My brother, who lives in Brooklyn, came to visit me a few weeks back for my birthday. He loved San Francisco so much he never wanted to leave and is now considering moving out here. I bet that sentiment is even stronger now that San Francisco has had beautiful spring like conditions and the east coast has had sub-arctic weather these past couple of weeks.
Russian Hill is a great area of the city to live in, especially for a newbie like myself and this was reinforced by my architect brother. Although my brother was on vacation, he noted that everyone on Polk Street was acting as if he or she was on vacation as well. People were laughing, smiling, and enjoying the moment. This must be one of the reasons why people are more relaxed out here than on the East Coast.

Polk Street really has everything within walking distance that you would want in your neighborhood, such as a gym, restaurants, bars, dry-cleaners, hardware store, and a pharmacy. On weekends as well as weekdays when the weather is nice, people will always be sitting outside enjoying their brunch or drinking their vino.

For you single people out there, another great aspect of Polk Street is how easy it is to meet good looking and friendly people.

The real downside to Russian Hill is the parking or complete lack there of.