Might be Moving to San Francisco

Anthony

Anthony

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Anthony
Might be moving to San Francisco. I've spent a lot of time there on business so I know some of the pros and cons, but never lived there. Yeah, I understand its liberal as all heck, and I'm a conservative, but that seems to be where my company needs me now and its a great opportunity. Probably be there 3 years or so then try to get back to Denver.

How GA friendly is the area? Pros and cons of living there? I also know its expensive. :rolleyes:
 
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I travel to SF from Boston almost monthly and it is a great place to fly. I usually fly out of California Airways in Hayward. They have nice planes and good prices.
 
I'm jealous. That would be my number one place to live other than DC. Apart from the cost.
 
Anthony said:
Ha! Yeah I always think of that song when I go to San Fran.

Damn Hippies. ;)
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So you're buying a house at the corner of Haight and Ashbury?? :D Right next to the Ben & Jerry's?

Look up Kareem - don't know what happened to him - he's at one of the big FBOs/flight schools in Hayward.

Bay Area seems pretty nice. Traffic is bad. I used to own a company there (downtown), and spent a lot of time in the area. Expensive as all get-out, but cheaper than London. Lots of folks commute in from Marin County or the Oakland side, both of which are altogether different from the City (our manager came in from Oakland, someone else came in from Southbay, etc). You probably won't have a hangar for the plane, but should be able to arrange tie-downs. Oh, and expect to make some use of the instrument rating.
 
Anthony said:
Might be moving to San Francisco. I've spent a lot of time there on business so I know some of the pros and cons, but never lived there. Yeah, I understand its liberal as all heck, and I'm a conservative, but that seems to be where my company needs me now and its a great opportunity. Probably be there 3 years or so then try to get back to Denver.

How GA friendly is the area? Pros and cons of living there? I also know its expensive. :rolleyes:
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When are you going to be out of LEX? We'll have to get some barbecue in you before you leave... or at least hit up the Trail in the Country.

Cheers,

-Andrew
 
Well San Fran is not a done deal yet, but seems to be one of the possibilities.

Bill,

The "Haight" is fun to visit, but no I don't wnat to live there. Can you imagine? :rofl:
 
astanley said:
When are you going to be out of LEX? We'll have to get some barbecue in you before you leave... or at least hit up the Trail in the Country.

Cheers,

-Andrew
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Heck, if the timing works out, I'd consider flying out for that......

(BTW, Andrew, you need the real flavor of SW Ohio - ask for "trail bologna" some time.:hairraise:)
 
wsuffa said:
Heck, if the timing works out, I'd consider flying out for that......

(BTW, Andrew, you need the real flavor of SW Ohio - ask for "trail bologna" some time.:hairraise:)
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This is how fly-ins start... I'm under the pattern for 20 at MGY, and my smoker hasn't really been worked out in a while . . .

Cheers,

-Andrew
 
astanley said:
When are you going to be out of LEX? We'll have to get some barbecue in you before you leave... or at least hit up the Trail in the Country.
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I don't know when I'll be leaving LEX, but probably will have to commute for a while, depending where I actually go. I'll keep you posted, but I should be here for a few more months.
 
WOW! You certainly do get around. Haven't the foggiest idea of what GA is like, but the scenery and climate is nice. Spent a fair amount of time down near Fremont, but that was many years ago. It was expensive then. Did like northern CA quite a bit. Just a different attitude!

Hopefully this will be step up and not just a move.

Gary
 
Anthony -- Some thoughts for you. When you say "SF" do you mena SF or more broadly, the bay area? Depending on where you work (and live) there are a number of options.

North Bay -- I live in the north bay (Petaluma) and work in SF. I fly out of Petaluma also. There is also Gnoss Field in Novato a bit south of there. Locals always go to Gnoss to practice their x-wind landings. In fact, I think the FBO at Gnoss keeps a car in Petaluma for stranded flyers. There is also a private airport (members only?) in San Rafael. but I think those folks would rather you didn't know if existed!

East Bay -- Over the fills, the main east bay communities (Walnut Creek, San Ramon, Lafayette, Danville) don't have an airport in town. Concord is to the north and Pleasanton is to the south. Just from the "chatter" it feels like there is more going on at Pleasanton (both Class D). Closer to the bay, you've got Hayward and Oakland. These are both in a more urban setting. Both under the Class B Mode C Veil and pretty busy.

Penninsula -- South of San Francisco, you've got San Carlos and Palo Alto (and Moffett, if you're Google). I don't know too much about the nature of these airports. Palo Alto is interesting in that it is a pretty small field, but controlled.

South Bay -- San Jose and Reid Hillview. All I know about RHV is that they have a cranky controller that has little patience for student pilots (don't ask how I know).

Happy to provide more detail for any of the areas.

Sam
 
Anthony, you sure don't let much moss grow under your feet! Good luck.
 
Sam Doolittle said:
South Bay -- San Jose and Reid Hillview. All I know about RHV is that they have a cranky controller that has little patience for student pilots (don't ask how I know).
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That's unfortunate. Nice thing about OLM is the airport managment wants user friendly controllers in the tower, and that's what we generally have.

And, how far north? There's always Napa, too. I lived there in the late 1970s. Nice town then. Don't know what it's like now.
 
Petaluma is one of the nicest fields I have ever flown from/to. It feels like the airport I wish I lived near.
 
Ghery said:
That's unfortunate. Nice thing about OLM is the airport managment wants user friendly controllers in the tower, and that's what we generally have.

And, how far north? There's always Napa, too. I lived there in the late 1970s. Nice town then. Don't know what it's like now.
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I should have qualified that it was based on a single flight. I probably just caught him on a bad night.

Napa is an option as well. You probably wouldn't recognize the place now -- lot's of development.
 
I lived in San Francisco for about 4 years in the late 1970s and I go back there frequently for family reasons, in fact I'll be there tomorrow. It happens to be my favorite city and I would consider living there again if I could afford it. Like everyone says, the cost of living is very high. I doubt if you could buy a decent single-family house in the city for less than 1 million although the some of the outlying areas are slightly less expensive.

I learned how to fly out of KOAK, back when I was living there and I remember there being lots of small airports in the area for airport-hopping. There are few things more scenic than a SF Bay Area tour by small airplane.

San Francisco is a very multicultural city, which to me makes it interesting, but might be a little uncomfortable to others. Seems to me like when I take the bus there are people talking in at least 5 different languages, none of which I understand. Politically it's probably the bluest part of a blue region but I am on the blue side of purple myself, at least that's how I come out in those tests that people post here from time to time. :dunno:
 
Sam Doolittle said:
Anthony -- Some thoughts for you. When you say "SF" do you mena SF or more broadly, the bay area? Depending on where you work (and live) there are a number of options.
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Thanks for the info Sam. My office would be in downtown SF on Post Street. Don't know where I'd be living, but would like to be somewhat near the airport where I'd keep my Tiger.

Adam,

Yeah, I hear ya buddy. Philly may make more sense since we still own a home there and the R.E. market really stinks.

Eric,

I'd rather be back in Denver, and will end up there at some point, but for now, I don't think that's an option. Still nice to check out another place or two, but I really miss Colorado.
 
Ghery said:
That's unfortunate. Nice thing about OLM is the airport managment wants user friendly controllers in the tower, and that's what we generally have.

And, how far north? There's always Napa, too. I lived there in the late 1970s. Nice town then. Don't know what it's like now.
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Leslie was born in Novato. There used to be an air force base there, but I don't know what happened to the strip when the base closed.

Napa has a nice restaurant on the field. An awful lot of big PRIVATE iron on the field, too. Plus, I think it's JAL that has a training facility there.
 
gprellwitz said:
Leslie was born in Novato. There used to be an air force base there, but I don't know what happened to the strip when the base closed.
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Hamilton Field is in the process of being redeveloped. Some of the hangars are being converted into office space (some look pretty cool). Restoration Hardware is headquartered there. And the runway area is slowly being converted into homes.
 
I'll be in downtown San Fran Mon - Wed. If anyone wants to get together Monday or Tuesday night at the Tadich Grill, let me know. This should be interesting.
 
Anthony... If I wasn't on my way to Cancun I'd hit ya up. Have a good time out in CA.
 
Sorry Anthony, but my time here is really not my own, especially in the evenings, although I could probably sneak out for coffee or something one afternoon if you were interested in coming out west to the neighborhoods. You could see what some of the residential areas of the city are like. The atmosphere here is a lot different than downtown or at the tourist traps. The weird thing I have noticed is that even though housing prices are very high, the people on the street don't appear wealthy. There are also a lot of older people out and about. I sometimes wonder if the population here is much older than say, Denver, or if the public transportation makes it easier for them to get around so they don't stay cooped up in their houses so much. :dunno:
 
Anthony said:
I'll be in downtown San Fran Mon - Wed. If anyone wants to get together Monday or Tuesday night at the Tadich Grill, let me know. This should be interesting.
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I'd take you up on that -- I like the history of the Tadich Grill -- but I'm headed to Amsterdam tomorrow.
 
If you can stay on the east side of the bay and not afraid of the commute, I'd highly recommend the Napa, Fairfield, Vacaville area. As a non-Californian, this area beats anything around the bay hands down.
 
Capt Binkley said:
If you can stay on the east side of the bay and not afraid of the commute, I'd highly recommend the Napa, Fairfield, Vacaville area. As a non-Californian, this area beats anything around the bay hands down.
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My sister lived in Bencia (accross from Walnut Creek) and the prices were right as the town was wonderful. IT is closer to downtown than Fairfield and Vaccaville which is where my cousin currently live. They also work out there so the commute is not bad at all. My sister worked in downtown so she liked having access to the rail line to get into town.
 
Get ahold of a BART map for when you're househunting, and try to find a place near a station. Commuting by train into SF will beat commuting by any other means. The trains are fast and clean.

--Kath
 
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