I know that this isn't exactly travel related, but I'm hoping to get some feedback from those Bay Area experts.

My husband and I are seriously considering leaving Chicago for the SF area. My hubby wishes to break into the wine business (I know...I know...). So, if we move - we will want to initially set up home somewhere between San Francisco and Napa...until we find jobs and figure where to go from there.

By looking at the map, Vallejo looks to be rather central located. Can still commute to SF if one of us gets a job in SF, and still make it to Napa (I figure commute of an hour either way? With further north in the napa valley being longer). What is this community like? Are there any other communities we should look at?

We currently live IN Chicago and enjoy city-life (I know Napa will be a BIG adjustment). We would also like to keep the rent dollar down, since we will be moving without jobs (Yikes!)

Any suggestions?

Vallejo is a place that I think of as "slumming". It used to have a big Naval Shipyard, that's closed down now, but it contributed a lot of flavor to the town, in the sense that it's more of a workingman's town than high society. It's got a very diverse population.

Another place you might want to look into is Petaluma/Santa Rosa. Both of these are cities that would be conveient to wine country. It's also pretty easy to hop the Bus to get into SF, lots of people commute that way. Good luck on your search.

I agree: Vallejo would be the least desirable place to live. Petaluma is a wonderful small town with a good bus connection to San Francisco - check out Golden Gate transit web site.

After doing some businees in SF a few weeks ago, I took an associate over to pick up his car at the Vallejo Ferry landing.

It looks like a lot of people are moving out of SF to Vallejo and buying the old Victorians and fixing them up.

Looks nice and I hear they are trying to clean up the downtown section.
Some good views, too.

The Ferry takes you right into the SF Ferry Bldg so a nice commute.
Kal

I'm not sure what your husband wants to do in the Wine Business, but another area to look at is the Livermore valley - Wente, Concannon etc. You could live in Pleasanton and take a 40 minute Bart ride into the City.

I agree with eastbay. You should look into the Livermore area.

http://www.livermorewine.com/

Utahtea

Thank you all for your feedback! I will look into some of these other areas.

You should also consider Novato. It is a nice city and is equididstant from San Francisco and Napa.

http://www.ci.novato.ca.us/

Why not Napa? Vallejo really is not that far away if you were considering that area. Actuallt the american Canyon area of Vallejo is the place many people are moving towards. I prefer the old fashioned areas, so we opted for Napa. we found that Sebastopol(Sonoma county) had the high cost of living and very little choice. While Napa is expensive at least there are some options.

If you set up shop somewhere between SF and Napa, no matter where you will have a big commute for the person going to SF. So..Petaluma is a good option..small(used to be quaint)..has many of the amenities of Marin County without the housing costs(although they are not that low in Petaluma anymore either). You will have about an hour commute time in moderate traffic to SF..sometimes longer and probably in the neighborhood of 40 minutes to Napa. Do you want to work in SF or is this just the city you want to be in close proximity to..if you want to set up house and break into the wine business why not consider Healdsburg, Sonoma or even the Anderson Valley? The wine business in Napa is fairly corporate..there are smaller wineries in the areas I've mentioned. I would not take Vallejo as a first choice..while it is on the upward swing..it's still pretty desolate in many ways.

There is a commuter ferry that runs from Vallejo to San Francisco, so you would not have to do that tough drive across the bridge to get to work, if you are working in SF. But, the town of Napa is not that far from Vallejo so you could live in Napa, drive to the ferry terminal in Vallejo and commute to SF that way.

Have a look at housing prices in different areas. They will vary considerably and may be a big determinant in where you live.

I have also read about the upswing in the Vallejo neighborhoods with the old Victorian houses. You might find some articles about it around the web.

Remember that the Gold Country's wine region (Placerville/HWY 49 corridor south) is just getting off the ground now.
Live in Placerville and commute into Sacto??? Just a thought.

Karly's Zins are KILLER!
We've killed a few of them ourselves!

Killer Kal

And I was going to suggest breaking into the business in Oregon, where it's still pretty much ground floor in a lot of areas. Tough finding a job in Portland now, though.

Karly's, huh....never heard of it. My all-time favorite zin: '78 Cuvaison. Been years since I had it, but I can still taste the black pepper in what's left of my mind.

We stumbled upon Karly's (Amador Co.)at my 50th b'day dinner at my fave Sacto restaurant, Moxie's.

Went to BevMo and bought 2 bottles. Karly's Pokerville and Karly's Warrior Fires. Check out the BevMo cite for mo' info.

We also stumbled upon another great Zin in St Helena at Anniv dinner at Martini House...Blockheadia Rhingnosio. Pretty danr good.
I was a Cab or Petit Sirah man until these wines came along.

Man...I'd uncork a bottle now if we didn't have a game tonight at 9:30!!!
Pray for rain!
Kalaholic

Thank you everyone! You have given us some good ideas of areas to check out. I'm sure as we get closer I'll be posting more questions.

We are as well looking to possibly relocate to the San Francisco area...

My husband has a possible job opportunity in San Francisco. We are also from Chicago (ironically, my favorite store in Chicago is ShopGirl in LP...any relation?)

We live basically downtown in Chicago (Lakeview), and have lived in Lincoln Park and Gold Coast (Chicago areas), and do love to be close (but maybe not right in the middle)to the action. We are mid 30's, have 2 small kids and a fairly decent housing budget (maybe not for San Francisco:-{).

So basically, looking for an area that is hip, good schools, pretty homes, not on top of a fault line (I am a midwesterner with a geography degree, a little nervous!), not opposed to outlying areas...dare I say suburbs!

Would love more suggestions given our situation!!!

I have been to other websites, but this one is always soo helpful (even though this isn't exactly a travel questions, figure as good a place as anywhere!)

Thanks!

How does one make a small fortune in the wine business...start with a large fortune! That old joke out of the way...I think renting for a year or so makes sense given the wine business at this time. Rentals in SF area have come down after the dot com bust. My daughter pays about 40% less than 3 years ago for a good location.

You will have a much better idea where you want to be after a year or so. Will your husband be going to Davis? If not, lots of wineries south of SF as well. When it comes to wine there are many areas and many vineyards for sale.

Ask everyone in California about Two Buck Chuck and similar wines. The best time to break into a business is often when it is off its feed as the wine business is right now.

About that Two Buck Chuck wine... anyone here tried it?

LilMsFoodie (a wino and former wine buyer for a wineshop).

BTW: I'd try what you are contemplating in a flash if my husband weren't so ill. Best of luck to you both. LMF

LilMs, My parents swear by two buck chuck. They bought a couple of cases. I meant to grab a bottle last weekend from there "cellar" but forgot. I want to see what got them to graduate from box wine.

On another note, I had to buy a bottle of Opus One for a customer last month and realized I could have bought SIX CASES of two buck chuck!

Kristy-Depending on your wants I would suggest either the East Bay(consider Piedmont..the schools are great and housing prices are in the 700,000s with an occassional bargain at 600. The schools are top notch. It is a charming community with close proximity to the city of Oakland and Berkeley. Commute to SF via carpools or BART. Public schools in Berkeley and Oakland are pretty bad(budget cuts everywhere) You might also try out in Orinda/Moraga and on out to Walnut Creek and Danville. These are the suburbs. The schols are reasonably good and you will pay for it in housing prices. You can also look at Marin but housing prices there will probably be higher. It is a different feel entirely. Novato is one possibility.(Also very much more suburban) I am not familiar with "the penninsula" which is south of SF. If you are going to look at neighborhoods in the city with an eye to private schools I'd suggest Noe Valley. Again..real estate prices are ridiculous. Hopefully someone else could advise you

We have lived in Napa for about 35 years.Wouldn't move for anything. It has grown alot and more expensive than it used to be. Yes we have bought two buck chuck. Love their Merlot and Chardonnay.