Welcome back to Curbed Comparisons, a regular column exploring what you can rent for a set dollar amount in different neighborhoods. Is one person's studio another person's townhouse? Let's find out. Our price: $2,500/month.
↑ Here's a Valencia Street Victorian that dates to 1880, and it's strawberry pink. That's probably enough to sell a lot of people all on its own, but if you're holding out for an even better deal at $2,500/month, we can head inside to the bottom floor studio, with lustrous wood floors and kitchenette. Upstairs is occupied by landlord and roommates, but the bottom floor is a space by itself. Also, it's located two blocks from BART. No pets, alas.
↑ Do you remember the magic words? In this case, the answer is neither "please" nor "abracadabra," but rather "rent control," and a block away from Alamo Square to boot. The top-floor studio comes in at $2,300/month, in a very handsome, brick-heavy Edwardian building from 1927. This one is right on Fillmore and Grove. No dogs are allowed (canine control is also in effect), but cats are acceptable.
↑ Not far away from the previous studio, right near the line where the Western Addition butts up against Japantown, $2,490/month gets you a studio at the Fillmore Center, right across the street from the Ray Kimball Playground. The 510-square-foot apartment comes with an advertised "sleeping alcove," which is not quite a room but more of a transitional fossil between closet and bedroom. The tiny place does have a kind of funky style all its own, and you're permitted both cats and dogs.
↑ For a bedroom with a little more meat on its bones we head to Fisherman's Wharf, where this single bed apartment in a complex that truly, deeply loves a shingled facade goes for $2,399/month. (A dollar saved is a dollar earned, but don't ask us what it will buy in this neighborhood.) The Stockton Street building is right near the tourist drag around Pier 39, and the building's 1964 sensibilities still linger in a few odd touches, like the borderline adorable micro fireplace in the living room. No pets.
↑ Last up is a junior one-bed apartment in Bernal Heights on Winfield Street next to the park. It's $2,500/month even, and it opens up into what the ad calls a "Shangri-La garden." While it probably doesn't quite manage eternal peace and harmony, it is a rather pretty little affair. Cats are okay, but dogs are out, so hopefully your definition of paradise doesn't include a Jack Russell or something.