I lived in Palo Alto for a couple of years, and basically just didn't go out (weekend or otherwise) after 8pm unless one of my friends with a car wanted to drive to San Francisco for the night. Caltrain is fine during the day on weekends (e.g., for shopping and dinner outings) but shuts down far too early to really do bars/clubs/concerts in the city and still get home. (BART has similar issues, if you're trying to get in and out of east bay.)
The upside is that the city is only 40 minutes away; the downside is that SF tends to be kind of a black hole for culture, sucking everything cool into the city limits and leaving the south bay with all the strip malls, supermarkets, and car dealerships.
If you're going to school or working a startup, it can be survivable. There are enough coffee shops, cafes, and restaurants around downtown Palo Alto to let you pass a lazy Sunday afternoon pleasantly enough, and the occasional trip to SF by car (or by train, with a hotel stay in the middle) helps to alleviate the boredom.
>(BART has similar issues, if you're trying to get in and out of east bay.)
Fortunately, the AC Transit 8xx bus lines run from the Transbay Terminal in the city along East Bay BART routes after BART shuts down and leave every hour (and every half hour for awhile on weekend nights.)
There are SamTrans buses that take you between the city and Palo Alto after Caltrain shuts down but they leave every hour and take a couple of hours for the trip.
Here's a different perspective to show the grass isn't greener on the other-side:
I've lived in San Francisco for 4.5yrs and sometimes I feel lost for interesting places to hang out in the evenings here in The City.
I'm not really interested in the pretentious hipster scene bars of Mission, I don't like the LA-wannabe scene of Marina and most of SoMa's clubs cater for East Bay bridge and tunnel crowd (before you think I'm being snobby I find the East Bay crowd unfriendly to city living folks, and all of the violet situations I've witnessed in clubs/bars have been from East Bay types. We're not talking Berkeley types but the more 'heavier' Oakland/Freemont/Hayward scene).
And everything closes at 2am (although granted, that's a CA-wide policy).
I guess I say all of the above with the disclosure that I'm a native of London, a 24/7 city with more bars and clubs than you could visit in a year.
If you need NYC/London/LA/Moscow/Mexico City/etc -style megacity sense of scale and/or civilized drinking hours to stay sane then you'll never be happy in SF. But if you can deal with its boutique dimensions (and the cold), then the problem may simply be that you're hanging out in the wrong neighborhoods.
The "real" SF resides pretty much in the Tenderloin - Nob Bill - Chinatown - City Lights triangle these days, I find. There are also pockets of civilization out in the "lost" neighborhoods: Cafe Du Mond; the Rite Spot; Amnesia on Valencia; and (yes) the Utah Bar, as well as a few others too cool to name here.
But the main thing is that wherever you go, there you, umm, are. Ultimately you have to decide to be happy with your surroundings -- or decide to change them.
I think in SF/Oakland/Alameda it's pretty easy to concentrate on the positives. The South Bay and the Peninsula are pretty much lost causes, though.
Despite the facade of University Avenue, Palo Alto is a pretty tame suburban atmosphere. I tend to drive or Caltrain out to San Fran if I want to do something on the weekend.
Then again, if you have someone to hang with, all these awesome Open Space Preserves makes for great hiking/biking. My favorite is Astradero just because its a 5 min drive from my house.
Nothing. That's why I left. Some folks like the SF nightlife scene but I wasn't a big fan of that either. Too many hipsters. Plus it's impossible at nights because of the lack of transport back to the south bay.
I travel the world. Three months ago I was in Brussels, for the last two months I've been in Munich, now I'm in London, then I go to Chicago for Christmas with the family. Munich is one of my favorite cities and the atmosphere there soundly beats anything I've found in the states. London is, well, London--there's a reason it's been one of the cultural capitals of the western world for as long as it has been.
That's one of the perks of being a young, single web entrepreneur living in a time of global English, wifi, and cheap airfare--I can live and work wherever I want :)
I'm currently staying two months in Tokyo to visit friends and work on my own software startup, and I think traveling around like like you do would be my ideal lifestyle. (c:
May I ask how you're organizing the practicalities of accomodation and food, and how much you're spending compared to at home?
It's all pretty easy. Every country seems to have their Craigslist equivalent where you can find apartments to stay in for a short term (a month or two). I've spent a lot of time in hostels in the past, which are a fun and cheap way to live as well. If you're new to long-term traveling those would be a good option to get you started because you meet lots of interesting people. But after a while you kind of need your own space and living in a 20-bed dorm stops cutting it, regardless of how cool the people there are.
Since I rent rooms in apartments they usually have their own kitchens. I cook for myself or go out with friends to eat.
The rent varies greatly from place to place. I've been told by many that Munich is the most expensive city in Germany. I rented a big room in a rather small apartment in a great part of town (next to Ostbahnhof) for 150 euro a week with one roommate That seems to be about the right price based on the other offers I found. In Belgium, I lived in a small town just south of Brussels. I rented a room from a retired couple who lived in a 3-story country house with a huge, beautiful garden and massive kitchen for 100 euro per week. They were frequently gone so I had the house to myself. In London there's a website called Gumtree that's like Craigslist. I found a room for 160 pounds per week. It was much harder finding a room in London than anywhere else because everything is outrageously expensive and everyone seems to want a minimum 6 month stay (I'm only here for 3 weeks).
In Belgium you can get a bottle of 12% Trappist for ~2 euro; in Germany a liter of beer for ~6 euro and a pint for ~3 euro; in England a pint for ~3 pounds. Food at the grocery seemed cheapest in Germany, where I never found myself spending more than 15 euro in one visit that would last me a few days of eating well.
So, after you convert euros and pounds to dollars, you can see that it varies a lot. In England in particular the conversion rate is killer--something like 1.6 dollars to a pound right now.
My advice would be if you really want to do some long term travel, just buy your ticket and do it. It's really extremely easy to figure things out once you arrive somewhere. You can email me at my username at ucla.edu if you want any more info.
Interested in this as well. I'd like to do some travelling over the next year, and perhaps find a city where I'd like to stay a bit longer.
How do you find a place to stay? Do you rent an apt for a set time, like a month and then book something else somewhere else at the end of your stay? What are your expenses on a monthly basis +-?
And for those people who feel their dancing skills are inadequate, one of the best dance instructors in the country (Richard Powers) gives two hours of introductory lessons before the dance. The atmosphere is very friendly and welcoming.
After wasting 6 years living in the peninsula and south bay, mainly because I was afraid of the commute (I still work in Santa Clara), I moved up to SF a couple months ago. Best decision I've made in recent memory.
I'm lucky in that my work schedule is flexible, so I get to/from the office in 35-45 minutes. Much better than the 2-hour train/light rail commute would be.
I agree with one of the other posters that the best places to hang out seem to be in and around the Tenderloin, Nob Hill, etc. I do enjoy the Mission as well, but that's a little farther for me, and I prefer to walk places when I can. SoMa is kinda eh, North Beach is a wasteland, Marina... not so much.
I just moved here in October and I don't really know anyone. The more I'm here the more I wish I lived in SF. The ridiculous thing is that it takes me 25 minutes to get to work from where I live (the Willows in Menlo Park) to SLAC because the intracity traffic is so SLOW.
Basically though, I think the bar scene here blows. It's cool that a lot of the food places are open late on University though.
That being said, while I think long commutes generally suck the life out of people, I'm seriously thinking about moving to Noe Valley or the Mission and commuting on the 280.
Anyways, I'm up for doing stuff if anybody here wants to. I still don't really know anyone in this area.
Well, 25 minutes isn't bad. The thing that sucks is that it's 25 minutes over 5 miles. If I'm going to be in my car for half an hour and living in a place I don't really like, I might as well commute a bit longer and live in a place I like better.
The fact that live music is pretty much non-existant in this area is sort of a bummer as well.
This is something that has bugging me for some time; why is there such a lack of nightlife in Palo Alto? Does anyone know what the latest allowed time for a bar to be open?
Anyone interested in opening a hacker friendly bar that's open late and has coffee/wifi during the day?
Edit: I'm actually quite serious. I have restaurant experience and it sure as shit seems like its in need. Anyone at all interested should drop me a line!
I'm glad you posted this, as I'm considering working at a startup in Palo Alto. If I end up moving up there, I can say with near-certainty that at least one geek in Palo Alto will be out drinking beers on weekend nights!
On weekends on the peninsula there is still plenty to do. Catch up with folks at their houses, go to bars/restaurants like Town and The Refuge. Go to Rooster T Feathers in Mountain View for a comedy show. Pampas in downtown Palo Alto has a great Friday night happy hour.
Other times I'll drive up to the city. When I lived in Mountain View I used to occasionally get a hotel room in the financial district - $70 on Priceline for a 4* hotel. Now I'm in San Carlos it's only a 20 minute drive to SOMA which is great, or otherwise 40 min by train.
"Ladies' nights in Illinois have been upheld under the anti-discrimination provision of the Dram Shop Act.[11] The court determined that the discount was intended to encourage women to attend the bar in greater numbers, rather than to discourage attendance by males."
Illinois gets it. California doesn't. Way to be the state with the stick up your butt again, CA.
> The court determined that the discount was intended to encourage women to attend the bar in greater numbers, rather than to discourage attendance by males.
Regardless of whether it should be legal or not, "positive discrimination" is still discrimination.
It depends on what you mean by going out. There isn't a lot of stuff, and sparse offerings of typical "nightlife" type destinations (clubbing, live music), but there are a decent number of bars if you're into sitting around drinking beer and chatting. Rose & Crown has a good craft-beer selection.
Also, a bunch of random stuff happens at Stanford now and then, if you're into things like http://slork.stanford.edu/
Work out. Network if there's the right events. Fairly regularly play games of one sort or another (poker night, RPGs, and lately a reasonable amount of Starcraft 2). Watch really dumb movies and have a couple drinks. I like to take a day off a week and just do creative things; lately that's been composing, remixing, and nanowrimo sorts of nonsense.
I lived and worked on University ave for 2.5 years. Every so often we'd walk over to Nolas or Old pro, realize that it's still crowded and crappy, and go back to the office and code.
Three are more restaurants in Palo Alto/Mountain View than you can imagine. I had a very good time trying different ones out (sometimes with people from work).
Join a club, go indoor rock climbing (see planet granite), do running, biking, find something you are interested in @ meetup.com and go to there events.
I grew up in Palo Alto. There's 3 options that come to mind:
* Happy Donuts on El Camino, which is open 24/7 and often is filled with geeks coding at all hours. Lots of people are happy to talk and socialize / be engaged in conversation.
* The downtown PA bar scene: Rose and Crown & Rudy's are probably the most geek-friendly. Old Pro is ok if you're also into sports. Blue Chalk & Nola can be good hangout spots but I wouldn't label either of them first choices.
* California Avenue has Antonio's Nut House. Lots of notable geeks can be seen there. I heard [redacted] was mobbed the last time he went in.
Going to San Francisco sucks unless you already know where you can sleep. I recommend making friends with some local residents and crashing with them after going out (with them). I actually met a dude on HN and we've been out partying in SF a few times; I crashed on his couch a couple times and it's been real sweet.
I also recommend Hacker Dojo, which is open late if you're a member, or 'til 10 if you're a guest, and they've been having some nighttime weekend talks recently.
Finally, I recently moved back to the area after growing up here, and would like to make some more friends, especially tech & business minded people. Contact information is in my profile. I would love to buy you the drink of your choice at any of the above-mentioned venues and hear about what you're working on.
palo alto doesnt even have a good movie theater. you gotta drive to mountain view.
mountain view has the movie theater, which is basically next to google. mountain view also castro street, with the red rock cafe, lots of good little restaurants, and some night life.
Maybe not in the usual sense, but the Stanford Theater on University Ave is a really neat place. They show old movies, mostly from the 30s and 40s, every night.
Paul Graham's essay on "Where to See Silicon Valley" is a valuable primer for anyone not familiar with the area. A must-read for anyone that wants to "get" the area:
http://www.paulgraham.com/seesv.html
The two tips I personally found the most useful:
* Red Rock is a great place to meet other people working on start-ups.
* Taking the 280 between Silicon Valley and San Francisco is infinitely more scenic than taking the 101. Plus, you can avoid the 101's frequent airport traffic.
The upside is that the city is only 40 minutes away; the downside is that SF tends to be kind of a black hole for culture, sucking everything cool into the city limits and leaving the south bay with all the strip malls, supermarkets, and car dealerships.
If you're going to school or working a startup, it can be survivable. There are enough coffee shops, cafes, and restaurants around downtown Palo Alto to let you pass a lazy Sunday afternoon pleasantly enough, and the occasional trip to SF by car (or by train, with a hotel stay in the middle) helps to alleviate the boredom.