sarahdeh84

Make no mistake, downtown Oakland has a lot to offer. Bars and restaurants are amazing, featuring some of the best the bay area has to offer (do not miss Everett & Jones on Broadway for the best bbq you've ever had!). Still, I'm not sure I would move back. As a single young woman, walking home at night was always a test of my courage. I do, however, miss the great climbing gym that was just a few blocks away, and the restaurants and shops of Jack London square. I do not, however, miss drivers blasting their stereos outside my window at three am. Downtown is a great place to visit, but not my favorite place to live.

I lived and worked in SOMA for two years, and I definitely miss it these days! SOMA has a lot of great little bars and restaurants - some personal favorites are Brick House and Tres Agaves. Full of new high rises, SOMA has a lot of relatively (by San Francisco standards, anyway) inexpensive apartments available for young singles and couples. SOMA is also one of the centers of the online business world, so expect to be surrounded by tech savvy people in the local bars and restaurants. If you're a baseball fan, the stadium is right there, and if you like to shop, the mall is just a short walk away. Plus, it tends to be sunny in SOMA even when the rest of San Francisco is enveloped in fog.