GabiStephan

Hi all,
thanks for all your posts at my last topic. Very good informations and advices.I am overwhelmed!

Now I am looking for an accomodation for 3 weeks in September in San Francisco.
I think the Mary Elizabeth Inn will be my last choice (if I couldnt find anything else) because I think its very spartan and actually a house for women with problems.
Kenmore Hotel is last choice as well.

I found on a bed&breakfast website the
"B & B on Goldmine Hill" (Twin Peaks). I am very disappointed that I can not find the email address of this B&B, which I would like to have so that I could ask for a very good special rate. It seems that contact is only possible by the website and there are no special rates and no possibility to ask questions.
What do you think of this area, can maybe anyone find out the email or Tel.number?

Then I found "Hayes Valley Inn". What do you think of that area? I contacted them already for a special rate. But have no answer until now.

The last I choose is the "Marina Motel".
What do you think of that area?

Thanks for answering
and lots of greetings
Gabi

tracys2cents

Not familiar with any of those but look into www.sanremohotel.com

Patrick

I'm not familiar with any of these places, nor do I know your budget. But have you looked at www.vrbo.com for renting an apartment from an owner? I know I've seen some studios there and for three weeks they may better the one week rate.

GabiStephan

to tracys2cent
I tried to send an email to sanremohotel. But it came back "permanent fatal errors"

SFImporter

You may want to try out a online local resource. Craigslist is huge in San Francisco and you're more apt to connect with the actual owners of the properties.

There's a special section for sublets and temporary housing:
http://www.craigslist.org/sfc/sub/

LoveItaly

Hello GabiStephan, did you get to the SanRemoHotel website?

Their phone no. is 415-776-8688
Fax no. is 415-776-2811

I note that they do not have televisionn or phones in the rooms.
Public phones in the hallway.

I think in your other room you stated that you did want television to help with your English skills so probably this would not be the place for you.

They do not show an email address.

I think the Craiglist idea is a very good one to check out.

JBC411

Gabi, if the Marina Motel you are referring to is the one at 2576 Lombard St., I can vouch for the area, having lived two blocks away for ten years. I loved the neighborhood, and the Marina Motel was where I recommemnded that people who were coming to visit me stay (if they were not staying in my place, which had little extra room.)

Here is a link to some reviews of it:
http://www.sftravel.com/hotels/htlma...rinamotel.html
I agree with all the comments about the retro charm of the motel as well as the beauty of, and the great variety of things to do in, the Marina neighborhood. Lots of young professional people live and play in the area, which overall is a pretty expensive place to live. This is about 20 minutes bus ride from downtown, but access to bus lines going everywhere in the city is outstanding from this location.

The Marina, which does not have as much of a share of the overnight lodging business in the City as it had in the mid twentieth century, has many older motels left from that era--of which the Marina Motel is perhaps the oldest, best kept and most charming--which might offer good deals for a longer stay.

Whether at the Marina Motel or at any of the rest of these motels--most of which are on Lombard Street--do ask for a room not fronting on Lombard. In the morning, from very early, all the commuter buses taking people in to work from the suburbs across the Golden Gate Bridge roll down Lombard Street--hundreds of them--and they are very loud. But if you are facing an interior courtyard rather than Lombard, it makes a big difference.

My only other hesitancy on the Marina Motel is whether you will find it affordable for a longer stay. It is an excellent value for the overnight guest, but is popular enough among overnighters that I don't know if they offer weekly or monthly rates offering much reduction, and those rates which are very reasonable on a daily basis can add up over time.

Also, I take it you understand that no meals will be included in the price at a motel like this. (There are many, many restaurants of all types, ethnicities and price ranges within walking distance, though.)

GabiStephan

to JBC411: Sorry, i dont know the word "outstanding". Does it mean that from the motel buses only go to downtown and not in other directions?

to loveitaly: Yes, I would like to have a tv in the room. But if the hotel would make a good rate for 3 weeks, I probable renounce.

The tip with craigslist was fine. I found a posting from a woman named Monica, which offers a room for 25 $ per day. Unfortunately there is only a telnumber not a email. First I would have to find out, what I have to dial from Germany and a bit nervous if she would understand me. Writing english is easier than understanding the pronunciation.

Thanks so far.

JBC411

Gabi, outstanding means excellent or very, very good. In the sense of standing out from the rest which are not as good.

I was trying to say that within a block or two of the Marina Motel, several bus lines run very often which will take you directly, or with easy transfers, to anywhere in the city. And that this is one of the best places in the city to stay if you want to get around by bus. (It is also a very good neighborhood for walking, although it would be a long walk to the heart of the city. Better to take the frequent buses.)

JBC411

Gabi, here is a link to a group of people in San Francisco interested in meeting together there to speak the German language. There is a message board which you can participate in after what liiks like a quick registration. Very likely, you might find someone there who would be delighted to make local calls for you, or help you make them, just for the chance to talk with you in German.

http://german.meetup.com/56/boards/

Also, here's the link to the German Consulate in San Francisco. Very likely they may be able to direct you to other local German-speaking groups or individuals who might be helpful to you.

I do not speak German, but I have recently learned that a direct ancestor of mine came to the U.S. in the mid 1700's from a town named Pferdsfeld, in Prussia. Do you happen to know anything about that town or area?

JBC411

Soory, omitted the Grerman consulate link. It is:

http://www.germany-info.org/relaunch...francisco.html

GabiStephan

JBC 411

I have never heard of Pferdsfeld. But i was searching about and found a lot in google. It will take me a bit time to translate it in english. I would like to email you then.
I can already say that it was taken by France and then by Prussia. Many many people went to Northamerica, Southamerica and Canada. Since 1939 it is a military airport and now they are going to make a place for industria.
Hope thats interesting for you

Grasshopper

Gabi, If you would like to email me I will try to help you. Also my daughter is currently studying in Germany but will be back at San Francisco State in September. I'm sure she we would love to help out as well. You can reach me at [email protected]

GabiStephan

Thank you very much, grasshopper. Your offer is very very nice. I wont hesitate to email you, if I need your help. Thanks a lot.

To all: I posted on craigslist for a room. And got a few emails.

One Apartment is in the Inner Sunset. That seems to be a good neigbourhood.

One Room is "located on Washington and Leavensworth Sts.". What do you think about this?

Thanks for answering
Gabi

JBC411

Gabi, you are right that the Inner Sunset is a pretty good neighborhood. It is one of smaller apartment buildings and some single family homes. Even in this area you will still find them packed together more tightly than living places almost anywhere else in the U.S. Many bus lines serve the area, but you are a longer bus ride from the center of town and other points of interest than some of the other locations you are considering.

Washington and Leavenworth would be good too. A more urban location, much closer to downtown and points of interest. Also served by many bus lines, but within walking distance of a lot. That is a really transitional block where the edges of three neighborhoods meet: Chinatown; Lower Polk, a mainly gay neighborhood; and Polk Gulch, with lots of young professional people more likely to be heterosexual. You will probably find all three groups on your block and probably in your building. It is an area of apartment buildings, some fairly large, built close together, on a fairly steep hillside. Three other neighborhoods which are among the very wealthiest in the city are within walking distance (all uphill): Pacific Heights, Nob Hill, and Russian Hill. There are great views from the streets of these neighborhoods. Downtown is a reasonable walk, as is the Ghirardelli Square area at the edge of the Bay, and Chinatown is very close. Just a block in the other direction is Polk Street, a street with every type of store, shop and restaurant and a very lively street life. A great place to people watch.

As you can tell, other things being equal, I'd prefer the Washington and Leavenworth area myself, but of course, the details of the particular room and living situation, and how you react to the people, is most important.

GabiStephan

I got another offer:

"in the Richmond District near 20 th Ave/California"

What do you think of this? What are the differences to InnerSunset? Is it also safe?

And one more question: What means "no-420"?

Thanks for answering

JBC411

Gabi, I would say that the Richmond area is basically similar to the Inner Sunset, not quite as urban a location as some of the other ones you are looking at, but still with very good bus access to downtown and the rest of the city.

I am more familiar with the Richmond district than the Inner Sunset because I have known people who lived there and have spent a good deal of time there, while the same is not true for me of the Inner Sunset. Keeping that in mind, I'll still let you know that I would consider the Richmond district a little more desirable, that I think it has more interesting stores and restaurants, is more attractive and is a little closer to other points of interest than the Inner Sunset. Some others might disagree. I would still choose the Washington and Leavenworth location you were offered earlier for myself, other things being equal, but all of these locations are fine and probably the sense you get of the what the accommodations and the people are like should be most important.

The Richmond District is sometimes also called the Park Presidio district because it lies between the City's two largest and most beautiful parks, Golden Gate Park and the Presidio. (It is a long, narrow neighborhood, only six blocks or so wide.)

I don't know as much about the population mix in the Inner Sunset these days, but as in much of San Francisco, there are a great mix of people living in the Richmond district. When I moved away from the City a few years ago, a majority of the people there were still of European orgin (which is not true of the City as a whole) but there was a very large number of Asian people, with their numbers fast increasing.

One of the most unusual things about the Richmond District is that it is one of the very few places in the U.S. where one of the largest minorities are people who have come to the U.S. from Russia, many quite recently. There are quite a few Russian churches, restaurants and stores. The Richmond in general is especially known for many good, small restaurants of every ethnicity. For instance, there were Indonesian and Moroccan restaurants I liked very much there.

I don't know immediately what "no 420" means, unless it's an apartment number (no is sometimes used as an abbreviation for Number.) Maybe someone else does. If you could quote as much of what appears around this phrase it would probably help us tell you what it means.

Thanks for the info about my ancestors' home, Pferdsfeld. If you have time to read any more of the German language material you googled about it, which I cannot read, and summarize it for me, I would be grateful.

LoveItaly

Dear Gabi, I have a relative by marriage that lives on 20th Ave. in SF.
An ethnic Russian by the way.

This is a very safe area. It is a family area.

The comment no-240 I too think this must mean that this unit number is 240.
I cannot think of any other explination.

GabiStephan

no 420

For understanding I copy this:

"This is a warm, friendly live-and-let-live, quiet, no drugs, no-420, no-drama household where you can be as collegial or separate as you like."

I where it says: 420-friendly

Maybe this a short cut.

GabiStephan

Sorry writing mistake

I have another offer where it says..