On nights where D and I find ourselves staying in as opposed to livin' it up in the City of Smiles, we dork out by gluing our eyes on our laptops. He occupies himself by catching up on reading his Google Reader feeds and I, on the other hand, soak up on the brilliant ideas I get from my favorite design blogs. But recently, we've acquired a new habit of virtually strolling down the streets of San Francisco, checking out neighborhoods and admiring the scenery that San Francisco has to offer. This virtual wandering is made possible by the magic of Google Earth, of course. D and I can spend hours in our virtual strolls. We'd go on Craigslist, look for cheap apartments for rent and check out the neighborhood the apartment is on in Google Earth.
Speaking of apartments, I came across a true real estate gem. I found a downtown loft that would be perfect for D and I. It's a historical building that was built in 1917 -- The California Cotton Mill, which at one point was the largest textile mill operation west of the Mississippi. After the construction of the interstate highway, the mill was divided into two. The main building, now on the east side of the highway, was turned into Cotton Mill Studios which is made up of 74 units that can be rented out as an office or living space.
The unit that caught my eye is a 1,950 sq. ft. beauty with wooden floors, massive industrial steel sash windows, and a spiral staircase leading up to an up stair space that can be transformed into a bedroom. It was love at first sight.
The only downside is that it's in Oakland. I don't know much about Oakland except for the legend of Epic Beard Man. And if that shows a good indication of Oakland, then I don't want anything to do with it. Oh and the loft costs $2,050 per month. So that's way over our budget.
But yeah, it would be nice to live there. If only it was in downtown San Francisco. And if it was $500 cheaper.
