I was looking at Portland...

 

I lived near Portland for 4 years and in Seattle for 1.

I loved Portland because it was so beautiful and easy to get around. It also costs so little to live there! If I made what I make now...I'd be a pimp! But since I'm in HI I am more like a poop!

Seattle was cool too but it was much more of a big city atmosphere. Probably more opportunity from a professional standpoint.

 

i have a cousin in kent, wa. he wants to move back here... one thing i'd like to experience again is accessibility to snow... we have snow here in hawaii, but its at like 25,000 feet.. and it takes a toll on your car-
as soon as our adoption process finalizes and house gets sold me and the wife are seriously eyeballing the west coast... i've spent 8 years on the east.. and thats enough... i figured bay area or cali simply because of more opportunities(recreational and income)




aloha from the summit of *-^-Mauna kea-^-*

 

Wassup Haole! (kidding, hehe)

Northern Cali rules. I can't believe Daniel is talking about AZ like it's a good place to live. Holy focking sheet, if it aint got no water, then God didn't intend for humans to live there.

The Bay Area rocks though... as far as roads go, I still haven't run out of roads to drive and I'm a 30,000+ miles a year driver. Housing costs around here ARE insane, but I still say this place is awesome. We've got a great music/art scene, plenty of fun things to do, great snow and good beaches (uuuuh, buy a wet suit first, the good swells come in the winter!) and plenty of girlies around.

The only problem you might find is that we tend to be kinda... liberal. Hee hee.

Good luck to ya if you come out here dude.

 

Huh? There are tons of local style places around the bay. I eat at Hawaiian Drive Inn in Redwood City at least once a week. Hawaiian Sun and all. Type Hawaiian Food Bay Area into google and have lunch plans for months. Shoot, if I didn't have sprinklers in my back yard, I would already have an emu pit. Ha...

-Jacob

 

Me being a San Francisco native for 21 years, I can say I that I now ABSO-FRIGGIN-LUTELY hate it here. The Bay Area can sink into the ocean for all I care (as long as I don't go down with it haha). The place has turned absolutely crappy in the past ten years. Don't move here! You got it good on O'ahu Greg! Plus, half-a-million dollars won't get you anything particularly livable in a decent neighborhood. The Bay Area's cost of living, believe it or not, is even higher than Hawai'i's in many respects!

Now that I've said that... IMHO, the Bay Area is second only to Hawai'i in my book for places where I'd like to live in the States. Not because the Bay Area rocks, but because everywhere else I've been to in the US sucks in my opinion. But anyhoo, I'm seriously thinking of moving out of the country in about ten to fifteen years or so.

As for food, you can't beat the Asian food here in the Bay. Best Chinese food outside of Hong Kong, best Japanese food outside of Japan, best Viet food, awesome Filipino food, awesome Indian food, you name, we got it and we got it good. Fine dining is also top class here in S.F. Some of the most famous chefs in the world are here (Ron Siegel, Gary Danko, etc.). The only letdown? Local grindz are not so good here. Maybe if you feel homesick for Hawai'i, it's passable. Otherwise, there's no really good Hawai'ian food here. The best we have is average and expensive! There used to be ONE really good place at one time, but it went outta business about two years ago

Long story short: no real reason to move here.

 

I just got back from a roadtrip to Portland and the north Oregon coast. Portland is an awesome city, like SF but without the yuck and cool bridge. Welcome to SF - oh look it's a bum crapping by my car... Anyways I am sure there are good and bad areas like any city, but the feeling was great and people were friendly wherever I went. Another way to put it is, driving around in SF and the bay, I go through about 1 hand-held air-horn a month (honestly the best commuting tool ever). Didn't use it once in Portland. Haha..

Oh and.... The backroads. Wow x 37634863.

As far as places to drive, yeah - the Bay Area is great. However as far as sights to see and beautiful natural things to look at, CA has nothing on Oregon and there are gobs of other beautiful other places as well. I moved here to the Bay Area because it's hard to toss a backpack in your car and drive from Hilo --> LA or something. I have family in SoCal, AZ (I would sooner live on the moon), OR, NV and here in the Bay - it was a central location with good opportunity. It was fun, been a blast and okay I am done now. My last trip to Hawaii was in July, and on the way back I realized I need to come back home. Good luck to you and your family!

-Jacob

PS: I think when I move from the Bay, the things I will miss the most are my family, friends, and the racetracks (Laguna, Sears and most of all - Thunderhill). But.. They are building a track in Kona.

 

Few comments.. I agree with just about everything you said. I think it has gone downhill in the last 10, but it's been a sharp descent in the last 5.

IMHO Hawaiian Drive Inn in Redwood City is local style good. I am damn picky about it too. I agree with you though about others. I tried a "Hawaiian Grille" in Half Moon Bay that was pretty bad + expensive. (Brah, I wen ask fo ONO not rubbah) There another near my work in Mountain View that is not so good, but Hawaiian Drive Inn is just like L&L in Waimea except the portions are bigger. Mahi is great, Chicken is great, Katsu is great, Saimin is great.. Cheap too. Plates are 5 something, mini plate is $3.75.

Also, I think the Chinese food in general is better in London. Haha.. But I have been to a lot of cities, and while SF does rate very high - it is becoming one of those things that sorta rides on the name. One thing I felt in Portland was that people were proud of their meals and presentation because they worked hard at it and made a name for themselves. Here it's like.. "Well it's San Francisco so it's gotta be good." or sumpin. I love the food in the City, but I think what I ate in Portland was easily as good, and I have had better examples of just about everything else in other places except for the few that stand out. Like Na'an and Curry on Irving. Don't know of another better combo of cheap/good.

Okay, carry on. In short, with a few exceptions, I agree with your final statement.

-Jacob

 

Sharp descent last 5: YES!! AMEN!!!!

Hmm Hawai'ian Drive Inn in Redwood City... looks like I gotta try it sometime! My old fave was Hana Hou/Isuzu in Japantown, but it's long gone

As for Chinese food, I think I should have said this: San Francisco has some of the BEST and some of the WORST Chinese food on the face of the planet. Gotta be careful which restaurant you go to (take it from a guy who's lived in Hong Kong for almost 3 years total). Thinking about it a bit, there's acutally less than a dozen Chinese restaurants that I'd at in the Bay Area, but these select few are the true greats!

Good discussion!

 

geez, if everyone hates it so much... either that, or you guys heard the wrong things about me and are conspiring to keep me out!






aloha from the summit of *-^-Mauna kea-^-*

 

trust me, it SUCKS here! If my job is not here, I wouldn't be here...

and like others have said. 400k is not going to get you much. I recently got a condo in a decent area in SJ and very close to work for me. 2 bed 2 bath 1 car garage at 375k, and still going up. For the same type of condo within .5 miles of me are going for around 390k - 440k right now.

Save yourself, don't come here!

 

you guys are trippin. the bay is 1 of the best places in the US. dunno about moving from hawaii here tho! haha. although i have MANY friends that moved from hawaii to cali (mainly socal), so there must be a good reason for all that influx. they seem to like it in socal better than hawaii also. i guess being stuck on a tiny island can make you go crazy.

anways, i've been to a few other places and have yet to find another area outside of bay area and socal that i would actually want to live. i admit, i havent actually been to many other places. chicago (is pretty cool, but just wouldnt want to live there), NY (cant even drive there. chinese people are rude. actually, make that EVERYONE there!), Boston (too old)old), orlando (only retired people live there), houston (nothing special. my sister and her friends HATE it there and all wanna move).

Theres no place like the bay and socal. we have so much here. outdoors stuff, clubs, hot azn hunniez (<- ok, thats the biggest reason to come here. majority in socal tho)..

 

Nobody's trippin, we are expressing ourselves. Remember that this is still the internet, we are all different people and... That's okay. The Bay Area is a great place with lots to offer, but there are also many drawbacks - like any other place. My gramps thinks Arizona is the best place on earth. He's happy. See what I mean? I would never tell him: "you'z trippin foo, you need fo come down here and check out the hot azn hunniez n shizznittle bam." He's probably not into that, like I am not into tumbleweeds and bingo. Chill dude.

When I first moved here, it was from Hawaii but not 'HAH-WHY-YEE YAY' Hawaii like most people think of, backroads 'WAT BRA YOU LIKE BEEF' Hawaii. Not more than 15 miles from where gdogg came from. So the big city and SF was pretty cool for me. I moved to England for 2 years and then SF didn't seem so awesome. I have been to many major US cities as well as a few countries, and like you - I was always happy to see SFO through my little winder. Always happy to come home. Things have changed for me though - I am all clubbed out - but damn dude, THAT was some fun especially the underground parties (wanna buy a lollipop?). Not really into that anymore though I can totally understand since I was a few years back. Maybe I am getting old? Well - people in school used to give me shiet for being too young, it all evens out. For me, a sweet backroads drive, day at the beach with my girl - that's fun. Although.... $2 PBR @ Makeout room Friday, I'll be there.. Ha. Anyway, point is - maybe someday even you will be tired of the scene. I had a blast, but life goes on - and it's great.

IMHO - SoCal is the armpit of the west coast. I have lived in the San Fernando Valley, Hollywood and the OC and I hate it. There are MANY places like the Bay and SoCal, only without all the major drawbacks. There are beautiful outdoors, much better in fact from my experiences, in many other places. My favourite parts about the Bay Area is that it's a metro area that's close to the ocean, but the economical standpoint is making that not worth it anymore. The apartment I used to pay $1050 for went up to $1850 and now it's renting for a cool $1550 and that is merely a 5 year span. No improvements made, nothing. Currently I live next door to the house I used to live in - pretty much the same exact house but nicer amenities and... $400 less rent/month. Why? Greedy landlords. The only way I could get my rent down is to... Move next door. Haha.. I have never been anywhere in the world where someone didn't look at me like I was throwing poop when I mention how much I pay for rent.

The main reason I see people moving from Hawaii is that they can't find work. Well, that's the sort of problem you take with you wherever you go. If you can't find work in Hawaii that means you aren't good at what you do (or you don't know enough Japanese people.. Ha). If someone likes it better in SoCal than Hawaii, I think that's awesome and I would like to help them move.

There are only retired people in Orlando? Ha... Wow dude did you miss out. I lived there for 3 months and there was nothing but hotties and women asking for company. There wasn't one weekend that I wasn't on someone's boat, at a club or doing something silly. Universal is pretty nutz at Halloween too - highly recommended.

Gdogg... I don't think we all hate it, I think that for a lot of us the 'newness' of the Bay Area is wearing thin, and we can see it for what it really is now. In my eyes it's a great place, and I would love to live here - if it wasn't "the place to be." Being the place to be has made people snobby about it. I lived in SF (albeit the mission) for a while this year and it was neat - lots of fun. But there was also lots of crap to deal with too. The point is, you need to find the set of compromises that works for you. Come, spend some time, feel it out. If you can afford it, it's a great place for a few years. If I travelled a lot still, SF would be my home. But since I like being at home so much now, my plan is to move back to the islands where IMHO, the priorities are right.

Take care, hope you enjoyed my 'book' and stuff. :P

-Jacob

 

Take 101S to Whipple, go west. Turn Left on El Camino and it will be a few streets up on the left. Big yellow front and neon HAWAIIAN DRIVE INN sign. I will be there today fo sho. They also have pake food. I haven't tried it tho. I will take your word on the food here as I have never been to Hong Kong. I will check the 'good eats' thread - you betta have put some up there after all that talk.

Good discussion indeed.

-Jacob

 

wombatsauce: when i say "you guys are trippin" i say that in a playful attitude. haha. i know everyone has the right to their own opinions and thats cool. but i was born here and i still gotta represent the bay! you guys are making the bay seem like ohio/idaho are the bangin places to be!