Jon was a great host, and the room is really nice with a great bed and a nice big desk. There's a little table in the nice, sunny backyard as well. I felt fairly safe walking back from the Ashby BART station as a female alone at night, although I didn't dawdle.

The location is great for visiting Oakland, but it does take about an hour to get into San Francisco on public transport, more if you are going to the mission. The transport (BART) is really easy to navigate and runs til about midnight. It takes about 40 minutes to walk up to Berkeley campus from Jon's place, or a 20 minute bus ride (the bus comes I think every 20 minutes). There's not much food super close by, but plenty about a 20 minute walk away in Rockridge. All in all it's great for the price as long as you're willing to commute, and a lot cheaper than anything in San Francisco or Berkeley.