I'm baaaack

Truth be told, I've been back since Tuesday a.m. but have been too exhausted and swamped at work to post anything here. Note to self: no more red eye flights! I say that EVERY time...

My love affair with the Bay Area lasted about 24 hours. I imagined getting a small home where I could retire one day, or at least a condo of some sort that I could escape to during those cold Minnesota winters. But then my fantasy started to crumble when DH and I tried to take BART from Berkeley to Oakland, and we saw that it would cost us over $7 EACH round-trip to travel from the East Bay to San Francisco. That. Is. Insane. There is no bike lane on the Bay Bridge.

Then I checked real estate prices and, well, DH was right to tell me we were never going to live in California again.

But as a tourist, the Bay Area was terrific although it's interesting to notice the changes over the years. I'm sure it's a combination of the city changing and me changing, but I feel like my perspective was a lot different this visit. For instance, when I first moved there from Chicago I thought everyone was too laid back and relaxed, and I wanted a "bigger" city. Then when I visited while living in New York, I felt like it was fantastic to have the benefits of a big city without all the insane hustle and bustle, and at such a reasonable price. But now, visiting from Minneapolis, I definitely felt a more stressed and chaotic vibe than I remembered, not to mention higher prices and more people! I must be too used to Minneapolis because it just seemed so friggin' dense. And that reminded me of NYC, which of course annoyed me. I used to think Chicago was more like New York but now I'm thinking the Bay Area is.

I also wondered if the insane cost of living there and lousy economy is finally taking its toll on people -- people just seemed more...stressed? I don't know. I'm probably projecting because I was so outraged over BART prices.

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We visited our old rental neighborhood, Rockridge, which is at the northern tip of Oakland on the Berkeley border. (When we lived there people would gasp that we lived in Oakland.) I remember that it had one nice commercial strip when we lived there, but now there's a Trader Joe's, tons of yuppie grocery stores and restaurants, and other overpriced shops that appeal to people who can afford to pay $799k for their starter home. (Like one store with $12 fair trade coffee cups.)

Yes, ladies and gents, I peeked at real estate prices in Rockridge and walked by quite a few bungalows for sale. Two in particular caught my eye because they were across from our old rental building. They were on a busy strip next to the freeway, hadn't been updated since the 1960s, had less than 1,500 sf each, and were each asking nearly $800,000. And they were advertised as "starter homes." If someone could please explain to me who is buying these places, I'd love to hear it. Even with our nearly six figure profit from our Brooklyn co-op, there's no way we could have afforded one of those homes. I thought the real estate bubble burst and California was in a crisis?

But it was fun to visit and the French Hotel in North Berkeley was, once again, fantastic. (I love imagining that it's my own personal pied-a-terre.) Compared to the hostels where DH and I have stayed in other cities, it's the epitome of luxury for us. Cable TV, a balcony, fridge, a coffee shop downstairs -- all for $95/night in a great location! But the online reviews are pretty harsh so it's not everyone's cup of tea.

I also looked up a few gorgeous homes near our hotel, including one that had sold in 1998 for $300k. That just about broke my heart because DH and I were there in 1998 but he was a full-time student and I was making $20k/year, so we couldn't have bought anything anyway unless our parents wanted to give us the money. But compared to prices today, $300k sounds like the deal of a lifetime.

But enough about real estate. Other highlights include fantastic pizza at the Cheese Board (a few stores down from the French Hotel), fancy lunch at Chez Panisse (I was unimpressed after all the hype; pizza at the Cheese Board was better), tons of Bianca Mochas (Caffe Strada!), two mainstream movies (most of the indie movie theaters we loved while living there have closed and video stores all seem to be yoga studios now), our favorite Mexican restaurant (La Fiesta), two tap houses (Manny's was my favorite), and two brewpubs (Jupiter was my favorite).

We headed to San Francisco one day and had our favorite sandwiches from Freddie's, but honestly there wasn't much else there we wanted to do so after hitting the tourist spots we headed back to the East Bay. And I forgot how much of San Francisco is simply...nasty? Somehow we ended up walking blocks and blocks of skid row and it wasn't pretty. (I worked in the Tenderloin when we lived there so it's not like I didn't know what to expect, but sheesh! Once again, compared to Minneapolis...)

I'm sure I'll be back to visit again soon but am taking a break from California Dreamin'. At least for now.