One way to do it that I've seen is to have a place back east that you can rent during the summer for big bucks, then you go back to open it up or close it in may or September. The other way is to stay single and mobile and instead of paying for one big place at say $1200/mo, have two shared rooms on each coast at $600/mo. And of course the real simple...yeah...way is to make a lot of money without dying inside, and just invest in two places.

i"m about to fly back to Keene NH via Jet Blue and NYC/Bus to keene to work for two weeks. I'm doing it by staying with friends rent free there and biking to work, and I've not yet found a place in SF where i'm staying with friends, so I'll come out ahead financially. Otherwise my hourly would have to go up. The fall colors should be great too

Wow, I just made a very surprise trip from keene nh to LA to watch the Xprize launch monday morning (www.xprize.com). After they announced the 2nd Xprize date on a couple days ago, I called friends and things worked out yesterday to get cheap JetBlue tickets from NYC. I'm with friends, but everybody's got to work, so I'm renting a car and going out at about 4am.

Yeah, I'm doing the bicoastal thing right now. My home base is in San Francisco, but I'm doing a year-long degree at NYU. Meanwhile, my gf is in SF, so I'm jumping planes every few weeks.

I've arrived in San Francisco and been reunited with my stuff and my car. I was holding off a cold from a particularly chilly night in New Hampshire and it got me after the flight, late nights in NYC and here for the election. I've been watching the sunshine and rain as I recover. It's great to be back, so beautiful and full of people and things happening, but I dread the work/apt search. Trying to avoid the job boards and stick with friends. All in all, things are good on this coast and I feel insulated a little from the effects of the election somehow.

Hey there, I was also going to say. its a hard decision to stick to one town. SF has what NYC doesn't and vice versa.

I feel you!

I'm in NYC (queens, preceded by Brooklyn). Thinking about SF, but it seems so isolated...NY has everything...seems like SF might be hard to adjust to.

But NYC can be hard...especially the winters (snow is ok but it gets really really cold...and no green vegetation for months...gets really depressing!)

The palm trees are a definite plus in CA...even the north of california has some...

The subway in NY is great, and you don't need a car. A real toss up. SF seems very small compared to NYC, but it's a cool city.

Ok maybe I missed something along the way here, but the question was never answered. I too would love to flit back and forth between NJ and SF. But one, I don't have a job that would allow it and two hubby really doesn't beleive it would work for us.(He's a musician who has played at the Jersey shore for more then thirty years.) Reading through the posts I didn't hear any specifics.........
My family is out in San Francisco, and his is here in NJ.

I grew up in RI, and my family will always be there.
I moved to Burbank almost 3 years ago, and I love most of the things about being here.

I have a place to stay in RI, it's cheaper to live, but there's far less opportunity, and the pay is substantially less.

In LA, work is extremely plentiful, and my goals and dreams appear to be more attainable here.
BUT....
I miss my Daughter, and I travel back and forth like a ping pong ball, but I never really satisfy my need to be a bigger part of her life while i'm trying to carve out a niche for myself in LA.
Filming in New England, specifically in RI, is getting more popular. It seems that when i'm trying my hardest to stay in LA, they're filming in RI. Every time the thought crosses my mind to move back, someone tells me:
Don't quit 5 minutes before the miracle happens, hang in there.
Although the volume of work as compared to back east is expontially greater, every person with stars in his/ her eyes finds their way out here every pilot season and relatively decreases the ratio.
It's sure not easy.