Moving to SF / Seattle possibly? (Vancouver, Ronald: apartment, neighborhoods, buying) - Washington (WA) -Seattle and King County Suburbs - City-Data Forum

gatesoffire1178 · 08-16-2011, 02:55 PM

Hi All,

My girlfriend is graduating in a few months with her masters from USC. She's been out in LA for two years, while I joined a bit later, and will make it one year soon. Neither of us are too crazy about Los Angeles, but I do work in the film industry for a major studio and I knew LA would be the place. My girlfriend on the other hand is a city planner who can work anywhere, and usually the more progressive cities, a la San Fran or Seattle, with better or improving public transportation, are great places for her.

Though the potential move is months away, I just wanted to get some thoughts. I know the entertainment is based in LA, but would I be able to get by in say Seattle, where the big companies are Amazon and Microsoft and not Fox and Warner Brothers? Ultimately I want to be a writer (how cliche) and hope I can do it anywhere.

Just for further background, my girlfriend and I are born-and-raised East Coasters. We grew up around New York and then met at Boston U in Boston. We absolutely adored that city, and considering our roots, we can withstand long, harsh winters pretty well. I visited Seattle recently and thought it was absolutely gorgeous. My girlfriend visited SF a few years ago and loved it there. Overall, we actually wouldn't mind some more variable weather. In fact, I find Los Angeles' routine 75 and sunny to be monotonous and like the film Groundhog day.

Again we aren't too keen on remaining in LA. I don't really enjoy driving (in this city, who does?) and we've found it really difficult to integrate socially. For whatever reason, we just were able to meet people in NY and Boston we aren't able to meet in LA. We don't drink or do the club scene, maybe that's why?

Any advise is helpful. Thanks so much.

ronaldojernkins · 08-16-2011, 03:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gatesoffire1178

Hi All,

My girlfriend is graduating in a few months with her masters from USC. She's been out in LA for two years, while I joined a bit later, and will make it one year soon. Neither of us are too crazy about Los Angeles, but I do work in the film industry for a major studio and I knew LA would be the place. My girlfriend on the other hand is a city planner who can work anywhere, and usually the more progressive cities, a la San Fran or Seattle, with better or improving public transportation, are great places for her.

Though the potential move is months away, I just wanted to get some thoughts. I know the entertainment is based in LA, but would I be able to get by in say Seattle, where the big companies are Amazon and Microsoft and not Fox and Warner Brothers? Ultimately I want to be a writer (how cliche) and hope I can do it anywhere.

Just for further background, my girlfriend and I are born-and-raised East Coasters. We grew up around New York and then met at Boston U in Boston. We absolutely adored that city, and considering our roots, we can withstand long, harsh winters pretty well. I visited Seattle recently and thought it was absolutely gorgeous. My girlfriend visited SF a few years ago and loved it there. Overall, we actually wouldn't mind some more variable weather. In fact, I find Los Angeles' routine 75 and sunny to be monotonous and like the film Groundhog day.

Again we aren't too keen on remaining in LA. I don't really enjoy driving (in this city, who does?) and we've found it really difficult to integrate socially. For whatever reason, we just were able to meet people in NY and Boston we aren't able to meet in LA. We don't drink or do the club scene, maybe that's why?

Any advise is helpful. Thanks so much.

Just recognize that San Francisco and Seattle are very different cities in terms of urbanity, vibrancy, density, and just the overall vibe (SF has much more of a consistant "big city" feel). Both are great in their own right, but do not think of them as interchangeable at all.

gatesoffire1178 · 08-16-2011, 04:01 PM

Sorry for the confusion, but I certainly don't see them as interchangeable, and that's why I was hoping for a suggestion for either one.

sekhmet1974 · 08-16-2011, 06:01 PM

Totally agree with Ronald! Also answered you on your original NYC thread.

pw72 · 08-16-2011, 07:58 PM

Seattle vs. San Francisco, and Seattle vs. L.A. have been debated on this site for years.

Keep in mind what I call the "it's all relative" factor. Basically, SF and LA are very different from each other, and BOTH are very different from Seattle.

Seattle is urban for a western city, but is not nearly as urban as San Francisco. Seattle is sprawling, compared to Portland, and perhaps other western cities, but not nearly as sprawling as L.A.

So where does Seattle place in this debate? Right in the middle. Seattle is dense and urban as compared to most urban cities in the west. It falls behind S.F., and if you expand out, Vancouver BC. But at the end of the day, Seattle is the most dense, urban area in the west outside of SF. L.A. can claim the same for certain neighborhoods, but when compared to the square miles of the entire city, there is no comparison.

gatesoffire1178 · 08-17-2011, 04:13 PM

Hey all,

Thanks for the help here and on the now shut down NYC board. I do understand certainly that Seattle and San Francisco and LA have been debated to no end. I scrolled around but still wondered if my circumstances were any different.

As for moving back to NYC or Boston, I wouldn't be against the latter. NYC I found too big, hot, and just not my type of city. It certainly offered a lot, but it was nevertheless exhausting. I love Boston and will look into living there again. I appreciate how walkable it is, the strong public transportation, and its overall vibe - very lively, people are always out and about, even if the weather is abysmal. Right now, I'm trying to limit it more to the West Coast considering I did kinda plant my flag there - buying new furniture and settling in to an apartment. San Francisco I could drive up to in less than a day - Seattle would take quite a bit longer, but still manageable.

To be more specific, I was wondering if Seattle and San Francisco offered strong planning / municipal opportunities along with possible careers in media / entertainment/ etc? I know there is Microsoft, Nintendo, Amazon, etc. I'd be more than up to work in video games, TV, film, while supplementing my writing on the side. Certainly LA is the hub for film, but could there still be a decent chance somewhere in media or entertainment outside of there in Seattle or San Francisco?

Ira500 · 08-17-2011, 05:23 PM

I know there are some video game makers in the Seattle area besides Nintendo.
Aside from the weather, Seattle is in many ways easier to live in than LA.
Like NYC, LA is kind of a rat race kind of place, freeway lanes going every which way and a lot of people very focused on their careers. Seattle has people who have their careers, but there's something a little mellower about Seattle, amongst all the cities you mentioned. It's got that " young person vitality" that Boston has, but it's a lot cleaner. People take their outdoor recreation around here pretty seriously.
We do get monotonous weather. In the winter, it's get dark early, and then there are long periods when the sun doesn't come out, so it's cloudy, cool, rainy, foggy, drizzly and variations of that for days or sometimes weeks on end. A lot of the time the rain is light enough to go out in it. Summers are perfect here, just too short. Doesn't get nearly as cold as NYC or Boston, but people from southern CA who come here often complain about the cold. I grew up in New Jersey and I find Seattle winters not that hard to take.

sekhmet1974 · 08-17-2011, 06:28 PM

There is something a LOT mellower about Seattle. It could not be more mellow (save maybe Portland) compared. To LA and NYC.

Again, there is not a big entertainment industry in Seattle. I don't know how one can make a living there at it without also doing something else on the side (teaching, etc).The drive to LA from Seattle is QUITE QUITE a bit longer than SF.

What about Hoboken, NJ? I love that city/town...actually quieter than Seattle, yet so close to NYC. I think if you really want to make a living as a writer, you are going to have to be in a major city that really caters to it (or very near it), at least until you are at a point where you are writing your own ticket.

Seacove · 08-17-2011, 06:33 PM

Is Vancouver BC an option? Looks like Seattle but is becoming very strong in entertainment as you might already know. Just a thought.

Vinylly · 08-19-2011, 08:07 AM

Seattle is nothing more then a San Francisco annex. If you loved San Francisco, you'll probably love Seattle as well. Same kind of people. However, I've always had more fun in the San Francisco taverns, the patrons were always more cheerful and friendly. In a Seattle tavern your just a blob sitting on a stool. In San Francisco you are a person and the patrons always manage to draw you into their activity. Seattle weather is much, much, worse and it doesn't have the history that San Francisco has. Other then that, they are very much simular, -very informal and casual lifestyle.