I'm moving to Silicon Valley and living in my car

Watch out for the police. Bizarre as it may seem to prohibit someone from sleeping in their car, in many places it's not quite allowed, whether through law or habit. Google it a bit for the horror stories and some advice.

kurtvarner4• 14 years ago

I've looked into this issue. It is in fact illegal in all Bay Area cities except Palo Alto. So that's where I'm planning to park.

padwiki• 14 years ago

Kurt,

Kudos on having the cajones to do whatever it takes to make your dream a reality.

Couple of tips: First and foremost, the pariSoma idea doesn't seem like the best bang for your buck. For a working space, Hacker Dojo (two blocks from my house) is a much better value. Save that $300 a month (at least $600 after gas and parking in the city or caltrain fees) and get a 24 hour fitness membership (showers and exercise) and maybe 3 or 4 nights a month in a budget hotel for a break. There are sooooo many networking events and meetups in the valley you really don't have to pay $300 just to "have access" to any particular group. Start with 106 miles and expand from there.

Second, while Palo Alto may legally allow sleeping in cars, it is still in incredibly wealthy town whose residents don't really like "homeless" people mucking up their view. Expect some harassment.

Third, hit me up when you get to town and I'll buy you lunch and some handiwipes.

Ben

kurtvarner4• 14 years ago

Thanks so much for the advice, Ben. You make so good points. And yes, I expect to catch some negativity towards my situation. But I'll deal with that as it happens.

Let's for sure meet up. I'll shoot you an email next week.

bradleyland• 14 years ago

Best of luck!

A very good friend of mine traveled to all 31 NFL stadiums in a single year. He and two other guys started in an RV, but ended up in a Chevy Suburban after a "transmission incident". As he tells it, the weeks spent Suburban were extremely difficult. The importance of good sleep cannot be understated. If you find that you're not sleeping well, adjust your strategy. Otherwise you'll pay a stiff penalty for sleep deprivation.

Another challenge you'll face is the fact that vagrancy is illegal in most places. In a great twist of irony, it can be easier to be vagrant without a car than it is with. Cars are large, so they get noticed. Parking overnight in just about any commercial parking lot could result in the police being called. Interestingly enough, Walmart is tolerant of overnight parkers. Although, most people are in RVs. I'm not sure if it's a policy discussed out in the open, but you can park an RV in a Walmart parking lot overnight without getting hassled in most places. You might try your luck rotating between a handful of Walmarts in the area. I'd try to avoid parking in the same location many nights in a row as not to get picked up.

Zhenya• 14 years ago

Kurt, While I support wholeheartedly this adventurism, don't you think focusing all your energy into your start-up would be more effective and beneficial than spending all this time in San Fran dealing with these "inconveniences"?

My suggestion is ask that friend who offered you his couch, if it's ok to stay there for a month. Then use that month to get your shit together.

You can pay him back by cooking dinners, keeping your stuff clean and being a considerate human. Later on, when you hit the big time, you can buy him a month long vacation.

kurtvarner4• 14 years ago

I understand why you'd think that, but I really feel that my current situation will allow me to focus completely on work. I'll be spending all my time in the co-working spaces, and simply sleep in my car. It's looking like there are several better options for showers than I wrote about, so that's not going to be much of a distraction.

But again, I really don't know what the daily routine will be like until I'm actually doing it. So if the situation proves to be having a negative affect, then I'll look for alternatives.

mindslight• 14 years ago

I've spent two decent-length cross-country round trips with a combination of camping and car-sleeping in my civic coupe, so I can't really not comment.

1. The main thing that bugs me about sleeping in the civic is the blatant advertising of yourself as vulnerable (even in spite of sticking to unpopulated areas and only when it was too late to be worth tenting). I slept in my reclined driver's seat, but I can't see half in the trunk being much better unless you really make some modifications to give yourself privacy.

2. You will be waking up when it gets light and any segment of the population starts to function.

3. In case it could make your sleeping arrangement flatter - it's not too much work to pull out the rear bottom cushion. Although this just might make the trunk threshold more of a bump on your back.

4. The first trip, I planned to do a bit of coding. I did do some, but it was quite hard to set aside the transient mindset and concentrate on something as abstract as coding. If you are indeed able to 'focus completely on your work', it's because you will basically be living at whatever coworking space you choose, and retiring to your car to avoid pissing them off.

5. The day after car-sleeping, I generally prioritized getting to a proper campsite while it was still light out. Even just setting up a tent and cooking a simple meal provides more stability and comfort than sleeping in the car does.

6. If your goal is really to do both, then do both. Consider even starting off your project with some hermit time in the woods instead of SV (get a second car battery (used) to completely run down with a car->laptop PS). But if your priority is to pour yourself into your startup idea, then have a solid backup plan for a more stable home base in case the car thing isn't working out.

kbob• 14 years ago

If the Honda dies, get yourself a minivan and an air mattress.

ChuckMcM• 14 years ago

Very inspiring.

Consider camping. In which sleeping in your car would be considered a very very small RV. An annual pass to the county parks around here is $80 [1] and there are some pretty close to the thick of things (see Sanborn Skyline [2] for example) Its $24/night but they don't hassle you for sleeping there. 14-days in a row and then you have to go somewhere else.

[1] http://www.sccgov.org/portal/site/parks/agencyarticle?path=%...

[2] http://www.sccgov.org/portal/site/parks/menuitem.106844a55ca...

GoldenMonkey• 14 years ago

Is this really going to work? Keep us posted:)

A contrast from TED, The year I was homeless:

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/becky_blanton_the_year_i_wa...

freshfey• 14 years ago

Make sure to stack tuna cans, eggs, brown rice and nuts. If you buy in bulk (which I recommend for everything except the eggs in your case) you'll get away with great prices. Preparing it is easy as well (think 1 tuna can + some fresh salad + olive oil/balsamico => awesome meal) if the hacker dojo has a rice cooker you're golden, otherwise get one for 30 bucks and you'll have a healthy carb source all the time.

Kudos to doing that, very inspiring. I wish you all the best! :)

bomatson• 14 years ago

Good luck, Kurt! You'll be missed in LA

Out of curiosity, what is your monthly burn going to be with this plan? Seems ~ $1500 / month (which is great)

dinkumthinkum• 14 years ago

I have to agree with one of the commenters over there, "phil." I feel like this makes those of us involved involved look silly. Good luck to you, I really mean that. All the best. But, I think the idea that we have to as phil said, "play the starving artist" thing is just too much, I think. Ramen noodles is one thing, but leaving out of your car in Palo Alto and renting a workspace. We all here respect PG, but all your links for your rationale are links just to his essays. It just seems a little like naive romanticism. Fine, whatever, but I don't want to see this trend continue or this expectation that many of the most skilled people in the World need to make their way to success by living as vagrants. All the best, though. Really.

I'm moving to Silicon Valley and living in my car

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