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Seeking Advice on Fremont, CA area

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talon94es

20+ Year Contributor
1,006
1
May 3, 2002
BroomField, Colorado
Hey DSM'ers. I'm seeking any information in regards to this area. Does anyone live in Fremont/Bay Area? I have a potential job opportunitiy in that area with a company called 3par. I'm trying to determine if I'd like that area in regards to quality of lviing/outdoor activities/night life. I'm now 36 so the night life part isn't so essential anymore. :p But I still love going to Shows and I'm sure San Fran would deliver in spades on the Shows/Concert tip.

However, I do love mountain biking and am wondering how the mountain biking is in that area as well as the cost of living. I've heard that Marin County is great for mountain biking. It looks to be about 30-40% more to live in Fremont,CA than Denver, CO where I am now. I also like snowboarding but don't think theirs any boarding to be done in that area. Anyways, I'd appreciate any input in regards to this location.
 
you can do any and all of that in the bay area. plenty of biking and tahoe is a 4hr drive up 80 if u want to go snowboarding. Dont forget that FFTEC, the bay areas best dsm/evo shop is in fremont with a great staff and a 4wheeel dyno and great tuner.

Come to the bay, you will be suprised in a good way.

If your new job is going to pay you that extra 30-40% or more then go for it
 
I work in Fremont. Fremont is pretty weak, but it's not that far from the city. I spend all my fun time in Berkeley/Oakland/San Francisco. The Bay Area is one of the best places in the world to live.
 
You'll be close to everything in Fremont. S.F., Oakland and San Jose aren't that far away and all offer great nightlife. Friends tell me there are plenty of places to go biking but, I've only been to Lake Chabot. I'd say cost of living in the Bay Area, in general, is high but, I wouldn't trade the Bay for anywhere else. I guess us Bay Boys are a little biased on this subject.
 
The regional parks have a lot of hiking and biking. There are a lot of hills. You also have Mount Diablo up by Danvile and the foothills along there. The Black Diamond Mines is also a great place to ride. When you get there go on the internet and find a club in the area and join the forumn like this and you will get all the info you will need on where to ride.

There is a lot of culture and city life there as well as jobs and if you like lots of people then it would be a good move.

I used to live down there on and off for 30 some odd years and what drove me out is the extremely high cost of living, the grid lock traffic, smog laws, cops with radar every where and the stupid idiots that run the state. Other than that it is a very beautiful place much different than Colorado. You should check it out if just for the experience. You can always move back but you will have an experience you won't forget. I miss it just like other places I lived but I prefer the mountains so I live at Lake Tahoe. I am 3 hours from the bay area so when I need that life I can go down their and stay with friends.

Speaking of shows about 10 or 12 Years ago I saw Robert Plant and Jimmy Page annd the Concord Pavilion and it was awesome. They played every damn rocking Zeppelin song and it only cost me $40 bucks and I was 15 yards from the stage. How much are Led Zeppelin Tickets going for? Sorry I am getting old.
 
Wow, I've always been very intrigued with the bay area even though I've never been there. Mainly from all the Bay area music I listen to and it's cultural influences. I've been to San Diego, Palo Alto, LA and a few other but not the Bay! After hearing about it from you guys it really does sound like a great place to live. It's nice to hear I could do a lot of Mtn Biking all around that area. One of my concerns was as vernvision mentioned with the traffic and commute. I've always heard that Cali people are kinda "clicky" but that's not a big deal as I think the bay area might actually be my kinda tempo! I always tell myself here in Colorado how I'd never take a job where I have to deal with bumper to bumper traffic to get to a job. That's why I live and work up north in Colorado so I don't have to deal with that. I'm thinking I'd be able to avoid most the traffic if I worked/lived in Fremont since it was listed as having a population of about 200K I think. I also don't like the thought of idiots running the state but we have idiots running our country so wadda ya gonna do? Anyways, I'm going to tell the recruiter to setup a phone interview and if all goes well I could be catching a plane for a meeting. I've live in Colorado my WHOLE life so like that song says maybe change will do you good? Thanks for anymore info on traffic etc. And, oh yeah, from the sounds of it if I moved it would finally be time to invest in a Passport 9500 or Valentine. ;)
 
If you get sick of the flat lands and mole hills then come up to Tahoe. It is one of the greatest places on earth and it will make you feel at home. California has a lot to offer and if you can work close to where you live then do it for sure. The Bay is a great venue for music and I would say it is one of the corner stones in the country if not the world for music.
 
Right On! I'm hoping something becomes of this after thinking it over today. It's kinda exciting thinking about living somewhere new even though I love Colorado. It's a crapshoot at this point but I'm going to Roll the Bones and see what happens. Appreciate all the Cali Boys input and would LOVE to come out and ride some resorts at Lake Tahoe. I'm sure it's sick from all the footage I've seen from out there! :thumb:
 
The roads in the Bay Area are oxcarts. For your own sanity, don't even think about modifying cars here. SF is both politically and geologically a disaster area, and going to anything in the City that draws more than fifty people will be an exercise in Not Murdering Someone Begging For It.
They're constantly doing "earthquake retrofits" throughout California, trying to keep things from falling down like the Cypress Structure did in Oakland: my last trip out of SF, while they were working on the Bay Bridge, took over two hours to get from the forced-exit at Fourth Street to back onto the Bridge.
Fremont PD is renown for its attitude toward tuners.
Every trip to the grocery store will yield a small Asian person standing two inches from your butt while in line. They will not speak English. If you're white, you will be a minority. You will be able to use Spanish anywhere you like.
The State is working on a bill that will require your home thermostat be adjustable by the State in order to meet the power demands they're otherwise doing shit-all about.
If you want to try snowboarding on Sierra cement, the drive from Fremont to the Valley will take you two hours on a Friday, which puts you almost a third of the way to Kirkwood or Bear Valley, your closest choices. The rest of the drive will be 3½ hours, with luck.
Registration for your ten-year-old car will be a hundred bucks, plus another hundred for the smog check every two years.

Still, it's always good to live someplace new. I'm fifth-generation native of Napa. Long-term, I hope for the Genoa area.
 
I'm personally not a fan of Fremont, or most places on the eastern side of the Bay in terms of a place to live. Some like it. It's not for me. I would rather live a little further out, like in Pleasanton, Livermore, or the other cities on that side of the hill. You're only a little further out and yet you're still close enough to enjoy the nightlife of the city if you really wanted to. And you'll be close to all kinds of outdoor activities no matter where you live in the bay area. Fremont just reminds me of a run-down urban city very much like San Jose - you put up with all of the crap of a big city (traffic, unfriendly people, not-so-nice neighborhoods/neighbors, high housing prices) yet you have to drive to SF or other places to experience what's great about the Bay Area, because Fremont and San Jose are not it. And you'll likely get a 30 year-old dump for a house and pay at least $600k in a school district you wouldn't want your kids attending. And yes, Fremont is well known for their "friendly" police (sarcasm). So be careful when driving your modified car around.

(you might be starting to see why I outgrew the bay area and looked elsewhere for a place to live)

The winters are not as cold, (though I heard last year got below freezing more than in the past) and the culture will beat out the Denver area. I do miss the diversity in restaurants and the nightlife is slightly better than it is here in Denver. But there is plenty that I like better about the Denver area compared to the Bay Area (having lived there for 29 years and here for almost 3 now).

The worst thing about the Bay Area - the crazy emissions laws and street racing issues that are bringing about ridiculous legislation. You'll quickly get tired of having to deal with getting your car smogged and the cops pulling you over and targeting you as a "street racer" if you have a modified car. It kills your desire to be a car enthusiast living out there, not to mention everything out there is more expensive for car enthusiasts (track days, gas, etc). Not that you would choose where to live based on that, but I immediately felt so much more free out here as a car enthusiast.

Anyway, it's a different lifestyle. I do miss a lot of things about the Bay Area but there is plenty that I don't miss. And I think right now Colorado is better for me and my family. I thought I'd never leave California but you learn that there actually can be places that you would like to live just as much, if not more.

Best of luck!
 
and the cops pulling you over and targeting you as a "street racer" if you have a modified car

Funny you should say that because the Concord cops are the same way. I was not in town no longer than a half hour. I picked up a friend of mine from his shop and took him for a ride.Of course I am not a block down the road some kid wanted to race me in a hopped up mini. I was not going to waste my time racing that thing as my stock WRX would have blown him off the road. I did't even launch that much and I was turning left. Next thing I know I pulled over for exibition of speed. I asked him what I did he said you spun your tires. I said What? My car is awd and I have blizzard snow tires which even if I broke them loose they are so soft that they would not make a screeching noise. I also am with the local Sheriff's dept in my county so I have a crad issued from them that I carry which I showed him. If I had not shown him that card he would have wrote me up I think. I never exceeded the speed limit just opened up the external dump which makes a bit of noise. Yes they are not in to modded cars and will find any reason to pull you over which in my opinion is harrassment. If they didn't require so many rules at the track more people would be there and not on the street doing it. Like any place though The Bay Area and California putting asside the obvious negatives has a lot to offer and I think is worth the experience and as I said before you can always move back to your home. Colorado is beginning to look a lot like California as well as Salt Lake traffic wise. I think that actually the traffic isn't as bad as when I lived there in the 90's when it took me 2 1/2 hours each way to get to SF from Moraga which is only like 35 miles. Try driving a modded car with an ACT 2600 in that crap. I think that is why my knee is screwed up to this day.

Kirkwood is probably the best place to ride up here for a weekend warrior. I can get to Concord in 2 1/2 hours on a normal day. The snow is the best there because it mainly faces north east and it generally has more then the other resorts. I use to get a pass there but Heavenly Valley is only 15 minutes from my house and I can see my house from the top of the mountain which is cool.

I
 
Man, after hearing some of your stories I'm almost having second guesses! I'm so spent and frustrated with my current job and status that I'm willing to give it a go anyways. I hate the thought of being harassed by police that have nothing better to do than pull people over with exhaust systems and the like! Ghey in a BIG WAY! The cops where I live aren't like that generally so I don't have to worry about my loud exhaust. My car is totally smog legal and has no issues but it does look pretty good now with my new rotors/rims and the like. I'm sure it would attract their sorry attention even thought it's NTSLOW. I don't care to deal with the Gestapo while trying to goto work or have some freaking fun! As far as Defiant mentioning all the different ethnic groups. The recruiter I talked to mentioned the same thing. It doesn't necessarily bother me I think?? And man that's some expesive registration! I just paid $26 registration on my 94 talon here in Colorado and another $25 for the smog check which was done automatically since they have scanners on the side of the Highway for smog checking your vehicle.

Ludachris, Yeah, I remember when you first moved out here and we had that DSM meet and you said how much you like Colorado already. It is an easy state to like if your in a good location.

And, oh yeah, it's funny vernvision should mention Colorado becoming like Cali because it is kinda true. Me and my buds actually have a saying for Californians that Move here. We call them Caliradians. :) Not that we have a problem with them it's just kinda funny.

Thanks again guys and I'll keep you posted on what happens. I'd like to maybe hook up with some DSM'ers out there if this goes through. :talon::dsm:
 
the bay is a great place to live.. and about the registration and smog.. i dont know where defiant goes to smog but i only pay $35-40 for my smog and registration was less than $60
 
Hopefully you're moving here with a wife or gf. Or you are stupid rich, incredibly good looking, and have mad game, because like Man Jose, the rest of the bay area has a pretty bad girl to guy ratio. We're the best place for single women to live, so much guys to go around. LOL

And I'm not lying, look up some news articles.

Oh smog sucks, cops target fixed up cars, gas and housing are expensive as hell, most of the areas being white is the minority. If you could deal with that, yea its cool, I'm still here heh.
 
Just remeber that its the people that make a place habitable and people are preety much the same where ever you go and there are a lot of good people down there with good intentions but are sometimes miss guided. The cops are the same anywhere you go. Some have a chip and others are just trying to survive there job. Until you get there you really don't know what is going to happen. Some of us just have bad luck with getting pulled over or vice versa. I just drive fast generally and it is a matter of percentages I guess. We should have a thread on tickets and see who has gotten the most. I can't even remember since I lost rack after like 40. One nice thing about living in NV is that in CA if I get a speeding ticket under 100mph then all I pay is a fine. It doesn't go on my record. If I get caught in NV it is a misdemeanor and stays on my record for 10 years.
If you get up this way to ride shoot me a message and I will show you what ever resort. I have been to about all of them but where I am at Kirkwood, Heavenly, and Sierra at Lake Tahoe are the best on the south shore. Oh also there is a race track near by me that they do some sport compact racing in Fernley, NV.
 
Just remeber that its the people that make a place habitable and people are preety much the same where ever you go ...
I'd have to disagree with that statement. That's one of the big things I really like about Colorado compared to California. The people here are typically much more friendly. We lived in our house in California for 5 years and our neighbors never made any effort to say hi or talk to us, or even wave when we were both out in the front yard. The clerks at the grocery store rarely made eye contact. People walking down the street almost never acknowledge you. In all the 8-9 places I lived in the Bay Area it was like this. There's an overall feeling in the Bay Area of "I'm too busy to acknowledge you or don't care to". They keep to themselves a lot more. You get used to it and don't really realize it until you move away.

It's completely different here in Colorado from what I've noticed. We talk to almost all the all neighbors on our cul-de-sac. We've been invited to dinners, bbq's, etc. People out here actually take the time to say hello. Maybe this isn't something that's important to some people but I want my daughter to grow up in a place like this so she takes on that same spirit. I feel like I have to break out of that California mold and learn to be more friendly now that I live in a place where people are more friendly to me and my family.

From what I've seen people are not pretty much the same everywhere you go.
 
LOL this thread is ####ing hillarious

honestly, after living in california for a decent amount of time and traveling out of state, I know I would have a hard time living anywhere else. The bay area has it all, you'll love it.

take a visit out here, you'll see, especially the east bay...
 
Yea Oakland is a nice place to live, you'll love it there!

They are starting something soon where you surrender your gun, they will give you $250 no questions asked.
 
From what I've seen people are not pretty much the same everywhere you go.

You know I lived in CA, NV, UT, WY, & Va and it depends what neighborhood you live in. If you are synical about and choose to say that everyone is bad because you had some bad neighbors. Yes, I have had neighbors that were reclusive and others that would go out of their way to do incrediblly gracious things. I have found that the class of neighborhood is also a big factor as well so I don't exactly agree or disagree with youwith what you say about CA. I think that the lower income neighborhoods from my experience tend to be less friendly and also where you have renters they tend to be transiet neighbors.

I lived in Moraga, CA as a kid growing up. When I was 5 years old I got run over by some lady who was not paying attention to me walking my bike in a crosswalk. There was not less than a dozen people that came to my aid and an old neighbor from where I used to live saw what happened to me and took me home.

I have had many great neighbors when I lived there and some that moved in weren't so great or like you said wouldn't give you the time of day but it was the same everywhere I have been.

I have done a lot of traveling along the I80 & I70 corridor. My talon broke down ouside Wells, Nevada one time. I had so many people offer to help me that I can't even remember. I also have broken down in a different vehicle outside of Denver and you know not one person stopped to help. This was before cell phones. I was stuck there for almost 2 hours before a cop stopped and got me help.

I think you got burn't out on CA as I am and its easy to find only fault when you are fed up. I know I have quit a few jobs that way. Consider that maybe this guy is looking for a change and maybe he is getting tired of CO as you were CA. To only give one point of view is not fair to him when maybe he might have an oppertunity to improve his life. I felt the same way with VA as you did about CA and I would not care to live there again but I am glad that I went there and determined that for myself.
I always wanted to live in CO especially the Durango area but CO suffers from the same thing that CA does and that it is to damn expensive to by any property. I live in NV because it used to be cheap and you can pretty do whatever you want if you find the right place to do it. There are plenty of things that I don't like about NV but I won't discourage anyone from moving here based on my bias.

Chris, I jut wanted to say that I am very impressed with the work that you have done on this site as well as the others that have contributed to the content. I don't want to walk on anybodies toes and I figure that it fine agree to disagree wanted you to know that without the information that I have found on this site and this site in particular because of the openess of this forumn and the professionalism that is displayed that I would been like you were with CA I would have been through with DSM vehicles. Thanks to you and everyone else I have been able to pump a lot of power and fun out of my ride now!

THANKS!!!
 
vernvision, we all have our own experiences. I just wanted to share mine and be as honest as possible without being offensive. California is a beautiful place. But the people tend to keep more to themselves and in general aren't as outgoing or friendly as people in other parts of the country in my opinion (which I found to be shared by plenty of people I've talked to). Again, I grew up in Norcal and moved around quite a bit. We had a choice before we moved away - try and buy a home for $900k in a decent school district for the family we were planning or look elsewhere. We chose to find a better quality of life elsewhere and we're happy we did. Some people have different expectations when choosing a place to live. Cali just didn't meet our needs anymore.

Cali is a great place to visit though :)
 
Well guys, it looks like my dreams of Cali-Living are on-hold at this time. I just got an email back from the hiring manager and they've decided to pursue local candidates for the position. If something doesn't work out with the local candidates then he'll be contacting me. I seriously had this ingrained in my head that I was set to go!! I was going to move to Pleasanton like Chris suggested and commute 15-20 miles to Fremont. I used google map program to scope out the highway and areas. The Highway looks fun with lots of curves! That was a simple turn-on for me. Even though that hwy might get crowded it looks fun! Esp if I was working off-hours and not dealing with traffic. Oh well, I've now put the Bay Area as a potential place to move in the future. Thanks for all the great info!!
 
Eh, you saved yourself that heartbreak. All the roads are parking lots during commute, and they close one lane of the freeway just during the hours it's needed most.
 
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