Moving to San Francisco

Well I have lived I massachusetts all my life and I am moving to San Fransico.
My question is, who is the car scene in the area and am I going to have a hard time finding a job.
I would like to line something up before I get out there. I am a fabricator by trade. Went to (Wyotech, please hold on the badgering) for chassis fabrication, high performance engines, and hot rod fabrication. I currently own my own shop were I build custom cars and hot rods. Things are slow and I am looking for change in pace and weather. Are there any shops in the area I should know about. I have been doing my research and know of Brizio's and would liketo stay away from body shops.

 

scott at blue collar customs was looking for a guy.he's on the hamb and has a shop in sacramento.there's also steve moal in oakland,and greg westbury in the east bay also.keith tardel also has a shop,as does daryll hollenbeck.not sure if these guys are hiring,but worth checking into..good luck-nate

 

Thanks for the info I will have to check it out. I did not realize moal's shop was out that way.

 

Your moving to one of thee MOST expensive cities to live without a job lined up??

Good luck

 

2nd only to New York City!
Good luck man

 

What Denise said!

And are you dead set on SF proper itself? The weather there is not all that wonderful. Granted it does not snow, but it can get dismal, and parking is a bitch.

Head to the east bay or south bay, and stay away from the Peninsula if you want to keep cost down. JMHO.

Other than that, we'd love to have another HAMBr in the Bay Area!

 

Have you been to SF before? I can't imagine moving anywhere in Cali, let alone to that money trap. One of my customers lived out there and he told me he was paying 900.00 a month to rent a room from another guy he worked with. not a house or even an apartment, it was a single room with bath and kitchen privlages.


Nik

 

What Rag Doll said goes for me too....avoid the city, head south, we are in Campbell, near San Jose, and still only 40 mins from San Francisco.

The Bay Area is really nice, but VERY expensive.....

Be good to have another Bay Area HAMB'er...

 

If you want to have a car don't live in San Francisco, it'll cost you an arm and a leg to park and pay the all the parking tickets you're gonna get. Terrible to drive in if you don't know the place, I drove a taxi there for years. Try the East Bay, like Oakland, Hayward, Fremont, Concord etc. Frisco you don't even need a car, it's only 7 miles across and has good public transport. I lived there for 30 years and got by with a motorcycle. Called a cab when I needed a car. Rented a new car when I needed a car out of town. One good thing about Frisco is that it never gets very hot and it never freezes, nice scenery too. Horribly expensive, you don't want to live there unless you have to.

 

Can not say any more than the others said, SF is VERY expensive to live, parking is a bitch, you will not be able to get a traditional single family house.

Also, without starting a social political rant, be aware that SF is about 40% homosexual, and is almost socialist in the political attitudes. Not exactly in agreement with most traditional hot rodder viewpoints. Just make sure you know what you are getting into.

Now the rest of the bay are is not as bad, stay in south bay or east bay and you can find better conditions for less money, but still very expensive.

 

WE JUST DON'T WANT YOU TO MOVE HERE!!!

Just kidding... As all the bay area knuckle-heads(me too!) have already stated it's spendy to buy or rent in this area. You should really have a gig lined up. Lot's of shops though, if not in a rod/custom shop, there are a ton of body/paint/general repair shops. The bay area has terrible public transport, we just love our cars alittle too much.... the daily commute proves it.

 

One thing Frisco has because of all the hills is lots of brake and tranny shops...there's one every couple of blocks.

 

Line a job up before you head out there. I remember growing up living in a car when I was 7-8 years old there....I'm sure its a lot worse now

 

I currently live in Boston so I know how expensive living in the city can be. You have to get a loan just for parking.
I also am currently stashing cash away just in case I hit a rut.
Hopefully I can line something up before I get out there. Thant is my plan anyways

 

I am not at all dead set on the San Fransico area. My girlfriend is a modern dancer so she wants to be were all the action is for her field.

I don't know much about california at all so as far as suggestions on where to look for a place let me know.

 

Down this way by the beach, there is GNP machine and Sellers Custom Equipment (Steve Sellers) Sellers is a real cool guy with a shitload of skills on metalwork and making parts....his new shop is pretty epic, ad turning out alot of fine rods.

We're only a hour south of SF in Santa Cruz

 

Even if she dances in San Francisco, BART runs out to east bay, and the train runs up the peninsula. I believe San Jose Performing Arts has a good dance company as well. (South Bay)

No matter what, you need to decide whether you would rather have your own car and commute, or not own a car and live in SF and take public transport. IMHO, I reccomend looking in the east and south bay as far as living accomodations.

 

I would not wish that move on anyone unless you have a well paying job.... I hope you know what you are getting into (Cost of living compared to MA)..

The car scene in the area is great, just over the hill is Pleasanton where they hold several events, plus there is a number of great events in other locations..(Billetproof, Invitational, Paso.. etc...) near by..

 

You can google the Chambers of Commerce for various cities and get some cost of living info. The quote below is from the SF chamber of Commerce site. This gives you a run down on the different counties around SF and the relative cost of living there.

Alameda is the "East Bay", San Mateo is the "Peninsula", Santa Clara is the "South Bay".

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Mean Household Income by County[/font]

• [font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Alameda[/font]
  • [font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]2000 = $66,800[/font]
  • [font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]2020 = $82,300[/font]
• [font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Contra Costa[/font]
  
  • [font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]2000 = $79,000[/font]
  • [font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]2020 = $99,300[/font]
• [font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Marin[/font]
  
  • [font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]2000 = $100,600[/font]
  • [font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]2020 = $124,200[/font]
• [font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Napa[/font]
  
  • [font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]2000 = $66,600[/font]
  • [font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]2020 = $81,300[/font]
• [font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]San Francisco[/font]
  
  • [font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]2000 = $68,500[/font]
  • [font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]2020 = $86,400[/font]
• [font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]San Mateo[/font]
  
  • [font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]2000 = $89,700[/font]
  • [font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]2020 = $109,100[/font]
• [font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Santa Clara[/font]
  
  • [font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]2000 = $89.300[/font]
  • [font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]2020 = $105,300[/font]
• [font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Solano[/font]
  
  • [font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]2000 = $60,400[/font]
  • [font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]2020 = $75,000[/font]
• [font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Sonoma[/font]
  
  • [font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]2000 = $64,400[/font]
  • [font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]2020 = $79,500[/font]

"

 

I grew up in Nothern California in the 60's and 70's..that was cool, but now it is too expensive to live out there. I hope you like long traffic jams

 

I will add to my other post. I work for a company based out of the SF area and lived just south of it for 8 yrs but go back for atleast a week a month. one of the guys that works for me, paid about $240,000 for a 550 sq ft place ( yes less 550 sq ft) in a bad part of town (this was 5 yrs ago). he is planning on selling it early this year and thinks he will get about $350 to 400k for the same place. He has to move his car every night or get a ticket because he does not have offstreet parking (its rare) and the city only allows parking for certain hours on his street.

Now as for traffic and gas, gas is probably about $35 to 40 cent a gallon more then where you are from.. Traffic hardly never ends if you have to drive on 101.. Its a parking lot between San Jose and SF. if you move to a cheaper part of town, then you have a daily brigde toll ($3 to 5 a day depending on which bridge you cross).

Sure jobs pay more out there but it has too. you make $10hr at 'In n Out Burger' vs $6 or 7 on the east coast

So unless you are following a wife/girlfriend/boyfriend/ partner... think hard about it.

 

I plane on bringing my 54 Ford out there and using that as my daily driver.
My girlfriend has a new reliable car so I can use that if needed. I use public transit in Boston alot but miss driving my 54 so I want to use that as my main mode of transport.

 

I previously lived in SF for 8 years before moving to the south bay.

If you live in the richmond or sunset district (closer to ocean beach) you can find parking and there are more places with a garage spot.

You can check prices and available rentals and jobs on Craigslist

I lined up a job and a place in SF via craigslist before I moved there.

I got a lot of negative feedback before I moved but it wasnt as bad as it was made out to be.

I guess I was one of the lucky ones and didnt spend a ton of money on parking tickets etc.

To save money on rent and also if you want a garage to wrench on your car, You can also live in a nearby city and easily commute to SF as well.

If you do get a apartment without a garage there is a furnished shop you can rent by the hour or month week etc in hunters point.

Frisco is alot more mellow and expensive post the dot com boom.

I wanna know what a modern dancer is??

 

Martha Graham is an innovator of modern dance my girlfriend said. I had to ask her because I was not sure how to explaine it.
http://www.marthagrahamdance.org/center/

Yeah I am thinking we are not going to live directly in the city but outside of the city about a 30minute drive. Is there any citys we should stay away from. I heard Daly City was pretty good. We want to get studio with off street parking for 2 cars. I have been looking for a place on craigslist but not exactly sure of some of the neighborhoods these places are in.

I think we are going to take a trip out there this summer to maybe check it out.

 

daly city is alright ... im not sure what you are use to but i grew up around that area. on the boarders of Colma, South City (south san francisco) and San Bruno are good.... near San Bruno/Skyline Blvd it gets really foggy and stays that way for a good majority of the year.

I would stay away from Mission near the Daly City Bart station (too much traffic and the neighborhood isnt all that great - got a knife pulled on me late one night, they thought i was someone else... also almost got jumped at a pizza joint by a local gang...again, wrong person)..

Colma has a lot of cemetaries.. (hence the name), if you move southeast of Westlawn Cemetary you will get street parking. also, on El Camino Blvd in South City, there is a speed shop called "Gotelli's Speed Shop" across the street from See's Candies.... lots of history there. For you machining needs, you could go down the road into the industrial area and hit up Reggie Jacksons Hi-perf.

farther into the outskirts of san francisco you go, the worse the parking situation gets... you will be doing good staying south of Daly City/San Bruno... ie. Millbrae, Burlingame, or Pacifica... or perhaps Belmont (? think its belmont, never hung out in that area), which is in between the Cow Palace and Candlestick Park as well as the road where the Bullet chase scene was filmed.

The Bay Area is a great place to live...

 

I am definately looking foward to being able to drive my 54 ford all year round.
The car season is real short in Mass. Also looking foward to check out the west coast seen.

 

Frank......I think that's a nice way of saying Hoocty-Coocty Dancer....

Frank knows all about those......

 

Somebody already commented on the gay thing, or I was going to tell you that if you happen to drop some change, you should leave it there. Or so the old joke goes.

If you want to get a line on more of what things are like in SF, you might give a listen to The Savage Nation radio show. Should be on in Boston from either 6-9 or 7-10, syndicated - if you google up the website there may be a station directory there. Michael Savage lives in SF and that's the home station, so he's been known to discuss local politics and what the area is like now and again. Has been known to discuss everything from where he happens to eat out to the crime rate to the weather there, some of the same things as your typical local talk show host will discuss. You'll probably hate him though - very libertarian conservative. It took some getting used to even for me, but now I enjoy listening. (more confusing, he has a very NYC sounding accent, as he grew up in that area).