To the OP, I'm hoping to make my way to either haight ashbury, San fran, or berkeley in the months to come... Best of luck to ya.

Great choice. I grew up in Berkeley and loved every bit of it.

Portland.

Haight and ashbery was ruined by many rich kids going there often thinking it's the cool/badass thing to do... It's still one of my favorite places, but it feels a little fake now...Travel to the end of the Haight by the McDonalds and Ameoba Music (best music store around) right into Golden gate park and its pretty fun and your certain to be offered to buy cheap drugs and meet some very interesting people..It's a great place to lay back and have some beers and smoke a fattie while listening to people drum...Dolores Park off 16th and Mission is also a pretty chill place, that area changed alot from a mexican gang area to a more hipster area...There's still a big heroin scene though... I lived in the bay area my whole life and i love it... But be prepared to spend alot of money on rent if you want to live here though... im talking 1500-2500 a month for a one bedroom... a few minutes south of the City on the penisula (Daly City, South City, San Bruno) places get a little cheaper around 1200 for a one bedroom and 900 for a studio and its just around a 10min drive to the city...But anywhere in the Bay is the place to be and everyone around is down with it...Sounds like you might also enjoy Santa Cruz, which is also very liberal and the people are very open minded and it is just a 45min drive from San Fran... shit, i drove down there many times, just when i was bored, grabbed a hotdog at the boardwalk and headed back just to kill time...I say go to the Bay Area particularly San Francisco...Everything you want is just aroun 10-45min away (Beaches, Redwood Forests, Skyscapers, Mountains, great music, great art scene and open minded people)

Go to Compton.


On a serious note, one of the most beautiful places I've been to is Montana. You don't have to live large or anything, just get a nice little place and take in the scenery. You become so refreshed and all problems melt away. The glaciers are absolutely spectacular and if you get a chance, take the Road to the Sun all the way up the mountains. I felt one with the Earth herel. The vegetation and flowing streams at the lower elevations coupled with the majestic mountains and snow are breathtaking.

Santa Fe, New Mexico

Full of artists, liberals, small city community, and high minimum wage.

Damn, I was about to say this.

Seconded, but its just what I've heard from my sister, not experienced.

Berkeley, California.

Berkeley, California.

This.

You shouldn't even care to look anywhere else.

Blondie's Pizza (food), TShirt Orgy (clothes), Amoeba Music (music), Zebra (tattoo and fetish stuff), People's Park (place to hang out)... hell that's really all you need.

This.

You shouldn't even care to look anywhere else.

Blondie's Pizza (food), TShirt Orgy (clothes), Amoeba Music (music), Zebra (tattoo and fetish stuff), People's Park (place to hang out)... hell that's really all you need.

Nigga don't be leaving out my Top Dog.

Nigga don't be leaving out my Top Dog.

I knew I was forgetting something.

NYC

Easy to live off grid too!

haight ashbury sucks unless your into the hippy hobo thing make no mistake, the "chill people" you will find are for the most part crazy hobo's who want to mooch something off you. What the other guy said about san francisco is for the most part true about places to go around here, but his time reference is a little off. while you can get anywhere in san francisco in under two hours via public transit, having a car is essential if you want to leave the city and not spend half a day on public transit. what he said about rent is dead on though. Expect to pay the highest prices for gas and housing you have ever paid (unless you live somewhere equally insane ie: new york or something).

Fuck Haight and Ashbury. If you've never been there then it's cool to go once or twice but the majority people there are either tourists/narcs/hobos.


Amoeba music as someone previously stated fucking rules.


Berkeley is cool too. Last time I was there I saw some people throwing water balloons filled with red paint at cops. Twas very entertaining.

Portland, Oregon. Fucking best city ever.

Looking to move there myself. This place blows. Hard.

all these people talking about haight ashbury...it's just a small neighborhood in san francisco. you can live anywhere in the bay area and still have access to it...you don't have to fucking live ON haight st (which i imagine would be very expensive, as all housing in the area is pricey).

but yeah, that's a cool place to be, san francisco. the only real vacation i've ever got to go on was out there for spring break last year with some friends and we had a great time. it's just the little things that made it seem better than the shithole where i live. the terrain isn't flat, there's different environments within a short distance of each other (city, farm land, woods and mountains, beach), there's all the ethnic neighborhoods like chinatown and the often overlooked japan town, haha. even all the free newspapers were interesting (they have the onion on the street there too!). i got a couple of the san francisco ones though and they had articles about group sex therapy and drug use and the personals were filled with gay prostitutes and shit. it was just so typical of what you think of san francisco that i just shat myself in awe. my friend's cousin and her husband that we stayed with were also typical bay area residents, recycling everything and composting and buying organic shit. they didn't even have a microwave! and the guy surfed a lot and was a vegetarian. the people that lived across the street from them had a hummer that ran on fucking vegetable oil.

part of me has harbored a dream of going back there someday to live or go to law school or something.