I found a place in the Inner Richmond (which was the neighborhood I had my sights on for nearly a year) right on 8th & Anza. It was spacious, nicely maintained, beautifully decorated, and on a quiet street. My first roommate was a manager of a restaurant downtown, my age, very relaxed and hardly ever home. In fact, the place almost felt more like a hotel at times. Gayle, Clay and Alana were kind enough to help me haul furniture up three flights of stairs. Unfortunately, the previous roommate put in her 2 weeks at her job a bit late and had to spend a solid week living on the sofa. At first I was just thankful she was out of my room, but it quickly became a really uncomfortable situation. All her stuff was piled to the ceiling in the living room and kitchen and she was asleep by the time I got off work. What's worse, I had no access to TV, radio or internet. So my first week in SF was less than glamorous.
My first day at Buca was my birthday, I didn't know anyone to go out with at first so I just came home and sat in my empty room being all sad until I fell asleep. Ha! Eventually I got to know my co-workers and started going out nearly every night... this was fun, but mostly just to keep away from my uncomfortable apartment! Oh, and a week after I moved in she brought like 5 of her friends to stay the weekend. Can you imagine? 6 people sleeping in the cramped living room, showering, being noisy and generally in the way for 2 or 3 days. CHAOS! It was terrible... Eventually the girl moved out and I actually had somewhere to sit other than my mattress on the floor! Oh, but it was not to last.
I was able to enjoy my empty apartment for a few days before the worst happened... the landlady, who I assumed knew I was living there as my roommate had assured me it was legit, found out what happened and insisted we re-do the lease. Of course this also meant she could raise the rent by several hundred dollars, which she did. Since neither or us could afford more than we were paying ($850 on my part), we quickly realized we had to move out. My roommate decided to go back home and save money, so I was left to find a new place on my own in less than a month. STRESS!
So I once again got to go through the roommate charade. Meeting people, trying to convince them that you're not only responsible, friendly, and laid-back, but also that you could be their bestest, coolest friend ever!! Gah... I probably did ten of these parades in the next two weeks. Amidst all this, my roommate moved out, taking all the furniture with him. So I was left in a completely empty apartment. I ended up dragging out my keyboard as my only form f entertainment. Luckily, he left a lot of cookware and dishes, so at least I could eat...
I finally found a place very near my current apartment with two girls in a spacious place. But they wanted to pit me against another potential with the landlord who wanted credit reports, letters of reference, bank statements, all sorts of stuff. So in my frustration, I travelled further out than I had even considered to look at a place--all the way to 40th Ave. That's 8 blocks from the ocean! And it turned out to be a great place, albeit far out. And what's more, not 10 mins after I left the guy (Brandon) told me the room was mine! So ya know what? I was tired of looking and trying to please people, I just wanted somewhere to live and quickly. So I accepted.
Unfortunately, I had to move myself (which was harder somehow than the first time) and pay a crew to move my newly acquired furniture. But once I was in and settled, the place felt like home very quickly. Brandon was great--funny, fun, easy-going, and he had a really nice TV and DVD collection! And parking was amazingly easy. I went from a parking ticket once a month to... well, I guess it's still the same, just less challenging to find a spot. Ha! And, this particular area of the Richmond is just beautiful. On the top of a hill overlooking the ocean, surrounded by fog in the afternoon, walking distance to the ocean and Sutro Baths... It's a bit smaller for sure, but I'm enjoying it. Finally!
(view from my roof looking west)
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