http://www.dnalounge.com/donate/

(San Francisco was a crappy place to see music back when bands were playing the Maritime Hall, lest you think I'm being opportunistic here).

There are some excellent restaurants in San Francisco. Unfortunately for SF, NYC, DC, Boston, Chicago, and Seattle can all go toe-to-toe with it. SF gives you Michael Mina, NYC gives you Per Se, and throws in The Spotted Pig. For such a small city, SF throws down admirably, but it is simply outgunned by the big cities.

Of course, this is all a moot point, since you're probably not going to live in San Francisco if you move to the bay area. You are probably going to live somewhere in the South Bay, and the South Bay is an unforgiveable suburban wasteland.

Alex is one kind of person for whom San Francisco isn't ideal. I was him 10 years ago. Now I'm a different kind of person for whom San Francisco doesn't work: someone who wants to live in an actual neighborhood. There are 6 other young families with kids on my block, and I know them all; we have block parties. I never once met a neighbor in San Francisco; not in SOMA, not in Bayview, and not in Noe Valley.

But, hey, great dim sum. Seals. Really old trees. Knock yourself out.

I moved to San Francisco from Boston about two years ago. I really liked Boston (terrible weather though), and I really like SF.

But Bill Wyman article touched on something that jumped out at me when I first came here: the quality of journalism is abysmal. I was really astonished at how much lower the quality of writing is out here - and I'm an engineer, fer chrissakes. I kinda just got used to it, but I also don't read local news here very much.

And compared to Boston, I'm surprised how weak the local rock scene is. I've done a little digging and haven't been impressed. I hear better things out Oakland, but I don't get out there very much. Venues are pretty expensive too.

I feel like many of the complains ultimately have the high cost of living here as a root cause. When it's all said and done, that's probably the only thing that would cause me to leave.

It's easy to lose sight of how small San Francisco is. San Antonio is bigger than SF. San Jose is bigger than SF. Greater SF-SJ is big (though still smaller than the city of Chicago), but SF is cut off from its surrounding metro area; it takes an hour to get from SF to SJ. The same amount of time will almost get you from NYC to Philadelphia.

High cost of living is related to scarcity and the fact that SF has had itself thrust into a role it wasn't ready to handle.

No offense intended, but San Jose is a shithole with zero culture.

If you'd like, drop me a line and I can help you get connected w/ the music scene. Email address is in my profile.

I'm really surprised that you said you were "unlucky" to live in Santa Clara. I went to undergrad at Santa Clara University and it was perfect. Gorgeous weather year round (warmer and less windy than SF), slightly more reasonable rent, incredible diversity of food, and compulsively clean. Oh, and every weekend you had the choice of going to SF, Santa Cruz, Los Gatos, and Palo Alto to name a few.

You know, I recently spent almost a month out near Santa Clara, and I would like to know more about this incredible diversity of food you speak of.

Are you kidding? You have definitely missed out if you haven't found some good food! Start off at the CalTrain station near SCU. Drive down El Camino. In one direction (North?) you'll pass by some amazing Indian, Thai, and Vietnamese restaurants. You'll also probably pass by my favorite sushi hole-in-the wall (Hana sushi). Sushi-o-sushi is also good. In the other direction, you'll head towards San Jose. First you'll pass by some great cafe's. Keep heading down and you'll find the ultimate Mexican eatery La Victoria. Actually, anything Mexican in San Jose is bound to be great. If you go to La Poloma (El Camino North) you can find an incredible happy hour--free enchiladas and nachos and $2.00 house margaritas. Around the corner from La Victoria though you'll find Sonoma Chicken Coop. You'll be amazed that you can get a full, moderately healthy meal for under $7.00 and served to you in about 5 minutes. There's also a New Orleans style restaurant near the HP center which is delicious. If you're going fancy there's Il Fornario Italian or Birk's Steakhouse. Outside Santa Clara but a short drive away there's some great restaurants in Santana Row. There's a great Egyptian restaurant near here too, but I can't think of the name of it. The best breakfast places in town are Hobies and Stacks without a doubt.

I appreciate the detail, and thanks for writing it, but what you're describing here is actually inferior to the offerings in Ann Arbor, MI, which is effectively in the middle of nowhere. A2 has amazing Mexican (La Fiesta), decent cheap Mexican (Sabor), multiple excellent cafes (Sweetwaters, ERC), one of the most famous delis in the country (Zingermans) and their barbeque restaurant (Roadhose), passable Thai, multiple laudable upscale Italian and French joints, one of the best breakfast spots anywhere (Angelos, which unlike Hobies is not supplied by GFS trucks) and in less of a drive than Sunnyvale to San Jose, Common Grill in Chelsea.

And we're not comparing A2 to SV, I know, and it's silly to compare cities like that, but it's not crazy to say that the lower bar for "good food city" is "better than Ann Arbor, MI".

I concede that Santa Clara is great for food if what you're looking for is a diverse selection of medium/low-end Asian and Mexican.

I used to work in the building next to Birks. Pass.

I currently live in Gainesville, Florida. When I first arrived, I hated it. I thought, "nothing to do, nothing good to eat, no interesting people, weather sucks...". Most of my friends felt the same way. But somewhere around a year or so of living here, I realized that it was much easier to be bitter about life than it was to be happy. It takes effort to unhitch that tendency to compare. It takes effort to try new places, to make new friends, and explore surrounding areas.

Once I gave this town a chance, I began to see the good in it. My friends haven't. They are still bitter. And its very exhausting to be around them sometimes (not to mention slightly depressing).

I think its a little unfair to compare completely different cities with completely different histories. You can always find exceptions, and if you are really hell bent on doing this type of comparison, that's your prerogative.

You have to appreciate every city for what its worth. If you don't, you are going to be miserable.

Dude. Some cities, like A2, have excellent restaurants. Some, like Gainesville, are very cheap. Santa Clara does not have particularly great restaurants, and it is not particularly cheap. It's not an emotional thing. When you're choosing a place to live, you probably want people's unvarnished opinions.

And the technical epicenter of the world. Don't forget that.

I found that not to be a win.

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