Berkeley or Mission District in San Francisco?

What do you mean by “proper culturally”?

There is plenty of cultural diversity in Berkeley, and even more so on campus at UC. I think most people would agree it’s better to live near campus, not be a commuter.

proper culturally meaning a good cultural expereince to meet interesting people with super swagg. LOL.

I hear you about the communting, it would be a 45 min travel to my school on the BART

thanks @Rarebear

Mission is pretty far from Berkeley, even with public transit.

I’d definitely pick some East Bay housing just for the convenience.

@dverhey thanks, my school is actually past berkeley on BART @ Pleasent Hill. I dont believe there is any chance i want to live there tho.

Next question then, where should I look to live in Berkeley? I want to take advatage of the rec centre on campus.

Mission District. Berkley will try to mess with your head. SF is cooler, anyway.

@nullo HAHHAHA what does that mean?

Pleasant Hill? What school?

The Mission is expensive (so is Berkeley, but not as much). Since you won’t be walking to Cal, you can look in Rockridge/College Avenue in Oakland, too.

I live near Pleasant Hill. You may be taking a bus from BART, there aren’t many schools near PH BART.

JFKU yes i will have to bus or bike from BART

Live near the school or you’ll miss so much of what makes the school ‘the school’ because you’re wasting all that time watching the world whizz by (through the window, literally!!)

Berkeley, near the university if you can find something. Haste Street or Dwight would be good choices. BART station is on Shattuck.

@BOSSHOGSWAGG Berkley is a hotbed of wacked-out activism.

@Nullo that’s ‘Berkeley’, and I agree, those are good reasons to choose Berkeley.

And there are much better Frisbee golfing opportunities in Berkeley.

@dabbler Berkeley, then. You enjoy the crazy sideshow?

I actually think @zenvelo suggestion to try near the Rockridge BART is the best idea. Practical area and easy to get to SF and the UC and out to Pleasant Hill.

And there’s also the Temescal area of Oakland around Telegraph Avenue between 40th and 55th. A little less expensive than Rockridge. A fair number of hipsters that deny being hipsters. Some good restaurants and shops that aren’t too pricey. A short flat bike ride or easy walk to Rockridge or MacArthur BART.

Culturally, you’ll get the same amount of diversity in either the Mission or Berkeley. I wouldn’t live so far away from school though because most of your classmates will probably live in the East Bay. Also, some lines don’t allow bikes on the BART during commute hours, so you have to be careful with that as well. Berkeley has better weather.

Thank you all!

Does anyone know of COOP housing??? I like meditation, yoga, etc & when once visisted a friend in San Diego they lived in one called the red lotus society.

There are housing Coops in Berkeley but they are for UC students. They also have a notorious reputation for rampant drug use to the point of repeated overdoses, and more than weekly police calls.

@zenvelo is that currently that the student co-ops had that ? (or when was that?)

In the late 70’s they were full of potheads, but except in one very egregious case of blatant growing the police were very mellow to the student co-ops during the years I lived in them.
I don’t recall any overdoses or regular police confrontation.
On the other hand, from stories I’m pretty sure the student co-op system was much grittier in the 60’s. One of the bigger, of their houses was near Shattuck and there were clear signs it had been through “the 60’s” ... murals (Peter Max-style and acid-head style), old news articles on the walls, groovy-sounding names for common areas.

There were plenty of group houses outside the Student system, common among co-opers who had graduated or just wanted something smaller, but you have to have a cohesive, responsible set of friends to do that with, IMHO.

@dabbler The student co-ops are all near the Cal campus. Temescal is about a mile and a half down the road, into Oakland.

@zenvelo Yes, the student co-ops are all withing walking distance of the campus.

For what time do they have the notorious reputation for drug overdoses? Is that current?

Hearsay: My nephews lived in them in the early 2000s and they were pretty raunchy then. Don’t know if that was the height of the depths though.

@dabbler It was an ongoing problem when this question started 4 years ago. It may have cleaned up in the last year.