How much of a problem are parking restrictions in CA cities?

[AntiGroundhogDay]

After reading up on SF (https://www.sfmta.com/projects-planning/projects/oversize-vehicle-overnight-parking-restriction), Looks like even if I am in a cargo van with decent stealth, it can't be over 7ft tall. So basically all the nice high rise ProMaster and Ford Transit models are out. But with that said, the article says it is only in designated areas.  Having never been to SF, is it just an extra task of driving to a certain part of the city to sleep each night?  How about other CA cities with restrictions? Are they basically the same? Thx.

 

[deadwood]

I spent a week in SF last year and then I let my son have the van for a month while he was looking for a job. Parking inside the city is a little crazy. Even if I could find free parking in the city I wouldn't feel very good with my van parked on the street anywhere downtown after dark. Just too many crazies on the streets.

What we did was find outlaying areas to park at night. Our favorite was Pacifica. The views are amazing and if you don't go during rush hour the drive into downtown isn't bad. Lot's of area like Pacifica. Once you are out of the downtown area the surrounding areas will have lots of street parking for all the cars. We never had a problem parking my High Roof Transit anywhere.

During the day in the city free parking is very hard to find. I have a folding bike in the van so it was a little easier to park further away and then ride bikes where we wanted to go. Another option would be to park outside the city by one of the Muni stations and take public transportation in to avoid all the pay parking.

My son ended up staying most of the month moving around Pacifica beacause he liked it so much. Plus it had the cleanest 24hr fitness center in town (which isn't saying much). That way he could get up in the morning and hit the gym for a quick shower and then start his day. Never a problem and he got to live in SFO for the whole month for free.

One more thing about parking in SF. Do not leave anything visible in the cab area of your van. And I literally mean nothing. Cars are smashed into on a nightly basis and anything visible will be taken. If you leave a candy bar visible someone is likely to break you window just to grab it. So no gps, no dash cam, no sunglasses..... I hope you get the idea on this one. Nothing.

 

[FALCON]

San Francisco is so packed. It felt a bit claustrophobic to be when I was there. And I usually do not mind large cities. It was just so much concrete and buildings. Cars everywhere - the roads were packed and the parking spots even more. I was in town during a music event, so maybe it was worse than normal. But - even when I drove out 10+ miles to a suburb, it was still packed. If you're going to be staying in SF for a while, one thing you might want to do is search out a few vandwellers there and get some inside scoop from them on where to park. Once place to find them is on the street that's along the south side of Golden Gate park.

I went down the CA coast last summer. Cities basically fall into one of three buckets:
1 - Cities that area obviously very opposed to people parking overnight (they made it obvious by having 3+ no overnight parking signs per block. And I mean in the ENTIRE town.
2 - In some other cities, it's cool and it's easy (like Santa Barbara and Santa Cruz).
3 - Some cities are a mix, where it's basically ok to park in one part of town during the day, and another part of town at night (Like Carmel). The Los Angeles area is a mix of all of these.

 

[AntiGroundhogDay]

Thanks for everyone's advice (ironically I just subscribed to your blog FALCON. ). So bottom line..... given the current conditions, and the going trend in CA....would you shy you away from a high top van for you and your partner (I'd go for an extended regular height cargo van) or would you deal with it (driving to different parts of town, or to the outskirts of town and "commuting" in during the day) provided you only spent a portion of your time in CA? Thanks!

 

[shadow]

If you have never been to san Francisco, trust me when I say you aren't missing anything.
Its over crowded, over priced, and over rated, just like the rest of California.

You would be better off spending your time and money some place else.

I was born and raised in California, not far from SF. I no longer live in California, and don`t ever plan on moving back there.