San Francisco Questions

In my opinion, this is a horrible time for you to be checking out San Francisco. You've just got seed funding--why do you want to blow that on one of the most expensive places to stay in the US? This is when you should be very frugal and concentrate on creating a kick-ass product. Worry about location later.

1000$-1500$ a month for a studio-1bedroom.

Magic happens: The Mission, SOMA, North Beach (more of an LA scene over there)

Most of the tech stuff happens in those areas but a lot of it happens down in the south bay.

500-900$ if you're willing to live with others. soma, mission, north beach are startup central - the rest is down in the south bay

hacker houses in/around SF (palo alto and Mtn View are close enough

http://searchyc.com/hacker+house

toilet, whiteboard http://divvyshot.com/photo/ltIwP/

You only really need to wear kevlar in Oakland by the way.

On the other hand, that's where the hipsters go to keep it real.

For housing: http://sfbay.craigslist.org/ - for shared rooms and sublets.

For tech companies: http://www.wayfaring.com/maps/show/4358 - this is a map of many of the tech companies in the area.

For activities, check out http://meetup.com - there are lots of tech activities all over the area.

(My comment is redundant with some of the others but I wrote it before reading them. I figure it's helpful to see concurring opinions.)

I think that you will find such short term rentals difficult but not impossible to come by. As a fallback, though it isn't a very exciting option, there are various hotel-but-with-kitchens businesses that specialize in short-term rentals.

The rental market is laid fairly bare on Craigslist for the SF Bay Area. There you might find, closer to the time of your travel, temporary sublet or roommate opportunities.

You don't make clear what you mean by "magic". I'll take two guesses that you mean either crazy Bay Area culture or insane Bay Area business networking opportunities. For culture, consider Berkeley (in the flats, not the hills) or, within The City (S.F.) consider the Castro, Haight, N. Beach, or SOMA neighborhoods (given your Kevlar aversion, I'd suggest avoiding the Tenderloin). For business, I am guessing a bit but consider SOMA or, for a complete twist into a kind of bland suburban hell (but close to a lot of VCs and start-ups) consider heading south on the peninsula to Mtn. View or Palo Alto or somewhere around there.

I'd caution against most of Oakland. In the hills you'll be isolated from action. In many parts of the flats, you'll wish for your Kevlar. There are excellent and peaceful and vibrant places to live in Oakland but if you are picking from afar, don't count on your ability to tell them from the not so good places. Similarly, sadly, avoid Richmond.

If you time your visit for early summer, after the Universities end their spring semester, the chances of finding nice short-term sublets or roommate situations goes way up.

I think some of the price quotes you got below are not impossible but you should expect higher.

Be very careful not to get scammed when negotiating a deal from afar (of course).

-t

I'm moving to the East Bay, taking BART into the city. While I know it's not a perfect situation, it's easier access to SF than South Bay. Look in Berkeley, Emeryville and Rockridge. Also try http://padmapper.com, it's been invaluable to me.

When you say "magic", what do you mean exactly? Where is the startup action? Or where is the fun/excitement/nightlife? If you meant the second, read on.

Lots of people seem to be recommending SOMA. As someone who lived in SOMA for almost 2 years, take my advice: SOMA sucks. Due to the large warehouses and apartment complexes, SOMA throws away one of the city's best traits: its human scale and the "walkability" that brings.

- Want to walk to a reasonably priced dinner within half a mile? You have about 4 choices if you're in SOMA.

- Want to go to a corner store at 10 PM? You're out of luck if you're in SOMA.

- Want to bar hop? You'll take about 3 hops if you're in SOMA.

- Want to feel like you're a part of a living city and meet other people? In SOMA (not counting the Embarcadero), you'll see about one person on the sidewalk every two blocks after business hours are over.

- Want to enjoy the city's grand views and expansive parks? In SOMA, get an apartment in a highrise and never leave it because that's the best you'll get.

-------------

If you're looking for a livable, walkable, lively section of the city, then you should check out Polk Gulch, North Beach, Hayes Valley, the Haight, and the Mission. They all have pros and cons, but they're all better than living in SoMa.

However, this is all moot if you just want to check out the startup scene in SOMA and not actually stay there for more than a day or two.

whats your startup?

Assuming that by "magic" you are looking to network for business opportunities rather than socialize and be a tourist, then you are probably better served by starting off with a scan of meetups and semi-organized gatherings that fit your needs and work back to a location from there. Since your schedule seems a bit open I would see if there is a major conference of some sort in the area that you want to attend. Arrive a couple of days before the conference to do a bit of preliminary face-to-face networking, work the conference, and then have a plan to follow-up in person with leads and related meetups and gatherings.

Depending on what your company is doing, your are probably going to be better off looking at the Palo Alto & Mountain View area for housing -- there are hacker houses and extended stay hotels available, possibly some short-term rentals, and SF is just a train ride away. Most of the bay area tech scene is not actually in SF and being mid-peninsula will give you more options.