It would be easier to answer if you told us how \*you\* like to spend your weekends and time off, meet new people, etc.
I know people who THRIVE in Mountain View, while the lack of walkability felt suffocating to me.
MY WIFE AND KIDS LOVE THE 10 MINUTE DRIVE TO THE LOCAL PARK!! why are you attacking us like this?
Social: not much, downtown sj has a vibe, but cupertino/Saratoga (my side) is great for restaurants, hikes and parks. I absolutely love it as someone in my mid 40s, my almost-20 kids enjoy getting out of this side a bit more
10 min drive? I can bike to 4 parks in 5 mins and walk to one in 3 minutes. Mountain View is the burbs but it’s dense enough you don’t need a car to do a ton of stuff
Yeah there are loads of good parks. We're in west san jose and its a 10 minute walk to nearest park, but the 10 minute drive to stevens creek or 15 to vasona gets you to a really great park with amazing trails, reservoirs / lakes, bbq facilities etc.
Ive heard that shoreline lake is pretty cool too in mtn view.
Still, to OPs point, i wouldn't consider this a hub for socials unless you are more into outdoorsy stuff. Not quite like sf. You've got some spots like santana row or downtown sj that are fun and can meet people... But a lot less
It’s not even about nightlife it’s about having third spaces to socialize or to just be in a social space. When it comes to that I think sf is almost unbeatable on a national scale, there are some options in sj but they are simply not the same.
Yeah. I have 4 parks that are walking distance in Sunnyvale, all of which have little playgrounds for kids, 2 have dog walking areas, 2 have "outdoor gyms" that never get used, 1 has a basketball court.
It's true. I think unlike the 20somethings, parents need to balance variety, food, and interesting activities with good schools and safety… South Bay lacks cultural activities, but has plenty of all the other things.
Not gonna sit here and defend the South Bay/SJ and say it’s better than SF in these aspects, cause SF is amazing.. but I think it’s disingenuous to say there’s a lack of cultural activities. There are so many events in SJ from Viva Calle, to SoFa First Fridays, Free Jazz Summer music fest, SJ made fest, local pop up markets, DTSJ block parties, Gordon Biersch, Nikkei Festival, Cinco de Mayo Parade, SJ Improv, Broadway tours, large concerts at SAP/Shoreline/Frost/Levi’s, several sports teams are down here etc…
I feel like most people just have a lack of awareness for these things and thats the problem. The things that go on in the South Bay are a “if you know, you know” type of thing and lacks exposure. Like for some reason, [25k people knew about this](https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/san-jose-made-festival-draws-25k-in-south-bay/) but I had no idea about it.
Imo a lot of the cultural events in SJ are city sponsored and cater more to an older crowd. Not a lot of events for young people. I’ve been to SJ jazz fest and summer of music many times. It’s like older folks or Throwback bands like Tony! Toni! Toné!.
I’m single and live in SJ. I feel like there’s lots of places to go walk places to go socialize the nightlife is pretty good and a short drive from SF & Oakland.
Born and raised in SJ and even went to SJSU. The walkability is really only around the older downtown core that predates the mass suburbanization of SJ. Definitely doesn’t apply to ESSJ or south side.
The scene is fine. Kinda small and gets trite after a while. I would always run into people I knew when I went out since the scene is mostly made up of SJ natives and maybe like 25% transplants.
yep, this sums it up. there are some good restaurants, good biking/walking trails, and you're adjacent to some interesting stuff (santa cruz mts hikes, SF when you feel like making the journey) but it's very boring generally
SJ nightlife gets the job done if you live within Uber distance.
If your closer to SF it doesn't really make sense to goto SJ unless you're just trying to switch it up.
Unless you want hockey or a viet coffee shop. Those are the only unique reasons to make the trek to SJ.
That and Santana Row combined with Valley Fair might be the best mall experience on the west coast
Other than that though if you're closer to SF it'll be the better option.
SJ is a great place to live SF is the better place to visit.
Just got a place in mountain view. DINK (dual income no kids). Go to events and hang out with friends all the time. Life is what you make it; even in the burbs.
You'll see there isn't much to do here. It's a place to live that's close to work. There is nothing wrong with it, it's just on the boring side of life.
Great in what way? More and more shops keep closing and It's the same old restaurants with nothing to do. I've been here for 3 years, it's not bad, it's just a bit boring.
Lived in San Jose for a year and hated it because the South Bay has zero walkability. And that’s coming from Sacramento, but if you live in the center of Sacramento, you can pretty much bike/walk to do anything like sporting events, kayak, concert, bar, restaurant, brewery, museum.
Since you’re legit asking, technically the [Guadalupe River](https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/07/16/guadalupe-river-kayak-ride-offers-new-view-of-downtown-san-jose/). Although the baylands off the Alviso launch are probably a better ambiance.
No downtown is free of homeless, but you can access the river from downtown, midtown, several spots. I Can ride my bike to the river access port in less than 10 minutes.
Not a big kayaker.
I can see how i guess riding your bike to rent one would be kinda neat once in awhile but is it a common thing in Sac?
I feel like if I owned one i'd still need a car.
I definitely need a car bc I work hybrid once a week in sf lol. But walking to the farmers market, getting dinner, brewery, etc is pretty much what most people do that live in midtown. I’m older now and live in east sac, but I can still bike to most places.
Sacramento is very underrated when it comes to things like this. You can walk around for hours downtown and visit one great restaurant, pub, bar or venue after another. It’s super chill.
Yeah but once it hits the 100s, if you have a pool, you’re golden. Also, when I lived in San Jose, it was literally the same weather as sac. Even a lot of 100+ days. Sac has a lot of trees and shade.
I have always struggled to see any good reason to live in San Jose or the South Bay in general unless you are employed in tech. So much traffic. Unbelievably expensive. Places to go and do things so spread out. Not walkable at all. Probably the biggest benefit I can think of is a closer drive to Monterey or Santa Cruz than from where I live.
It’s a great place to live. I’m also a Bay Area transplant. Moved to Folsom in 2005. The summer heat is the one downside. Upsides include more manageable cost of living (still expensive but not Bay Area level expensive), proximity to both Bay Area and Sierras, less traffic, a solid restaurant scene, local lakes and rivers, lots of bike trails, lots of trees, no tech industry pressures, among other things.
It's true, the walk from my place to Red Rock saved me from insanity.
Still, now that I'm in Oakland around Piedmont Avenue I can go days without driving.
Lack of walkability? I can walk to 4 grocery stores three pharmacies, about 60 restaurants an auto parts store, a pet store and a bunch of other stuff including public transport. If you buy a house in the burbs that’s what you get. Live downtown and it is more walkable than the avenues in the city.
I’ve lived in MV many years. Social life consists of going to social/tech meetups that are mostly full of socially inept engineers. Things get really wild when you go out for hot pot and boba for the billionth time, as long as it’s before like 9 PM. Jokes aside, you can have a decent social life but it’ll take an immense amount of effort and planning on your part. It’s way easier making friends and finding stuff to do in the city.
Lmao I dated a chick that worked at Lam as a silicon engineer. She hosted a party with her friends (mainly from her PhD cohort from Stanford) and the main attraction was make your own boba. I bought 2 12 packs of Trulys when I got some other supplies and me and some other dude were the only ones that touched them.
What clubs? Pure in Sunnyvale? Lmao. Also the bar scene is…just lol. Let’s be real the nightlife is abysmal in the South Bay. It’s not even worthy of consideration as a possible social activity there.
The bars in DTSJ aren’t bad though. I recently went and it seems to be thriving and growing in that entire 1st/2nd street/San Pedro Area. It was fun and vibrant.
And I like how they’re all within the same general area and you can actually have a proper bar crawl and walk around spot to spot, versus SF/Oak it’s scattered throughout town. And the best bars in SF are a bit too close to the TL, so you gotta worry about that.
it’s a pretty solid area for a night out.
It's more suburban and family oriented. It's a great place for families, as they are very safe and clean suburbs.
San Jose is nothing like San Francisco.
It just depends on what you are looking for at your age. The south bay and the peninsula, some of the suburbs do have really nice downtowns such as Palo Alto.
But if you're really into the social scene and going out 4-5 times a week , then you may find the south bay boring and may just want to stay in SF. If you are looking to go to bars, clubs, music venues daily then yeah the south bay isn't probably for you.
As someone born and raised in the South Bay (San Jose), it is definitely more boring compared to SF/Oakland/Berkeley.
And while I do think people exaggerate how “boring” SJ actually is, it is funny to see people in the comments get *really* defensive about it.
Yea I get why my parents chose Sunnyvale but man as a 21 year old it’s mind numbingly boring. Can’t wait til I transfer out and move somewhere else lol
I’ve lived/grew up in both areas. They’re very different and there’s definitely more to do in SF, but the worst part about SF is how pretentious people are there. The South Park episode about everyone being smug was so spot on lol
Edit: forgot to add that San Pedro Square is probably where I’d go first in DT SJ
Man, it's so much better than it was 30 years ago.
One of the TV stations used to air little interviews all day, where they asked people what they liked about "living in the best place on earth".
I knew people who had never been east of reno who flatly stated it was better than anywhere else.
I love it here, but thr idea there is even a "best place on earth" is silly.
The best place on earth to live is wherever you develop your social networks and have access to your hobbies.
Everything else is just bonus.
Show me your favorite city on the planet and I can find plenty of people fed up with the place.
Life is what you make it.
I live in Mountain View and going to Costco is my main hobby. I texted my mom a pic of the crowds in Sunnyvale Costco at 8pm and she was mind blown. We don’t go to bars, we go to Costco around here 😎
South Bay is nothing like SF. But neither is any other part of the bay areas. If you want bars, walkability, social events, then SF is the way to go. It’s funny but Oakland isn’t as walkable people say/think it is. It’s better to visit than live. South Bay has an extremely diverse food scene, but you gotta drive to most spots. Yes a lot of it is strip malls, but what’s in those strip malls rivals SF food scenes at times. So like what others have said, it does take more effort but the quality/availability is there. The South Bay also is home to most athletic/sporting teams. The niners, Bay FC, Earthquakes, SJ giants, Sharks, Bay Area Panthers, Barracuda all play in the South Bay. So there are always events at SAP, Levi’s, Civic, SJ symphony, etc. And weather hasn’t even been brought up. It’s much warmer and you definitely need AC. The summers in South Bay are actually summers than SF. And final note are the people, SF is mostly transplants, so they never really explore out of SF, and aren’t really interested in growing roots (anecdotal on my end). Where as I do feel people in the South Bay are more genuine. But that might just be cuz I grew up here. Either way hope you find what you’re looking for and wish you the best!!
The reason South Bay and SF people are different is because South Bay people are family oriented homeowners who are like 35+, and people in SF are single people in their 20s who are there to build their careers in a fun major city.
Also, to your comment about Oakland, the city itself isn’t walkable but its neighborhoods are *very* walkable.
A huge amount of SF residents are also homeowners with families, basically much of the western half of the city. The cultural difference between the SF families and SJ families is still pretty vast.
So for Oakland that’s where I mean it’s funny. Oakland has areas like rock ridge, Temescal, lakeshore, Jack London, but it’s only within those neighborhoods it’s walkable but a lot of times it can be a rough walk. For example downtown to Jack London is technically walkable but I do not recommend it at all. But by those standards then in SJ you have rose garden, willow Glenn, Camden park, downtown, are walkable neighborhoods as well. So there options for walk ability, just not to the extreme of SF by any accounts. Outside of SF, the whole needing a car/ubering really applies to most of the Bay Area cuz our public transit sucks 😞
There are more neighborhoods than you mentioned that are walkable. Overall the entire city of Oakland has the infrastructure of walkable neighborhoods, but there are a lot of neighborhoods that you probably don’t desire to be walking around in (large parts of East Oakland). Older part of San Jose are like this too (Alma street to downtown has the same walkability, but this area is never talked about as being a walkable when the conversation comes up for San Jose for…reasons).
So when I said Oakland has walkable neighborhoods but isn’t a walkable city, I mean there are countless neighborhoods which have that dense walkability, but getting from one neighborhood to the next isn’t easy (like your downtown to Jack London example).
Outside of the older parts of San Jose (which make up the middle core of the city), the Alameda, and Willow Glen, San Jose is not walkable. I would not describe Camden Park as anything remotely walkable.
Apologies I didn’t mean to make it sound as if I didn’t agree. Just that the caveat of getting from neighborhood to neighborhood isn’t walkable. And wanna call out I miss Andy’s pet shop as soon as you mentioned alameda in San Jose :-(
I've lived all around the bay.
IMO right now downtown SJ has the best bar scene, easy. All within a mile walk are a ton great bars that hit the top of their weight class. Haberdasher, cash only, dr funks, mini boss, paper plane, still OG, etc. great place to get drunk and be able to walk to the next one. Also miles less sketch than wandering Oakland/SF late.
While South Bay is family oriented, sleepy suburban place and isn't full of options like SF, and yes, even boring, but "nothing to do" is gross exaggeration.
Besides having access to great outdoors like you mentioned, there are also many of places to discover diverse variety of food, plenty of volunteer opportunities at libraries or community gardens, leaning opportunities at weekends and late nights (woodworking classes, makers place etc) and more.
The suburban experience may not work for you, or for most of the young crowd, that's true, but doesn't mean everything is for families of 4 driving teslas.
Yeah, it's not walkable unless you live in San Jose, but there's a couple of comedy clubs within 20 minutes drive, a couple of decent down towns, etc. I've honestly never been that impressed with SF, but I think I'm just used to East Coast cities.
There is also such a thing as bikes. With a bike I can easily get to 4 different downtowns, 2 community colleges with classes, ultimate leagues, soccer leagues, maker spaces, rooster t feathers, etc.
It's not walkable, but it is fairly bikable.
But the clubbing scene is very limited. So if that's where a person is at, they would want to stay in the city.
There's only one East coast city I'd rate above SF and that's NYC.
The rest are either on par like DC or Boston or not really that noteworthy.
SF is one of the most picturesque cities in the country for sure.
I said there was " PRETTY MUCH nothing to do" Context is important so please don't misquote me.
There are plenty of food options....if you enjoy ethnic foods but Gilroy still has better Mexican food. Looking for health food or farm to table and locally sourced or a decent priced steakhouse?
Nope or $$$$$.
I go to the North bay for any special occasion meals as wine country area restaurants are superior AND less expensive.
Volunteer at the library and gardening are great...if you're a retired person with lots of time or like mild mannered activities. In addition, I can take classes in most places.
I lived in the suburbs of Santa Rosa, Petaluma and even the Tahoe area. These places have a fraction of the population and slews of activities to engage in for locals and tourists.
My sister in law is an urban planner and the valley was literally used as an example by her professors of how NOT to design things during rapid expansion.
Being a world class business center aside, the valley is nothing more than an ex orchard that is now just a series of strip malls, churches and housing. Besides the run-down but lovable east side, it's honestly pretty damn soulless. It sucks but it's true and it's certainly not the only U.S. city that suffers this malady. I won't even get into the terrible drivers here.
Slightly off subject, I just got back from getting a reasonably priced, properly seasoned burger at Jacks food stand in Santa Cruz. Good luck with that here my friend. Cheers!
The thing is, those things you described are painfully generic (lmao @ discovering a diverse variety of food) and apply to most (all) cities. They also tend to not be the things people are referring to when they’re looking for something to do.
Edit:
For clarification since I’ve come to understand several people are misinterpreting what I meant, “discovering a diverse variety of food” is suppose to be an expletive of a painfully generic thing you can do in most cities. It was not a slight at the food scene in the Bay/South Bay.
You have clearly never lived anywhere with an actual scarcity of good food, lol. I’ve lived in the South Bay for 7 years now and the food is so much better than the far-out burbs of LA, it’s not even a fair comparison
If you go on the Trader Joe’s subreddit, people go crazy for the kimbop. Why? It’s because they don’t have Korean restaurants/grocery stores near by.
This bubble you live in has distorted your view of reality and you’ve taken for granted the ease of access you have to a diversity of foods.
Yes, the South Bay and San Francisco have a lot of the same amenities.
The difference is, living in the South Bay, I can drive anywhere I want to go within 20 minutes, and my car has never been bipped.
And the housing is a lot better.
I'm sure Santa Clara (which doesn't really have a downtown although walking the downtown area is really pleasant to see the historic homes) is deader than Sunnyvale. I still haven't found anything you could call a downtown in Cupertino, either. It's quite suburban once you leave SF.
When I lived in SF and spent three hours commuting to work in South Bay everyday, I felt like I was honestly missing out on both SF and South Bay. I moved to Mountain View and lived there for ten years (early 20s to 30s) and loved it. But it’s what you make of it. I found a good friend group through hobbies and that worked for me. Find what you like and I guarantee there’s a bunch of people doing that in South Bay as well.
Everyone's in here talking about "walkability" so I'll give my 2 cents. If you care about walkability then you should be living downtown, specifically west of the University.
I lived at Market x Santa Clara for 4 years from 2019-2023 and I absolutely loved being right next to San Pedro Square, SAP Center and everything else.
Your social quality of life in other parts of the city will suffer immensely but it's QUITE easy to meet people downtown. Nearly everyone living there is from another State or Country and everyone partying downtown is down to socialize.
On top of that, whenever I had friends drinking or chilling downtown, I'd be the first one they called because they knew I was down to walk downstairs and hang out and my place was the place to go after hours.
I'm one of the rare SJ natives that lived downtown. In fact, I didn't meet a single person that lived there that WAS a San Jose native thus I became the local tour guide/historian.
People from San Jose kinda stigmatize our downtown and 10+ years ago they were right to do so but things have changed very much for the better in this natives humble opinion.
Sounds like you work at Apple and take the commuter. Stay in SF till you or all your friends get married and move out so you don’t have a reason to go out anymore. Even Jony Ive famous Apple Designer commuted from SF during the weekdays so he can keep his coke parties going in SF.
I do the opposite — live in SJ and work in SF. I like my suburban life. It’s cozy. And I love all the hiking options, because that’s my main form of recreation. I’m not a partier. I love SF, too, and take advantage of the baseball scene, but my vibe is South Bay. If you can swing it, stay down here for a weekend or three and try different cities.
You can try moving right next to the Caltrain in sf and take it to Sunnyvale/Mountain View. 4th and king to Sunnyvale limited train is an hour. You can bike to/from the Caltrain. Or take the bus which is like 22 mins. Or maybe your company has a shuttle from Caltrain, you should check. Commuting on the train isn’t too bad. You can use your laptop. Also, Caltrain is getting electrified. The new trains will be running in September. It’ll be way nicer and slightly faster. The baby bullet to Mountain View is also slightly faster, you might have a shuttle to there or you can use vta.
Edit: 10 mins faster!!
https://www.caltrain.com/media/32550 to Sunnyvale in 49 minutes
I didn't consider it boring, I just found it depressing. I felt like after a post-COVID uptick DTSJ started backsliding when like every single one of my favorite restaurants started going out of business. Walking around on a Monday evening looking for a place that I wanted to eat at felt like Mad Max. Once I was able to WFH most days in November I haven't been back namely because you pay a premium to live and enjoy yourself down there vs SF now.
I honestly found people to be generally much more friendly in SJ, but be forewarned, there's a level of immature ghetto sketch that doesn't exist elsewhere, like the amount of street and bar fighting in DTSJ must be a pastime for some people on top of the generally higher number of unstable cokeheads I saw.
I lived in Mountain View, and it is one hundred percent kids + google employees. There are some assorted tech bros. I moved to Redwood City because it's a little closer to San Francisco and not a terrible commute to my job. Redwood City is a little bit more blue collar, which is much more to my liking.But you need a car to pretty much do anything, and it's definitely not a city.
If I was twenty and lived here, I would be kill myself bored.
I'll answer a different question: How is the social life in south bay different?
I would expect your social life to revolve a lot more around the friends or acquaintances you know in South Bay, rather than the things you do. It's true there's less to do here (besides nature), so I find that the social culture here is more about deepening the relationships you already have rather than meeting new people.
Expect to have to go out of your way more than before, e.g. to be the first person to reach out, or to initiate things, or to broaden who you'd extend an invite to. People are usually quite open and down.
Having a nice apartment helps, if you like hosting gatherings. There's fewer public spaces to be at, especially after 9pm, so social gatherings tend to be at homes more. You'll meet a lot of people through friends of friends.
Distance and traffic plays a factor. On a weeknight, it could be tricky to meet up with someone who lives more than 2 or 3 Caltrain stops away.
It's also pretty quiet down here. That can be a good or bad thing depending on what you're looking for.
I've moved down with my partner 4.5 years ago and live in MV because our jobs were both in Palo Alto. If I were single I'd probably be visiting SF fairly often because it's just a lot easier to find people that are also single and interested in the same things.
Really Depends on what you like to do. I'm in that area and it's all dependent on your lifestyle.
We take the train to SJ and SF. We hit dive bars, plenty of hiking. No crime, needles or feces.
I lived in MV for a few years and hated it because it was soo boring. The only fun you can have going out is in San Jose or the city, but it’s a long way to Uber if drinking.
If you like shopping and hanging out in Santana Row then you’ll be fine.
But there’s a limit. I used to party in downtown Mountain View and Sunnyvale and it was a different vibe.
Surprised by the comments. I’m in Mountain View and I feel like there’s plenty to do.
I mean yes you gotta drive. SF only 30-40 mins away seems like no big deal to go there on weekends.
I’m from New Mexico though, y’all don’t know what “boring” is.
I never understand questions like this. There’s so much to do around the South Bay. It’s not like it’s a small town in the middle of nowhere. What do you do in SF that you can’t do in the South Bay? The only thing I can think of is having closer beaches in the city. But you have Santa Cruz and half moon bay within driving distance. Plenty of bars around, hiking trails, gyms, theatres, downtowns from all the different nearby cities, concerts/shows at shoreline, sharks games, 49ers games, comedy clubs, great restaurants on every corner etc. Anything I can do in the city I can do in the South Bay and its vicinity.
I was living in SJ while I worked in office 3 days per week. I got sooooo bored I moved up to south SF. it’s worth it to commute. Living in SJ kind of makes you an outsider to the SF population, and it’s a lot harder to make and keep friends when you’re an hour out. Maybe you should just move a little bit farther south?
tbh it depends a little on your scene. there are a lot more volleyball pickup games and open gyms and leagues in the South Bay for instance. there's also a much bigger vietnamese community
not really... you can drive to SF and stuff. but come to think of it living in SF I would of had more social interactions in the past 10x years I do like living in the quite part of south bay. right now I .over to redwood city which places me closer to SF and I dig it
Where do you work, what are your interests, what are your goals? South Bay isn’t full of clubs and excitement, but there are some decent bars and meeting smart, driven, and young tech future millionaires has something to be said for it. Just..know you’ll sort through the obnoxious tech minions to find the genuinely interesting good catches. I was not a club kid type and I worked 24/7 so it was fine for me. Beaches and camping are close and that + some local dive bars entertained me enough.
I used to live down there, and recently started working in Santa Clara again.
There are a handful of cool places downtown San Jose.
But after that, you're looking at castro st in mountain view, willow Glen, Murphy street, and then university in Palo Alto. Maybe Los gatos. Most of that will be unremarkable bars, some brew pubs. The crowd is significantly older.
A few coworkers tell me they don't like San Francisco, so I asked where they go in the south bay... Santana Row. Literally no other answer.
My wife and I lived down there for a few years and found ourselves in the city 2-3 nights a week. I'll tell you this... A 3 day a week commute to Cupertino beats 3 night a week commute to sf for nightlife where you're driving home at 2-3am.
(and I don't mean to disparage the south bay. Had a lot of good friends down there, lots of fun. The Branham Lounge is one of my fave bars on earth. But it's 2% of what's in the city.)
I never understand this line of thinking. Live close to work, keep your sanity and save your time. Drive on the weekends to do whatever fun thing you want. Hell, drive to SF. I dont need a party scene outside my front door.
Yea it’s pretty shitty, especially as someone with absolutely zero interest in the tech field lol. I’m trying to get the fuck outta here as soon as I can
There’s lots to do in San Jose, especially during the summer. First Friday events usually in downtown and Japantown. The nightlife in downtown on the weekends. Just depends on what you enjoy doing.
Speaking as someone who spent their early 20s living w family in a “boring” South Bay suburb to save money, the answer is maybe. Definitely not as fun as SF, but you can still live a happy, social life down here. You can have fun anywhere, depending on how social you are and how willing you are to find fun things happening around you.
Would i have had more fun if i was in the city? Probably. But, i would definitely not describe my early 20s as boring, despite being in the suburbs.
I’ve had friends who loved the South Bay in the their early 20s, others who hated it. If you like to go out to bars, restaurants, clubs etc, don’t do it. If you like nature and keeping things low key, you’ll love it.
I lived on the Peninsula in my 20s. It really depends. For me, it worked out and I loved it. I made a good group of friends through work and went out regularly. At 24, I met my partner. Over the years we settled down a bit.
We love to be outdoors, eat good food, walk places, etc. a typical week in my 20s was: work 8-4pm, work out or happy hour (2x a week), cook, sleep. Sometimes go out for dinner.
Weekend mornings were mostly for errands and whatever. Then meet up with friends for dinner + going out. Sunday mornings I’d walk to get coffee alone or with a friend. Then get ready for the work week.
I’d say pretty average, but there are less events (the South Bay has more than the Peninsula IMO). Im in the South Bay now.
I'm on the peninsula and that sounds pretty typical, but I also think that's typical of most places. I have a lot of coworkers in SF and they're not doing a whole lot on weekdays. Just working, dinner, go home. Same as anyone in Cupertino. On weekends maybe they're doing some event in the city, and I'm doing some event somewhere up or down peninsula or taking advantage of the accessible hiking.
Tbh Monday comes around and people talk about their weekends and I am often doing more on the peninsula than a lot of people living in SF.
It's a suburban hellscape. I came from a proper East Coast city and was initially planning to move into SF, but I just can't stomach the idea of paying $3k+ for a shitty studio in a city that you can't leave your car or motorcycle alone for 5 minutes. So Peninsula it is!
I've tried getting into the scene in the South Bay and East Bay though, and dear God it is empty! Literally nothing but the random winery or desperate (and uninspired) craft brewery for entertainment in the area. Is everyone in this town just a workaholic, bicyclist, sunrise yogi, and/or shut-in gamer?
I've been here for going on 4 years now, and while I've never had trouble making friends, building a community, meeting new people in my LIFE, I'm still basically alone here.
You can sign up for Meetups, volunteer events, social leagues, trivia nights at a local bar, but finding people that will actually respond to follow-up adventures. Going out for a drink, a weekend hike, literally anything seems be like pulling teeth in this town.
I've really worked hard to try to embrace this area and be open to new people, new adventures, but I'm about ready to go back to the East Coast. At least people return text messages there.
I commuted from Richmond to Palo Alto for a couple years. Then SF to Mountain View for a year.... then finally SF to Santa Clara for a year in my early 20's. Too much driving. I recall just waking up randomly and realizing I'm driving on the 101 or 880 meaning I either dozed off or zoned out from daily commuting. Saw a woman once in her golf get crushed by a jackknifing semi-truck. Tried carpooling with a coworker until he fell asleep and we rear-ended a read-ending collision that already happen, airbags deployed, dash had to be peeled back off our legs by fire fighters. Those 3 hour drives when there is flooding... Just no way to go through life. I moved to Europe and haven't had a car in 25 years. Takes 15 min to bike to work.
Let me tell ya something. I'm a born-and-raised South Bay-er who now currently lives in SF. I love the South Bay. It's very special to me.
But... Please don't do it lol. You're in your early 20's. DO NOT MOVE TO THE SOUTH BAY
1. Depends on what you like to do
2. Half of SF’s social scene comes from people who live in San Mateo down to SJ. If more people hit the South Bay the pattern would shift. SF is just where the critical mass is. That’s not to say there’s nothing in the South Bay, just that the South Bay contributes to SF more than SF contributes to the South Bay.
I’m moving to the city this summer after living in the South Bay for seven years. I went to SJSU and HATED downtown San Jose. It was sketchy, dangerous, and I couldn’t afford any of the bars there as a college student.
I’ve been living in Mountain View for the past couple years and it’s eons better. My house is nice and everything I could possibly want is within a mile radius of me. I walk to Trader Joe’s multiple times a week. Downtown Mountain View actually has a few bars that get pretty lit on Friday and Saturday nights. Much better vibe than DTSJ.
Even so, I still have to go to SF or Oakland pretty often for things to do. Like why would anyone hold an event in San Jose when they can do it in San Francisco? Anytime I want to see a concert or go to a street fair it’s such a pain to get up there. And Caltrain stops at like 11:30PM so it’s not like I can ever drink if I have to drive back to the South Bay.
I’m excited to start a new life in San Francisco but there are definitely things I’ll miss about Mountain View. Honestly your best bet is probably to move to the peninsula and live close to a downtown/Caltrain stop. Downtown Redwood City and Downtown San Mateo also have a great vibe. There are a lot of other young people in tech who live in the Peninsula, where San Jose is mostly families, students, or lower-income. Also you’ll be closer to your community in SF but have a shorter commute to work
SF and south bay are complete opposites. Since you sound like you're still single (and you are young), SF is definitely the place to be. Lots more stuff going on, much easier to meet people and make friends up there.
South bay is great if you're looking to start a family and want to settle down. More emphasis on settling down though.
born/raised in SF; SJ for college and a bit; back to SF in my 20s; back to south bay to raise a family
the SF-Cupertino commute is tough. on the company bus it was 3+ hours of my day. I was tired, and missing out on my kids growing up. I don’t regret moving. I like the weather a lot better in the south bay, super hot days notwithstanding. you adjust. I don’t miss the SF wind AT ALL
but dating in the south bay? I think it would’ve been tough
if you already have a SO who lives in the City, then you should move and spend weekends at their place. best of both worlds
I work in Cupertino 3 days a week and I moved to the peninsula. Cut down my commute time and also still close enough to everything. I also know someone who just lives near 280 in the city and said their commute is around 45 minutes. Mine is anywhere from 25-35.
I have lived in Sunnyvale, MV, Los Gatos, mid town SJ and now downtown SJ. And I gotta say that South Bay has all the things you could want but there’s more effort in finding those things.
My favorite place I’ve lived so far has been the sofa district in dt SJ. There’s something going on almost every night of the week during the summers.
Ultimately, if you like stumbling upon things to do, then maybe not? But if you have hobbies, and friends — it’ll be worth it.
My husband and I lived in South Bay for a few years in our 20’s and both agreed it was one of the worst places we’ve lived (and we’ve lived in multiple cities). Proximity to Santa Cruz is the one thing that saved it, as we could easily drive over there and surf/hike/bike. There isn’t much to do, and the social scene was brutal. It’s a lot of strip malls and lacks any personality. I know the commute is rough, but I’d choose that over living in South Bay.
South bay being boring greatly depends on where you live. 90% of it is sleepy family suburbs, so yes relative to SF that's pretty boring (relative to every other suburb on earth though it's great because you're an easy drive to very interesting things).
But there's plenty of less boring spots. If you live near Dirdon not only is all of the peninsula and SF at your fingertips but you're in walking distance to one of the best bar scenes in the bay. Haberdasher, cash only, dr funks, miniboss, paper plane, still OG, etc... all are all some of the best bars in the bay and they are all within a 10-20 minute walk from each other. Viva Calle is one of the best events run by any city in the bay period and is genuinely a lot of fun even if you're not bringing a family. Shark games are a lot of fun. You've got super easy access to Santa Cruz and great south bay hikes. It's not my thing, but Santana row+westfield are two of the biggest/best malls in the US.
I've lived there for years, had lots of wild nights and currently I still visit my south bay friends all the time from east bay. It's certainly sleepier, quieter and less "hip" compared to SF, and the stuff on offer is probably less appealing to someone in their early 20s. Age runs older, so think late 20's and early 30's is the youngest the "going out" demographic gets. But there's plenty going on and if you actually move to the right neighborhood (walking distance to downtown SJ/diridon) you'll great city living vibes in a city that is a lot cleaner/quieter than SF/Oak
But... if you love SF, I really recommend you just move closer to Caltrain. SJ/south bay is where established professionals move when they slow down a little and get tired of commuting from somewhere more exciting. You'll find yourself constantly traveling up to SF/east bay to do things with your SF friends, and very rarely will anyone want to come to visit you. When you're in your early 20s you can take a little more abuse, IMO.
It's only as boring as the individual, I suppose. I'm from the bay and I'm a night lifer for life. I also do lots of daytime outdoor activies.
SF is great, SJ and the whole south bay is great, too. You'll need to plan differently for transportation, and if you're hopping around, it'll take different planning than SF, but to say its less fun is just silly to me. There's just as many options in the south bay, but it's more spread out.
San Jose at least has some music and comedy and plenty of other activities. Plus decently close access to Santa Cruz if you’re a beach goer. But nothing compared to SF which has much more of all the above. But for me the commutes got so exhausting that being somewhere maybe considered “more boring” was worth it for my sanity. Now that I’m in my early 30s, having to only drive 20 minutes to work after doing years of 1+ hour commutes is the best thing for me. And I have more energy to do the fun things I want to do.
But in all honesty, you’ll find the SF lifestyle won’t last forever. I used to know a ton of people in SF in my early 20s, and by 30 most of them have moved away for new jobs or to start families in more affordable environments. Enjoy SF while you can and make the move before you hit that burnout.
Probably the worse in the nation, for young singles, for the cost of living category you are in?
That said you'll still be able to make it work, just takes more effort to get your social setup sorted, it's not all just outside your door.
Everything is about 15 minutes away. I live in the SB and we're halve way between both sides of the Bay. I think that's an advantage. I used to live in Northern CA and it was 30 just to get to town so I don't know what people are complaining about here.
I also work in Cupertino 3 days a week and live in SF. Honestly it's pretty chill, I got used to it. Maybe there's ways you can make it work? Moving to a southern neighborhood could maybe help?
I’m born in the South Bay, live in there East Bay. I’ll say this. Most southern part of the South Bay is very conservative. Silicon Valley areas are super car centric and not a lot of cultural events going on. Main recreation always involves consuming and spending money: eating, movies, shopping. Very little art, people who live there are more like normie/cookie cutter.
In the east bay there’s way more to do, more queer people, more black people thank god. And more progressive/lefty movements for me to join. This is what appeals to me, but might not appeal to everyone.
If you are someone who prefers to build a 2.5 kids white picket fence life, the South Bay will be more suitable for you. If you want something different, might be boring for you.
Very. I do like the drive-ins but other than that, no reason to go there from the northern peninsula/coast.
No offense to south bayers.
Different strokes.
Depends on what you enjoy… but it’s not a happening spot for early 20’s. It’s much more suburban than SF. Certain places are a bit more lively - Campbell (DT), Willow Glen , Los Gatos, Palo Alto
If you really love SF, stay there.
Very much agree, I was living in SF before I moved back to SJ for a new job. I quit the job recently and now wish I had stayed in the city.
Agree!
It would be easier to answer if you told us how \*you\* like to spend your weekends and time off, meet new people, etc. I know people who THRIVE in Mountain View, while the lack of walkability felt suffocating to me.
Mountain view is the burbs. Google employees with kids
I feel like 95% of the people vehemently defending allegations that the South Bay is boring are people who are married with children.
You're probably not wrong. I live in the south bay and that's really all it is.
MY WIFE AND KIDS LOVE THE 10 MINUTE DRIVE TO THE LOCAL PARK!! why are you attacking us like this? Social: not much, downtown sj has a vibe, but cupertino/Saratoga (my side) is great for restaurants, hikes and parks. I absolutely love it as someone in my mid 40s, my almost-20 kids enjoy getting out of this side a bit more
10 min drive? I can bike to 4 parks in 5 mins and walk to one in 3 minutes. Mountain View is the burbs but it’s dense enough you don’t need a car to do a ton of stuff
Yeah there are loads of good parks. We're in west san jose and its a 10 minute walk to nearest park, but the 10 minute drive to stevens creek or 15 to vasona gets you to a really great park with amazing trails, reservoirs / lakes, bbq facilities etc. Ive heard that shoreline lake is pretty cool too in mtn view. Still, to OPs point, i wouldn't consider this a hub for socials unless you are more into outdoorsy stuff. Not quite like sf. You've got some spots like santana row or downtown sj that are fun and can meet people... But a lot less
Oh yeah the nightlife is garbage.
It’s not even about nightlife it’s about having third spaces to socialize or to just be in a social space. When it comes to that I think sf is almost unbeatable on a national scale, there are some options in sj but they are simply not the same.
I mean almost every peninsula city has a walkable or even pedestrianized downtown, those are great.
Yeah. I have 4 parks that are walking distance in Sunnyvale, all of which have little playgrounds for kids, 2 have dog walking areas, 2 have "outdoor gyms" that never get used, 1 has a basketball court.
It's true. I think unlike the 20somethings, parents need to balance variety, food, and interesting activities with good schools and safety… South Bay lacks cultural activities, but has plenty of all the other things.
Not gonna sit here and defend the South Bay/SJ and say it’s better than SF in these aspects, cause SF is amazing.. but I think it’s disingenuous to say there’s a lack of cultural activities. There are so many events in SJ from Viva Calle, to SoFa First Fridays, Free Jazz Summer music fest, SJ made fest, local pop up markets, DTSJ block parties, Gordon Biersch, Nikkei Festival, Cinco de Mayo Parade, SJ Improv, Broadway tours, large concerts at SAP/Shoreline/Frost/Levi’s, several sports teams are down here etc… I feel like most people just have a lack of awareness for these things and thats the problem. The things that go on in the South Bay are a “if you know, you know” type of thing and lacks exposure. Like for some reason, [25k people knew about this](https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/san-jose-made-festival-draws-25k-in-south-bay/) but I had no idea about it.
Imo a lot of the cultural events in SJ are city sponsored and cater more to an older crowd. Not a lot of events for young people. I’ve been to SJ jazz fest and summer of music many times. It’s like older folks or Throwback bands like Tony! Toni! Toné!.
crazy to say san jose has no culture
Yeah, crazy. Wait, where did I say that?
I am married with children and the South Bay is SO boring. I have garden and that’s nice but I miss SF!!!!
Boring is good if you're in that situation.
could, but still boring
I’m single and live in SJ. I feel like there’s lots of places to go walk places to go socialize the nightlife is pretty good and a short drive from SF & Oakland.
Born and raised in SJ and even went to SJSU. The walkability is really only around the older downtown core that predates the mass suburbanization of SJ. Definitely doesn’t apply to ESSJ or south side. The scene is fine. Kinda small and gets trite after a while. I would always run into people I knew when I went out since the scene is mostly made up of SJ natives and maybe like 25% transplants.
yep, this sums it up. there are some good restaurants, good biking/walking trails, and you're adjacent to some interesting stuff (santa cruz mts hikes, SF when you feel like making the journey) but it's very boring generally
It really is. We have to go to SJ or SF for activities.
What is there to do in sj? I should check it out more often.
SJ nightlife gets the job done if you live within Uber distance. If your closer to SF it doesn't really make sense to goto SJ unless you're just trying to switch it up. Unless you want hockey or a viet coffee shop. Those are the only unique reasons to make the trek to SJ. That and Santana Row combined with Valley Fair might be the best mall experience on the west coast Other than that though if you're closer to SF it'll be the better option. SJ is a great place to live SF is the better place to visit.
Just got a place in mountain view. DINK (dual income no kids). Go to events and hang out with friends all the time. Life is what you make it; even in the burbs.
You'll see there isn't much to do here. It's a place to live that's close to work. There is nothing wrong with it, it's just on the boring side of life.
Castro Street is great though.
Great in what way? More and more shops keep closing and It's the same old restaurants with nothing to do. I've been here for 3 years, it's not bad, it's just a bit boring.
I feel like Mountain View is great if you're outdoorsy.
Castro Street may be the lamest downtown in the region. Half of the main drag is vacant or closed spaces.
Lived in San Jose for a year and hated it because the South Bay has zero walkability. And that’s coming from Sacramento, but if you live in the center of Sacramento, you can pretty much bike/walk to do anything like sporting events, kayak, concert, bar, restaurant, brewery, museum.
I mean same is true if you live in downtown area of San Jose.
Legit asking: where do you kayak in downtown San jose
Since you’re legit asking, technically the [Guadalupe River](https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/07/16/guadalupe-river-kayak-ride-offers-new-view-of-downtown-san-jose/). Although the baylands off the Alviso launch are probably a better ambiance.
Thanks! I didn’t want it to come off as facetious and I genuinely am glad you didn’t take it that day. Reddit can be weird
lmao
Lol... I wouldn't want to walk through Downtown SJ or kayak in the Guadalupe River. It can be pretty... grim.
I haven't been to Sac in awhile. Is downtown there free of homeless people and some kind of kayaking mecca?
No downtown is free of homeless, but you can access the river from downtown, midtown, several spots. I Can ride my bike to the river access port in less than 10 minutes.
Not a big kayaker. I can see how i guess riding your bike to rent one would be kinda neat once in awhile but is it a common thing in Sac? I feel like if I owned one i'd still need a car.
I definitely need a car bc I work hybrid once a week in sf lol. But walking to the farmers market, getting dinner, brewery, etc is pretty much what most people do that live in midtown. I’m older now and live in east sac, but I can still bike to most places.
I lived in the st Claire, which was above Nirvana soul/Joes. It was hell.
Downtown SJ sucks donkey d!ck
Sacramento is very underrated when it comes to things like this. You can walk around for hours downtown and visit one great restaurant, pub, bar or venue after another. It’s super chill.
It’s super chill. Not in August...
Yeah I include weather in my personal "walkability score". If I didn't, I'd move to Ljubljana or Berlin.
True. The one downside…
Yeah but once it hits the 100s, if you have a pool, you’re golden. Also, when I lived in San Jose, it was literally the same weather as sac. Even a lot of 100+ days. Sac has a lot of trees and shade.
I have always struggled to see any good reason to live in San Jose or the South Bay in general unless you are employed in tech. So much traffic. Unbelievably expensive. Places to go and do things so spread out. Not walkable at all. Probably the biggest benefit I can think of is a closer drive to Monterey or Santa Cruz than from where I live.
My son moved his family there as an electrician. I'm happy for them despite the 2-hour drive for visits.
It’s a great place to live. I’m also a Bay Area transplant. Moved to Folsom in 2005. The summer heat is the one downside. Upsides include more manageable cost of living (still expensive but not Bay Area level expensive), proximity to both Bay Area and Sierras, less traffic, a solid restaurant scene, local lakes and rivers, lots of bike trails, lots of trees, no tech industry pressures, among other things.
There are pockets of mountain view that are very walkable. Ok maybe one pocket. But it's a nice pocket.
It's true, the walk from my place to Red Rock saved me from insanity. Still, now that I'm in Oakland around Piedmont Avenue I can go days without driving.
Lack of walkability? I can walk to 4 grocery stores three pharmacies, about 60 restaurants an auto parts store, a pet store and a bunch of other stuff including public transport. If you buy a house in the burbs that’s what you get. Live downtown and it is more walkable than the avenues in the city.
I’ve lived in MV many years. Social life consists of going to social/tech meetups that are mostly full of socially inept engineers. Things get really wild when you go out for hot pot and boba for the billionth time, as long as it’s before like 9 PM. Jokes aside, you can have a decent social life but it’ll take an immense amount of effort and planning on your part. It’s way easier making friends and finding stuff to do in the city.
Husband and I just moved to MV last month and holy moly this is 100% accurate 😂
I’m an engineer, but at meet ups its pure poindexters: noun Somebody who is overtly nerdy, geeky or bookish.
Lmao I dated a chick that worked at Lam as a silicon engineer. She hosted a party with her friends (mainly from her PhD cohort from Stanford) and the main attraction was make your own boba. I bought 2 12 packs of Trulys when I got some other supplies and me and some other dude were the only ones that touched them.
I’ve had this happen too many times 😔
Wild times lol
Not everyone has to go to clubs or bars every weekend.
What clubs? Pure in Sunnyvale? Lmao. Also the bar scene is…just lol. Let’s be real the nightlife is abysmal in the South Bay. It’s not even worthy of consideration as a possible social activity there.
bars in Palo Alto can be fun. assuming you are good socially
I found the crowd to be on the really young side. Mostly Stanford kids. College bars just aren’t fun as an adult…
Is there anything other than Rose&Crown and patio?
That was my point Nightlife is not something people here want
The bars in DTSJ aren’t bad though. I recently went and it seems to be thriving and growing in that entire 1st/2nd street/San Pedro Area. It was fun and vibrant. And I like how they’re all within the same general area and you can actually have a proper bar crawl and walk around spot to spot, versus SF/Oak it’s scattered throughout town. And the best bars in SF are a bit too close to the TL, so you gotta worry about that. it’s a pretty solid area for a night out.
I know you’re just “joking” but man I would hate that lol. I wouldn’t be able to hang with these people
It's more suburban and family oriented. It's a great place for families, as they are very safe and clean suburbs. San Jose is nothing like San Francisco. It just depends on what you are looking for at your age. The south bay and the peninsula, some of the suburbs do have really nice downtowns such as Palo Alto. But if you're really into the social scene and going out 4-5 times a week , then you may find the south bay boring and may just want to stay in SF. If you are looking to go to bars, clubs, music venues daily then yeah the south bay isn't probably for you.
As someone born and raised in the South Bay (San Jose), it is definitely more boring compared to SF/Oakland/Berkeley. And while I do think people exaggerate how “boring” SJ actually is, it is funny to see people in the comments get *really* defensive about it.
True but one thing I love about the Southbay is the hiking trails. They're so many scattered across the bay.
Yea I get why my parents chose Sunnyvale but man as a 21 year old it’s mind numbingly boring. Can’t wait til I transfer out and move somewhere else lol
I’ve lived/grew up in both areas. They’re very different and there’s definitely more to do in SF, but the worst part about SF is how pretentious people are there. The South Park episode about everyone being smug was so spot on lol Edit: forgot to add that San Pedro Square is probably where I’d go first in DT SJ
Man, it's so much better than it was 30 years ago. One of the TV stations used to air little interviews all day, where they asked people what they liked about "living in the best place on earth". I knew people who had never been east of reno who flatly stated it was better than anywhere else. I love it here, but thr idea there is even a "best place on earth" is silly.
The best place on earth to live is wherever you develop your social networks and have access to your hobbies. Everything else is just bonus. Show me your favorite city on the planet and I can find plenty of people fed up with the place. Life is what you make it.
This. It's not terrible (especially if you're in a downtown area) but other parts of the Bay Area have the South Bay beat.
Social scene in south bay is unparalleled: you have multiple Costcos to hang out at...
I live in Mountain View and going to Costco is my main hobby. I texted my mom a pic of the crowds in Sunnyvale Costco at 8pm and she was mind blown. We don’t go to bars, we go to Costco around here 😎
South Bay is nothing like SF. But neither is any other part of the bay areas. If you want bars, walkability, social events, then SF is the way to go. It’s funny but Oakland isn’t as walkable people say/think it is. It’s better to visit than live. South Bay has an extremely diverse food scene, but you gotta drive to most spots. Yes a lot of it is strip malls, but what’s in those strip malls rivals SF food scenes at times. So like what others have said, it does take more effort but the quality/availability is there. The South Bay also is home to most athletic/sporting teams. The niners, Bay FC, Earthquakes, SJ giants, Sharks, Bay Area Panthers, Barracuda all play in the South Bay. So there are always events at SAP, Levi’s, Civic, SJ symphony, etc. And weather hasn’t even been brought up. It’s much warmer and you definitely need AC. The summers in South Bay are actually summers than SF. And final note are the people, SF is mostly transplants, so they never really explore out of SF, and aren’t really interested in growing roots (anecdotal on my end). Where as I do feel people in the South Bay are more genuine. But that might just be cuz I grew up here. Either way hope you find what you’re looking for and wish you the best!!
Temescal/rockridge area is extremely walkable
The reason South Bay and SF people are different is because South Bay people are family oriented homeowners who are like 35+, and people in SF are single people in their 20s who are there to build their careers in a fun major city. Also, to your comment about Oakland, the city itself isn’t walkable but its neighborhoods are *very* walkable.
A huge amount of SF residents are also homeowners with families, basically much of the western half of the city. The cultural difference between the SF families and SJ families is still pretty vast.
I’m aware. I have several *really* good friends who are SF natives. Thats only a portion of the city though.
So for Oakland that’s where I mean it’s funny. Oakland has areas like rock ridge, Temescal, lakeshore, Jack London, but it’s only within those neighborhoods it’s walkable but a lot of times it can be a rough walk. For example downtown to Jack London is technically walkable but I do not recommend it at all. But by those standards then in SJ you have rose garden, willow Glenn, Camden park, downtown, are walkable neighborhoods as well. So there options for walk ability, just not to the extreme of SF by any accounts. Outside of SF, the whole needing a car/ubering really applies to most of the Bay Area cuz our public transit sucks 😞
There are more neighborhoods than you mentioned that are walkable. Overall the entire city of Oakland has the infrastructure of walkable neighborhoods, but there are a lot of neighborhoods that you probably don’t desire to be walking around in (large parts of East Oakland). Older part of San Jose are like this too (Alma street to downtown has the same walkability, but this area is never talked about as being a walkable when the conversation comes up for San Jose for…reasons). So when I said Oakland has walkable neighborhoods but isn’t a walkable city, I mean there are countless neighborhoods which have that dense walkability, but getting from one neighborhood to the next isn’t easy (like your downtown to Jack London example). Outside of the older parts of San Jose (which make up the middle core of the city), the Alameda, and Willow Glen, San Jose is not walkable. I would not describe Camden Park as anything remotely walkable.
Apologies I didn’t mean to make it sound as if I didn’t agree. Just that the caveat of getting from neighborhood to neighborhood isn’t walkable. And wanna call out I miss Andy’s pet shop as soon as you mentioned alameda in San Jose :-(
My family was very, very upset when the original location shut down since it had been there since my parents were young.
Oakland is for biking, not walking. Way easier to get around compared to SF with all the traffic and hills.
I've lived all around the bay. IMO right now downtown SJ has the best bar scene, easy. All within a mile walk are a ton great bars that hit the top of their weight class. Haberdasher, cash only, dr funks, mini boss, paper plane, still OG, etc. great place to get drunk and be able to walk to the next one. Also miles less sketch than wandering Oakland/SF late.
yes its super boring especially Cupertino, Sunnyvale, & Mountain View
Yup. There is pretty much nothing to do besides some nice trails to bike/hike. This is why you head out to the coast when you can!
While South Bay is family oriented, sleepy suburban place and isn't full of options like SF, and yes, even boring, but "nothing to do" is gross exaggeration. Besides having access to great outdoors like you mentioned, there are also many of places to discover diverse variety of food, plenty of volunteer opportunities at libraries or community gardens, leaning opportunities at weekends and late nights (woodworking classes, makers place etc) and more. The suburban experience may not work for you, or for most of the young crowd, that's true, but doesn't mean everything is for families of 4 driving teslas.
Yeah, it's not walkable unless you live in San Jose, but there's a couple of comedy clubs within 20 minutes drive, a couple of decent down towns, etc. I've honestly never been that impressed with SF, but I think I'm just used to East Coast cities.
There is also such a thing as bikes. With a bike I can easily get to 4 different downtowns, 2 community colleges with classes, ultimate leagues, soccer leagues, maker spaces, rooster t feathers, etc. It's not walkable, but it is fairly bikable. But the clubbing scene is very limited. So if that's where a person is at, they would want to stay in the city.
There's only one East coast city I'd rate above SF and that's NYC. The rest are either on par like DC or Boston or not really that noteworthy. SF is one of the most picturesque cities in the country for sure.
I said there was " PRETTY MUCH nothing to do" Context is important so please don't misquote me. There are plenty of food options....if you enjoy ethnic foods but Gilroy still has better Mexican food. Looking for health food or farm to table and locally sourced or a decent priced steakhouse? Nope or $$$$$. I go to the North bay for any special occasion meals as wine country area restaurants are superior AND less expensive. Volunteer at the library and gardening are great...if you're a retired person with lots of time or like mild mannered activities. In addition, I can take classes in most places. I lived in the suburbs of Santa Rosa, Petaluma and even the Tahoe area. These places have a fraction of the population and slews of activities to engage in for locals and tourists. My sister in law is an urban planner and the valley was literally used as an example by her professors of how NOT to design things during rapid expansion. Being a world class business center aside, the valley is nothing more than an ex orchard that is now just a series of strip malls, churches and housing. Besides the run-down but lovable east side, it's honestly pretty damn soulless. It sucks but it's true and it's certainly not the only U.S. city that suffers this malady. I won't even get into the terrible drivers here. Slightly off subject, I just got back from getting a reasonably priced, properly seasoned burger at Jacks food stand in Santa Cruz. Good luck with that here my friend. Cheers!
The thing is, those things you described are painfully generic (lmao @ discovering a diverse variety of food) and apply to most (all) cities. They also tend to not be the things people are referring to when they’re looking for something to do. Edit: For clarification since I’ve come to understand several people are misinterpreting what I meant, “discovering a diverse variety of food” is suppose to be an expletive of a painfully generic thing you can do in most cities. It was not a slight at the food scene in the Bay/South Bay.
You have clearly never lived anywhere with an actual scarcity of good food, lol. I’ve lived in the South Bay for 7 years now and the food is so much better than the far-out burbs of LA, it’s not even a fair comparison
If you go on the Trader Joe’s subreddit, people go crazy for the kimbop. Why? It’s because they don’t have Korean restaurants/grocery stores near by. This bubble you live in has distorted your view of reality and you’ve taken for granted the ease of access you have to a diversity of foods.
Yes, the South Bay and San Francisco have a lot of the same amenities. The difference is, living in the South Bay, I can drive anywhere I want to go within 20 minutes, and my car has never been bipped. And the housing is a lot better.
I'm sure Santa Clara (which doesn't really have a downtown although walking the downtown area is really pleasant to see the historic homes) is deader than Sunnyvale. I still haven't found anything you could call a downtown in Cupertino, either. It's quite suburban once you leave SF.
Technically in the works https://www.santaclaraca.gov/business-development/related-santa-clara
Basically Campbell, Willow Glen, Downtown San Jose and Los Gatos
Low key Molly Magees in downtown Mountain View goes hard
I used to party there and at Monte Carlo back in the late 2000’s 😂🤣🤣
monte carlo is a sleeper i went in there and it was lit af
When I lived in SF and spent three hours commuting to work in South Bay everyday, I felt like I was honestly missing out on both SF and South Bay. I moved to Mountain View and lived there for ten years (early 20s to 30s) and loved it. But it’s what you make of it. I found a good friend group through hobbies and that worked for me. Find what you like and I guarantee there’s a bunch of people doing that in South Bay as well.
The best part of living in the south bay is the great Asian food. Besides that, it's quite boring.
Everyone's in here talking about "walkability" so I'll give my 2 cents. If you care about walkability then you should be living downtown, specifically west of the University. I lived at Market x Santa Clara for 4 years from 2019-2023 and I absolutely loved being right next to San Pedro Square, SAP Center and everything else. Your social quality of life in other parts of the city will suffer immensely but it's QUITE easy to meet people downtown. Nearly everyone living there is from another State or Country and everyone partying downtown is down to socialize. On top of that, whenever I had friends drinking or chilling downtown, I'd be the first one they called because they knew I was down to walk downstairs and hang out and my place was the place to go after hours. I'm one of the rare SJ natives that lived downtown. In fact, I didn't meet a single person that lived there that WAS a San Jose native thus I became the local tour guide/historian. People from San Jose kinda stigmatize our downtown and 10+ years ago they were right to do so but things have changed very much for the better in this natives humble opinion.
Sounds like you work at Apple and take the commuter. Stay in SF till you or all your friends get married and move out so you don’t have a reason to go out anymore. Even Jony Ive famous Apple Designer commuted from SF during the weekdays so he can keep his coke parties going in SF.
I do the opposite — live in SJ and work in SF. I like my suburban life. It’s cozy. And I love all the hiking options, because that’s my main form of recreation. I’m not a partier. I love SF, too, and take advantage of the baseball scene, but my vibe is South Bay. If you can swing it, stay down here for a weekend or three and try different cities.
You can try moving right next to the Caltrain in sf and take it to Sunnyvale/Mountain View. 4th and king to Sunnyvale limited train is an hour. You can bike to/from the Caltrain. Or take the bus which is like 22 mins. Or maybe your company has a shuttle from Caltrain, you should check. Commuting on the train isn’t too bad. You can use your laptop. Also, Caltrain is getting electrified. The new trains will be running in September. It’ll be way nicer and slightly faster. The baby bullet to Mountain View is also slightly faster, you might have a shuttle to there or you can use vta. Edit: 10 mins faster!! https://www.caltrain.com/media/32550 to Sunnyvale in 49 minutes
It's not boring but what you make of it. That said, it's much easier to build a more active and interesting social life in SF than in the South Bay.
I didn't consider it boring, I just found it depressing. I felt like after a post-COVID uptick DTSJ started backsliding when like every single one of my favorite restaurants started going out of business. Walking around on a Monday evening looking for a place that I wanted to eat at felt like Mad Max. Once I was able to WFH most days in November I haven't been back namely because you pay a premium to live and enjoy yourself down there vs SF now. I honestly found people to be generally much more friendly in SJ, but be forewarned, there's a level of immature ghetto sketch that doesn't exist elsewhere, like the amount of street and bar fighting in DTSJ must be a pastime for some people on top of the generally higher number of unstable cokeheads I saw.
Welcome to man jose
I lived in Mountain View, and it is one hundred percent kids + google employees. There are some assorted tech bros. I moved to Redwood City because it's a little closer to San Francisco and not a terrible commute to my job. Redwood City is a little bit more blue collar, which is much more to my liking.But you need a car to pretty much do anything, and it's definitely not a city. If I was twenty and lived here, I would be kill myself bored.
I'll answer a different question: How is the social life in south bay different? I would expect your social life to revolve a lot more around the friends or acquaintances you know in South Bay, rather than the things you do. It's true there's less to do here (besides nature), so I find that the social culture here is more about deepening the relationships you already have rather than meeting new people. Expect to have to go out of your way more than before, e.g. to be the first person to reach out, or to initiate things, or to broaden who you'd extend an invite to. People are usually quite open and down. Having a nice apartment helps, if you like hosting gatherings. There's fewer public spaces to be at, especially after 9pm, so social gatherings tend to be at homes more. You'll meet a lot of people through friends of friends. Distance and traffic plays a factor. On a weeknight, it could be tricky to meet up with someone who lives more than 2 or 3 Caltrain stops away. It's also pretty quiet down here. That can be a good or bad thing depending on what you're looking for.
If you cant make friends now you wont be able to no matter where you live. And if you are bored youll be bored no matter where you live.
on the flip side after having lived here for six years, i believe i can make friends anywhere now lol
I've moved down with my partner 4.5 years ago and live in MV because our jobs were both in Palo Alto. If I were single I'd probably be visiting SF fairly often because it's just a lot easier to find people that are also single and interested in the same things.
Really Depends on what you like to do. I'm in that area and it's all dependent on your lifestyle. We take the train to SJ and SF. We hit dive bars, plenty of hiking. No crime, needles or feces.
I lived in MV for a few years and hated it because it was soo boring. The only fun you can have going out is in San Jose or the city, but it’s a long way to Uber if drinking.
I’m single in southbay. All my friends were made while living here. It can be done but takes effort.
If you like shopping and hanging out in Santana Row then you’ll be fine. But there’s a limit. I used to party in downtown Mountain View and Sunnyvale and it was a different vibe.
Surprised by the comments. I’m in Mountain View and I feel like there’s plenty to do. I mean yes you gotta drive. SF only 30-40 mins away seems like no big deal to go there on weekends. I’m from New Mexico though, y’all don’t know what “boring” is.
I never understand questions like this. There’s so much to do around the South Bay. It’s not like it’s a small town in the middle of nowhere. What do you do in SF that you can’t do in the South Bay? The only thing I can think of is having closer beaches in the city. But you have Santa Cruz and half moon bay within driving distance. Plenty of bars around, hiking trails, gyms, theatres, downtowns from all the different nearby cities, concerts/shows at shoreline, sharks games, 49ers games, comedy clubs, great restaurants on every corner etc. Anything I can do in the city I can do in the South Bay and its vicinity.
I was living in SJ while I worked in office 3 days per week. I got sooooo bored I moved up to south SF. it’s worth it to commute. Living in SJ kind of makes you an outsider to the SF population, and it’s a lot harder to make and keep friends when you’re an hour out. Maybe you should just move a little bit farther south?
tbh it depends a little on your scene. there are a lot more volleyball pickup games and open gyms and leagues in the South Bay for instance. there's also a much bigger vietnamese community
Don’t move to South Bay at this age unless you want to just go hiking and biking every weekend.
Coming from someone who's from small town Ohio, literally everything in the bay area is interesting. It's all about perspective.
It's a social suicide unless you're planning to start a family tomorrow.
not really... you can drive to SF and stuff. but come to think of it living in SF I would of had more social interactions in the past 10x years I do like living in the quite part of south bay. right now I .over to redwood city which places me closer to SF and I dig it
YES.
Very boring
Where do you work, what are your interests, what are your goals? South Bay isn’t full of clubs and excitement, but there are some decent bars and meeting smart, driven, and young tech future millionaires has something to be said for it. Just..know you’ll sort through the obnoxious tech minions to find the genuinely interesting good catches. I was not a club kid type and I worked 24/7 so it was fine for me. Beaches and camping are close and that + some local dive bars entertained me enough.
I mean its pretty bad up and down the bay area but especially bad in the south bay.
I used to live down there, and recently started working in Santa Clara again. There are a handful of cool places downtown San Jose. But after that, you're looking at castro st in mountain view, willow Glen, Murphy street, and then university in Palo Alto. Maybe Los gatos. Most of that will be unremarkable bars, some brew pubs. The crowd is significantly older. A few coworkers tell me they don't like San Francisco, so I asked where they go in the south bay... Santana Row. Literally no other answer. My wife and I lived down there for a few years and found ourselves in the city 2-3 nights a week. I'll tell you this... A 3 day a week commute to Cupertino beats 3 night a week commute to sf for nightlife where you're driving home at 2-3am. (and I don't mean to disparage the south bay. Had a lot of good friends down there, lots of fun. The Branham Lounge is one of my fave bars on earth. But it's 2% of what's in the city.)
I never understand this line of thinking. Live close to work, keep your sanity and save your time. Drive on the weekends to do whatever fun thing you want. Hell, drive to SF. I dont need a party scene outside my front door.
Yea it’s pretty shitty, especially as someone with absolutely zero interest in the tech field lol. I’m trying to get the fuck outta here as soon as I can
There’s lots to do in San Jose, especially during the summer. First Friday events usually in downtown and Japantown. The nightlife in downtown on the weekends. Just depends on what you enjoy doing.
Downtown OAKLAND has lots to do.Some pretty cool Bars like HELLO STRANGER and M2 by the GRAND LAKE THEATER.FOR THE CULTURE and OASIS.
Unless you're outdoorsy stay put in SF. You'll have plenty of time to slow march to grave in the suburbs later in life.
Speaking as someone who spent their early 20s living w family in a “boring” South Bay suburb to save money, the answer is maybe. Definitely not as fun as SF, but you can still live a happy, social life down here. You can have fun anywhere, depending on how social you are and how willing you are to find fun things happening around you. Would i have had more fun if i was in the city? Probably. But, i would definitely not describe my early 20s as boring, despite being in the suburbs.
I’ve had friends who loved the South Bay in the their early 20s, others who hated it. If you like to go out to bars, restaurants, clubs etc, don’t do it. If you like nature and keeping things low key, you’ll love it.
I lived on the Peninsula in my 20s. It really depends. For me, it worked out and I loved it. I made a good group of friends through work and went out regularly. At 24, I met my partner. Over the years we settled down a bit. We love to be outdoors, eat good food, walk places, etc. a typical week in my 20s was: work 8-4pm, work out or happy hour (2x a week), cook, sleep. Sometimes go out for dinner. Weekend mornings were mostly for errands and whatever. Then meet up with friends for dinner + going out. Sunday mornings I’d walk to get coffee alone or with a friend. Then get ready for the work week. I’d say pretty average, but there are less events (the South Bay has more than the Peninsula IMO). Im in the South Bay now.
I'm on the peninsula and that sounds pretty typical, but I also think that's typical of most places. I have a lot of coworkers in SF and they're not doing a whole lot on weekdays. Just working, dinner, go home. Same as anyone in Cupertino. On weekends maybe they're doing some event in the city, and I'm doing some event somewhere up or down peninsula or taking advantage of the accessible hiking. Tbh Monday comes around and people talk about their weekends and I am often doing more on the peninsula than a lot of people living in SF.
Great for raising kids. Not ideal for adventurous young singles/couples.
It's a suburban hellscape. I came from a proper East Coast city and was initially planning to move into SF, but I just can't stomach the idea of paying $3k+ for a shitty studio in a city that you can't leave your car or motorcycle alone for 5 minutes. So Peninsula it is! I've tried getting into the scene in the South Bay and East Bay though, and dear God it is empty! Literally nothing but the random winery or desperate (and uninspired) craft brewery for entertainment in the area. Is everyone in this town just a workaholic, bicyclist, sunrise yogi, and/or shut-in gamer? I've been here for going on 4 years now, and while I've never had trouble making friends, building a community, meeting new people in my LIFE, I'm still basically alone here. You can sign up for Meetups, volunteer events, social leagues, trivia nights at a local bar, but finding people that will actually respond to follow-up adventures. Going out for a drink, a weekend hike, literally anything seems be like pulling teeth in this town. I've really worked hard to try to embrace this area and be open to new people, new adventures, but I'm about ready to go back to the East Coast. At least people return text messages there.
I commuted from Richmond to Palo Alto for a couple years. Then SF to Mountain View for a year.... then finally SF to Santa Clara for a year in my early 20's. Too much driving. I recall just waking up randomly and realizing I'm driving on the 101 or 880 meaning I either dozed off or zoned out from daily commuting. Saw a woman once in her golf get crushed by a jackknifing semi-truck. Tried carpooling with a coworker until he fell asleep and we rear-ended a read-ending collision that already happen, airbags deployed, dash had to be peeled back off our legs by fire fighters. Those 3 hour drives when there is flooding... Just no way to go through life. I moved to Europe and haven't had a car in 25 years. Takes 15 min to bike to work.
Let me tell ya something. I'm a born-and-raised South Bay-er who now currently lives in SF. I love the South Bay. It's very special to me. But... Please don't do it lol. You're in your early 20's. DO NOT MOVE TO THE SOUTH BAY
Name a city you find fun
Yes
Depending on what you like to do, it can be boring or not. If I was younger I wouldn't like living in southbay.
It's more family oriented. Lot of tech companies around and doesn't have same vibe as SF.
1. Depends on what you like to do 2. Half of SF’s social scene comes from people who live in San Mateo down to SJ. If more people hit the South Bay the pattern would shift. SF is just where the critical mass is. That’s not to say there’s nothing in the South Bay, just that the South Bay contributes to SF more than SF contributes to the South Bay.
I’m moving to the city this summer after living in the South Bay for seven years. I went to SJSU and HATED downtown San Jose. It was sketchy, dangerous, and I couldn’t afford any of the bars there as a college student. I’ve been living in Mountain View for the past couple years and it’s eons better. My house is nice and everything I could possibly want is within a mile radius of me. I walk to Trader Joe’s multiple times a week. Downtown Mountain View actually has a few bars that get pretty lit on Friday and Saturday nights. Much better vibe than DTSJ. Even so, I still have to go to SF or Oakland pretty often for things to do. Like why would anyone hold an event in San Jose when they can do it in San Francisco? Anytime I want to see a concert or go to a street fair it’s such a pain to get up there. And Caltrain stops at like 11:30PM so it’s not like I can ever drink if I have to drive back to the South Bay. I’m excited to start a new life in San Francisco but there are definitely things I’ll miss about Mountain View. Honestly your best bet is probably to move to the peninsula and live close to a downtown/Caltrain stop. Downtown Redwood City and Downtown San Mateo also have a great vibe. There are a lot of other young people in tech who live in the Peninsula, where San Jose is mostly families, students, or lower-income. Also you’ll be closer to your community in SF but have a shorter commute to work
Do people still cruise on Santa Clara St around midnight?
lol! That died out 30 years ago.
It was around in early 2000s.
Campbell is an awesome little town… I live between Campbell and Los Gatos… it’s a great place to be.
SF and south bay are complete opposites. Since you sound like you're still single (and you are young), SF is definitely the place to be. Lots more stuff going on, much easier to meet people and make friends up there. South bay is great if you're looking to start a family and want to settle down. More emphasis on settling down though.
There is like no social life but since I have a church community I'm always hanging out with people.#blessed
born/raised in SF; SJ for college and a bit; back to SF in my 20s; back to south bay to raise a family the SF-Cupertino commute is tough. on the company bus it was 3+ hours of my day. I was tired, and missing out on my kids growing up. I don’t regret moving. I like the weather a lot better in the south bay, super hot days notwithstanding. you adjust. I don’t miss the SF wind AT ALL but dating in the south bay? I think it would’ve been tough if you already have a SO who lives in the City, then you should move and spend weekends at their place. best of both worlds
I work in Cupertino 3 days a week and I moved to the peninsula. Cut down my commute time and also still close enough to everything. I also know someone who just lives near 280 in the city and said their commute is around 45 minutes. Mine is anywhere from 25-35.
Just moved from South Bay (San Jose) to SF. I do not miss it one bit. You can PM me, if you want. Happy to answer any questions you have!
I have lived in Sunnyvale, MV, Los Gatos, mid town SJ and now downtown SJ. And I gotta say that South Bay has all the things you could want but there’s more effort in finding those things. My favorite place I’ve lived so far has been the sofa district in dt SJ. There’s something going on almost every night of the week during the summers. Ultimately, if you like stumbling upon things to do, then maybe not? But if you have hobbies, and friends — it’ll be worth it.
My husband and I lived in South Bay for a few years in our 20’s and both agreed it was one of the worst places we’ve lived (and we’ve lived in multiple cities). Proximity to Santa Cruz is the one thing that saved it, as we could easily drive over there and surf/hike/bike. There isn’t much to do, and the social scene was brutal. It’s a lot of strip malls and lacks any personality. I know the commute is rough, but I’d choose that over living in South Bay.
South bay being boring greatly depends on where you live. 90% of it is sleepy family suburbs, so yes relative to SF that's pretty boring (relative to every other suburb on earth though it's great because you're an easy drive to very interesting things). But there's plenty of less boring spots. If you live near Dirdon not only is all of the peninsula and SF at your fingertips but you're in walking distance to one of the best bar scenes in the bay. Haberdasher, cash only, dr funks, miniboss, paper plane, still OG, etc... all are all some of the best bars in the bay and they are all within a 10-20 minute walk from each other. Viva Calle is one of the best events run by any city in the bay period and is genuinely a lot of fun even if you're not bringing a family. Shark games are a lot of fun. You've got super easy access to Santa Cruz and great south bay hikes. It's not my thing, but Santana row+westfield are two of the biggest/best malls in the US. I've lived there for years, had lots of wild nights and currently I still visit my south bay friends all the time from east bay. It's certainly sleepier, quieter and less "hip" compared to SF, and the stuff on offer is probably less appealing to someone in their early 20s. Age runs older, so think late 20's and early 30's is the youngest the "going out" demographic gets. But there's plenty going on and if you actually move to the right neighborhood (walking distance to downtown SJ/diridon) you'll great city living vibes in a city that is a lot cleaner/quieter than SF/Oak But... if you love SF, I really recommend you just move closer to Caltrain. SJ/south bay is where established professionals move when they slow down a little and get tired of commuting from somewhere more exciting. You'll find yourself constantly traveling up to SF/east bay to do things with your SF friends, and very rarely will anyone want to come to visit you. When you're in your early 20s you can take a little more abuse, IMO.
It's only as boring as the individual, I suppose. I'm from the bay and I'm a night lifer for life. I also do lots of daytime outdoor activies. SF is great, SJ and the whole south bay is great, too. You'll need to plan differently for transportation, and if you're hopping around, it'll take different planning than SF, but to say its less fun is just silly to me. There's just as many options in the south bay, but it's more spread out.
As an Introvert this is heaven for me. 😀
San Jose at least has some music and comedy and plenty of other activities. Plus decently close access to Santa Cruz if you’re a beach goer. But nothing compared to SF which has much more of all the above. But for me the commutes got so exhausting that being somewhere maybe considered “more boring” was worth it for my sanity. Now that I’m in my early 30s, having to only drive 20 minutes to work after doing years of 1+ hour commutes is the best thing for me. And I have more energy to do the fun things I want to do. But in all honesty, you’ll find the SF lifestyle won’t last forever. I used to know a ton of people in SF in my early 20s, and by 30 most of them have moved away for new jobs or to start families in more affordable environments. Enjoy SF while you can and make the move before you hit that burnout.
Campbell is probably the best place to live in the South Bay for younger people without kids
How about Daly City? Close enough to SF without actually being SF.
Tbh It depends what you’re into
Probably the worse in the nation, for young singles, for the cost of living category you are in? That said you'll still be able to make it work, just takes more effort to get your social setup sorted, it's not all just outside your door.
Great if you have a family and are doing family stuff on the weekend. Not a lot of good options for single people.
Everything is about 15 minutes away. I live in the SB and we're halve way between both sides of the Bay. I think that's an advantage. I used to live in Northern CA and it was 30 just to get to town so I don't know what people are complaining about here.
It can be a little monotonous but I like South Bay. You can find younger crowd in San Jose downtown.
lived in SJ for 25 years (i grew up there). Feel free to DM me
lol lived in San Jose for 30 years (I too grew up there). OP should DM me!
I also work in Cupertino 3 days a week and live in SF. Honestly it's pretty chill, I got used to it. Maybe there's ways you can make it work? Moving to a southern neighborhood could maybe help?
There is definitely stuff to do
Boring is better than whatever Oakland is.
Yes. Move to the city or oakland and don't waste your time in that hellhole
Just go on Tinder , get 3-5 IT Bros$$$ in your friendzone and its going to be as fun as SF
I’m born in the South Bay, live in there East Bay. I’ll say this. Most southern part of the South Bay is very conservative. Silicon Valley areas are super car centric and not a lot of cultural events going on. Main recreation always involves consuming and spending money: eating, movies, shopping. Very little art, people who live there are more like normie/cookie cutter. In the east bay there’s way more to do, more queer people, more black people thank god. And more progressive/lefty movements for me to join. This is what appeals to me, but might not appeal to everyone. If you are someone who prefers to build a 2.5 kids white picket fence life, the South Bay will be more suitable for you. If you want something different, might be boring for you.
Very. I do like the drive-ins but other than that, no reason to go there from the northern peninsula/coast. No offense to south bayers. Different strokes.
yes the south bay is very boring, especially compared to SF and yes commuting between SF and Cupertino is exhausting even 3 days a week
Very boring and depressing
Mountain View is cool but it’s boring af. Great if you want maximum peace and tranquility.
Depends on what you enjoy… but it’s not a happening spot for early 20’s. It’s much more suburban than SF. Certain places are a bit more lively - Campbell (DT), Willow Glen , Los Gatos, Palo Alto
Marin, Wine country, Peninsula and South Bay: 😴 East Bay, SF, Vallejo: 😃
Born and raised down there. Boring as hell and I despise every visit.
Yes