Just throwing in my 2 cents worth here. My daughter and husband have a dog and had a terrible time finding a place that would take dogs. They eventually lucked out and found a great spot in the Marina district but they had to look for quite awhile to find something suitable. Good luck with that and just be sure to check if they take animals before you get too interested in anything. I hope you find the perfect spot.

Hey now, don't knock me...I'm a nurse, you need nurses, I move. That simple. My company can arrange housing but we prefer to find our own or find options and get our company to negotiate. We've actually found many options, just trying to find out the cool neighborhoods from locals for young people to narrow it down. AND as it turns out, if I can get out of my contract, I may be working at UCSF instead of Oakland, this will make a huge difference in living and commuting!

If you think I'm being unrealistic (particularly bluestar), trust me, I do this every few months, always end up with a great place and plenty of room for the dog. Thanks to the rest of you for your advice. When you accept a job 3 weeks before you start it's hard to search any earlier.

Since you are a "traveller" I'd say opt for UCSF and take the housing they offer. If you can find flat in the Cole Valley, Inner Richmond or even Sunset area you should be fine. You might also want to consider Portola or Glen Park if you do work in the city.

Commuting to Oakland at night could be difficult especially because you probably will be working "12s". Since you are considering UCSF vs Oakland I am taking a stab that the two considerations are Oakland Children's and UCSF. Oakland Children's is not in close walking proximity to any BART stations. The two stations in closest proximity are in relatively "funky" areas for walking at night. Children's probably does have shuttles but what a schlep!

If your contract is in Oakland and you do not want to drive consider Glen Park as there is a BART station there. Every other area mentioned in SF will involve bus travel to a BART.

BTW~I think SF "travellers" often get housing in the Park Merced area which is out by SF State. It is ok but definitely "out" and not much of a neighborhood. If the housing is in either Daly City or Colma opt for housing on your own. This is not the SF experience 20-30 yo's have in mind.

Pammer...do we even <i>remember</i> the SF experiences from our 20s 30s? ((A))

Kal~Sigh..somewhere I remember Avalon Ballroom, The Fillmore,Sam Wo's, The Family Dog and marching down Market Street in protest of &quot;The War&quot;. In my late 20's I lived on Portrero Hill($220) which was anything but fashionable. In my 30's I lived in Jordan Park and Noe Valley. Both places exceed my finances now! I paid $440 for a 1 bedroom/ 11 years in Jordan Park.

as mentioned earlier, SOMA is getting more and more popular, especially the areas over by the ballpark. just a quick N-judah (in reverse!), busride, or walk away from BART. you'd be close to the water, have access to great amenities, and be near the &quot;action&quot; so to speak (except it won't be baseball season anymore).

my second thought would be hayes valley- you'd be a walk or quick busride from the civic center bart, but in a neighborhood with a little more charm (and a great &quot;strip&quot; of shops and restaurants).

i will say, though, that i love MUNI. i take it everywhere, and it is pretty dependable (although it's not the MUNI of 5 years ago).

Re: Park Merced Apartments

No. No. No.

Even if you were going to S.F. State next door, I'd say the same thing. And this is coming from someone who absolutely loves the far western reaches of the city.

rubies:

How well I remember when Portrero Hill and Bernal Heights were ultra low-rent. I used to spend time on Anderson Street with a beau of mine, think he was paying about $250 for a flat in 1979.

Sorry rubies,
I was replying in regards to PamSF's post.

I agree with SAB. I would not recommend Glen Park or even Balboa Park. They are just too far out and not to exciting for young people. Since you are here for such a short time, I would stick to many of the neighborhoods mentioned by the other posters: the Marina/Cow Hollow, Pac Heights, Russian Hill, Noe Valley, parts of the Mission (closer to Dolores Park), Inner Sunset, or Cole Valley. Even North Beach if you don't plan to have a car or will have a parking space (also terrible parking area).

Good Luck and let us know what you end up doing!

If you are going to work at UCSF, I highly recommend Cole Valley, very friendly mixture of young singles, young married, professionals, older couples and everyone in between in a small neighborhood. However, I'm biased, it's my neighborhood!!

I hope you can change your contract to UCSF. My husband is a physician and did his residency at UCSF - the best in every way.

I really like Cole Valley, and UCSF for that matter. My husband was a neosurgery patient there last fall, and they were great.

Ok so I switched my contract, I will be working at UCSF Children's! Very excited, way happier than I think I'd be at Kaiser Oakland. Definitely changes the housing need though, don't care so much about BART now, would be great to walk to work but figure I have a lot more flexibility within the city. Thanks for the tips again, I'll tell my company and keep looking myself. Also, what about Post Street or Union Square area, there are some apartments, Archstone, that we were looking at as well....

My apologies to any posters who live in that area, but Union Square and Post (near Union Square) are downtown--not my idea of a fun area for singles. In addition no green parks, no Victorians, not much charm, very city environment. Very touristy and full of hotels.

Try Cole Valley or the Upper Sunset.

SAB--thank you for your bit about Union Square....I want to walk a lot of places but parks are a must too for my dog!! This is my first time living in the middle of a big city, spent many years visiting the grandparents in NYC though. I do want a little bit of green and space and nothing super touristy. Vacations are great but part of why I chose to do my job of travel nursing is to really submerse myself in a city and it's culture for several months at a time. I want to live and enjoy the little things, not all the big &quot;must see&quot; things that everyone else will be doing. Priority though, is safety, and that's why I turn to you all to help me weed out the bad areas and find the good. Thanks again!

Post Street and Union Square, great part of the city to visit... definitely no where I'd want to live. Plus your dog would hate it.

The thing about SF is that it is not really a big City, Outside of downtown, SF is made up of houses, flats and small apartment buildings in smaller neighborhoods like the Marina, Cole Valley, Noe Valley, the Duboce Triangle, the lower Haight, the Castro, Hayes Valley, Glen Park, Bernal Heights, the Inner Sunset, Pacific Heights,the Inner Richmond, West Portal, Nob Hill. Most people find a neighborhood they enjoy and for them that becomes their SF. For me its Cole Valley.

check out the duboce triangle neighborhood. duboce park is a wonderful dog park. cole valley has a nice little park at cole and carl. also, there's lots of space to run and play at alamo square! the panhandle area (which is where i live) is also very popular with dog and dog owners.