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ViewsSan Francisco, CAFrom Wiki
[edit] San Francisco City GuideSan Francisco is one of America's most famous and most visited cities, situated on a peninsula flanked on one side by the Pacific Ocean and on the other by the massive San Francisco Bay. The city and it's surrounds are the home to many thousands of world-class companies that provide millions of high quality jobs. The San Francisco Bay Area stretches from San Jose and it's suburbs in the south to Walnut Creek, Vallejo and the exurbs in the East Bay and north, across the Golden Gate to Marin and southern Sonoma County. [edit] EconomyThe Bay Area is known around the world as a leader in technical innovation and manufacturing. It is home to companies such as Google, Apple, Sun Microsystems, Cisco, eBay, Hewlett Packard, Yahoo, Intel and Silicon Graphics. There are thousands of smaller technology companies and startups around the area, providing technology-based solutions for any problem you can imagine. San Francisco has had some success in attracting companies focused on biomedical and biotechnology research. The mission bay complex in the southern part of San Francisco has been set aside for this purpose and is in the midst of a boom in development. The complex is centered around the University of California, San Francisco research facility. Tourism is an important contributor to the local economy, and there are many businesses focused on the tourist sector both in San Francisco and around. San Francisco is the financial capital of the west coast. Most of the financial firms in San Francisco are fund managers, hedge funds and private equity rather than investment banks. There are investment banking operations, but they tend to be M&A and dealer branches servicing west coast businesses. The big players in SF are Barclays Global Investors, Wells Fargo (Wachovia), Charles Schwab and Union Bank of California. Bank of America have some operations, as do many other commercial banks. And there are dozens of smaller asset managers and hedge funds. [edit] Public TransportSan Francisco is serviced by the BART rail system, ferries, commuter buses and Caltrain. Using these you can reach San Francisco in less than an hour from much of the Bay Area. When considering a job in the city of San Francisco and living nearby, it's worth thinking of the bay area as four distinct areas - the city itself, the north bay, the east bay and the south bay/peninsula. Within San Francisco the main public transportation system is the Muni. The Muni is made up of modern light rail, historic street cars, cable cars, electric buses and diesel buses. It is an extensive network, covering the entire city. The fare, as of this writing, is a flat $2, (excluding cable cars,) which includes a transfer within 2 hours of the original ticket purchase. Monthly passes are available. BART also operates within San Francisco, with 4 stops along Market Street, two along Mission Street, and two further south. Marin and the north bay are serviced by the golden gate transportation district buses and ferries. The principle artery to Marin from San Francisco is the Golden Gate Bridge, which becomes a major bottleneck during rush hour. The east bay, which includes Oakland, Berkeley, Walnut Creek and Fremont is served by the BART train system via the transbay tube, and AC Transit commuter buses that cross the Bay Bridge. There is also a casual car pool system, although it is more convenient for getting in to the city in the morning than for getting out in the evening. Cars with 3 or more people can travel in special carpool lanes and are exempt from the bridge toll at rush hour. The south bay/peninsula is physically connected to San Francisco, so there is no bridge to cross. Caltrain services this area. The caltrain terminal in San Francisco is not very central, though it is close to the mission bay district. The BART system also reaches in to the peninsula somewhat, and many people choose to drive to a BART station, park and ride the BART in to San Francisco. [edit] HousingSan Francisco is a city of neighborhoods, each with it's own distinct character. If you are visiting the city and considering a move there it is worth venturing out into these neighborhoods since as a resident you will be spending your time in one or more of these, rather than in the tourist traps downtown. SFGate have a good guide to the different neighborhoods in San Francisco and the east bay. A 2 bedroom apartment in a decent neighborhood within 30 mins of downtown SF would range from $1600 on the lower end in Oakland or Berkeley, to $3500+ in San Francisco itself. Most apartments and houses are rented privately and are advertised on Craigslist. In San Francisco rents are quoted per calendar month. A deposit equivalent to 1 month's rent is generally required, along with first and last month's rent when you move in. As of this writing (January 2009) house prices in the area are still overvalued relative to long-term averages. The real-estate websites zillow.com and trulia.com are good resources to see what's available. [edit] MediaSan Francisco has one major daily newspaper, the San Francisco Chronicle and a free daily tabloid, the Examiner. See the links section below for more media covering the area. There are several local television stations. [edit] Things to Do and SeeLove the Mission. Some great food there. Biking around Angel Island is good fun. Getting some bagels, coffee and sitting at Ft. Point watching surfers, ocean, ships. Long walk at Ocean Beach. Fuzio's in the Castro. Michaelangelo's in North Beach (avoid The Stinking Rose like the plague). Irish Coffee at Buena Vista Cafe in Fisherman's Wharf. Up and down the streets on one of the trolleys. Walk around Chinatown. Check local theatre, dance Beautiful Victorians in The Painted Ladies and other homes, embassies in Presidio and Laurel Heights. Alcatraz, but book in advance to avoid disappointment. Don't forget the Golden Gate Bridge. Take lots of photos during sunset and you should walk across the bridge. It's free. I have see dolphins and seals while crossing. Take a trip out to the Farallon Islands to see the seals and white sharks A good ( long) day trip ..Point Reyes Peninsula where there is Drakes Bay, Drake repaired the Golden Hind there, a great lighthouse, Tamales Bay for kayaking, Hog Island Oyster Company for.. oysters and the very funky town of Point Reyes Station home to the best bar in the US The Old western Saloon [edit] Links[edit] MediaSFGate.com - the SF chronicle's website [edit] Generalcraigslist.org - online classifieds and so much more, it all started here in San Francisco, and it's still the best place to find almost anything (job, house, car, cleaner etc.) [edit] Content needing Organizing[edit] VacationNote: this should be moved to a more general US Info page. Most companies will give you 10 days vacation, plus public holidays and some 'personal' days (usually about 3 days that you can use at short notice, but that cannot be combined with your vacation days.) Some companies offer 15 days, and many will increase your vacation with tenure.
State taxes in CA are higher than most other states in the US. Your tax burden would likely be lower in CA than in the UK once you take into account sales tax (VAT,) tax on petrol and energy, vehicle tax, TV license, council tax (there is none if you rent in CA,) and so on. Goods and services are generally cheaper. And the food is way better.
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