San Francisco Bay Area: looking for a place to live and settling in.
We moved to the Bay Area from Michigan only recently and still are settling in. Our plans were uncertain. We knew we wanted a place with easy commute to San Francisco downtown, since were my husband's job is, and with good public schools; we felt no attachment to any specific neighborhood.
Silicon Valley, or the Valley, lies on the peninsula that separates the Bay from the ocean south of San Francisco. The Valley proper lies east of I-280. It is a densely populated urban area, nominally divided in several towns. It looks more like a small town then a suburb, with 1-2 story houses and townhouses, no sidewalks, no relief. 70% of the Valley inhabitants were born elsewhere. BART line in the Valley ends in Millbrae, but Caltrain runs all the way south beyond San Jose to Gillroy. People who live in the Valley usually work there, too. Still, commuting to San Francisco by car is not reliable. It's not great distance, but it can take anywhere between half an hour to an hour (from San Mateo to downtown, past the traffic around San Francisco International Airport) and parking prices in the city are prohibitory. Schools are considered good. Western side of the peninsula is a farmland. It takes about forty minutes to cross the peninsula from San Mateo bridge to the ocean beach.
East Bay: closest to the city are Oakland, Berkeley, El Cerrito and Richmond. These cities have lower part near the bay and climb up th Berkeley Hills. The tops of the hills range are parks, the biggest one is Tilden park. Lower parts of the west East Bay are urban, densely populated, the higher in the hills, the more suburban it gets. The hills offer great views of the bay, the bridges, the city, and the ocean. View adds about $300 to the monthly rent. Richmond is decidedly unsafe. Oakland is a large city, it has different neighborhoods. Montclair and Piedmont are better than others, but houses are old there: some houses for rent we looked at had no heating system at all. One prospect landlord told us he commutes from Rockridge station because the closest McArthur is not safe to leave the car. People who live in better Oakland neighborhoods often send their children to private schools, but there are at least two excellent public (elementary) schools (Chabot, Hillcrest). Berkeley is a famous college town. It has rich cultural life of all sorts and probably the best place for childless people. However, Berkeley/El Cerrito schools are not considered especially good.
Further east behind the hills are Orinda, Moraga and Lafayette (Lamorinda area). These are safe small towns with suburban lifestyle and views of the hills; the area is dominated by Mount Diablo. Local roads have bike lanes and Lafayette-Moaraga trail is paved, flat, mostly shaded and excellent for biking with small kids. Lamorinda schools are consistently good and are the main reason new people settle there. Commute from Orinda: 25 minutes via Bart. It's 31 minutes from Lafayette. Moraga is little bit off the Bart line, it takes another 10-15 minutes to get to the station. There are several apartment complexes in Lafayette there people looking for new homes rent apartments.
Further east are Walnut Creek, Concord, Pleasant Hill and Martinez. These are larger towns, with their own businesses, shopping malls with high-end retail chains, offices, and even trailer park somewhere in Concord. Walnut Creek schools are not as good as Lafayette's, but some are still good. Commute is 5 minutes longer, houses are $100-300/month cheaper. Walnut Creek lies in a broad valley and mostly flat. The end of the day traffic on and off the highway is really heavy. Now as I live in Lafayette I do most of my shopping in Walnut Creek. Concord is 45 minutes from Embarcadero, San Francisco. At least some parts of it feel very remote and suburban.