Portola, San Francisco

Portola looks like a lot of the neighborhoods to the south and west of SF. (I realize it is not very far west—I saying both south and west.) In other words, there are lots of smallish homes packed up against each other. In fact, despite being fairly far from the center of SF, the population density here matches about the average for the city as a whole. That means lots of people packed fairly close together.

This is a middle class neighborhood—roughly. Or to put it differently, the household incomes here are about average for SF—about $70K per year. To those who don’t live in SF this may sound like upper middle class, but you have to take in the cost of living in the Bay Area, which continues to be ridiculously high despite the Recession.

The census stats indicate that about half the population is Asian, and a quarter Hispanic. From the presence of a Ukrainian Catholic Church in the neighborhood, I assume that makes up much of the majority Asian population and that the other races are fairly equally distributed.

This might sound like a fairly nice middle class neighborhood in which to raise a family—and maybe it is, I don’t know for sure—but one of the drawbacks here are the schools. The local middle school, MLK, does pretty badly when it comes to State scores, with its students scoring below the national and state averages across the board (though usually not falling below the bottom third). The local high school to the east is even worse. So this might not be the best place to go in terms of educational opportunities. (There is a prep school just to the west, Cornerstone Academy—though I can’t vouch for their quality.)

The big worry, of course, when you are adjacent to high crime areas like Bay View and Silver Terrace is crime. Compared to Bay View which has roughly the same population, Portola has only about one fifth the number of crimes as its more infamous neighbor. Unfortunately, much of this crime is of the assault and burglary variety. So this is a bit of a concern.
Like in most places in the City you have to keep your wits about you. Overall, however, you are much safer than if you lived one mile to the east on the other side of the Bayshore Freeway.

The rents here are about as good as they get in SF, with a three bedroom going for between $2K and $3K and with several choices of this variety. Basically, I would say that anywhere you can rent houses with rooms going for under $1000/room in the Bay Area is pretty good.

Now the commute is not very nice here. I would not want to try to go into the City on the Bay Shore, but public transportation—Muni—is abundant and could definitely be a good option. Candlestick is also nearby, so as long as the 49ers continue to play there you could check them out.

There are some restaurants here. They are not the great SF restaurants that people come into the City for, but if you live in Portola they might be worth checking out. They are all mostly on San Bruno Blvd (the main drag in Portola) right next to the freeway—and they are predominantly Chinese and Vietnamese restaurants. So you would not have to go to far for some take out.

There are a couple of run of the mill bars here, which would be okay if you are hanging out with buddies and didn’t feel like driving anywhere, but which I would not call a real draw in themselves. In other words, no one is driving in to some to these places.

Put simply—this is the kind of neighborhood that might work if you are looking to save on rent but still be on this side of the Bay Bridge.

Ahh, Portola, where do I begin? You’re a quiet, nothing-happening neighborhood just to the side of a major highway. You’re a little shady at night, but you’re an okay place to raise a family. But you’re so damn far away from the main San Francisco drag, someone living there can feel like they’re in a totally different place.

The scattering of businesses along James Lick Boulevard make it all worthwhile, though. Johnson’s Barbeque is one of the best BBQ places in San Francisco. Breakfast at Tiffany’s is a great dinner place (despite it’s name!). Jim Georgie’s Donuts has pastries to rival bigger names like Bob’s. The San Bruno Café is a classic pit stop on any lazy day. And Yummy Bowl is one of the better pho spots in the city, even though this area is no pho hot spot.

Portola’s in good proximity to some of the lower gems in San Francisco, too. John McLaren park, one of SF’s biggest and least-known green spaces, is just blocks away. Bay View’s pretty shady, but a stroll around South Basin (in the daytime) makes the trip worth it. Same deal with Candlestick Point State Recreation Area: definitely take a look. And Visitacion Valley and Crocker-Amazon are both worth stroll-throughs if you’ve got nothing better to do.

Portola is a pretty chill neighborhood. There isn’t much to do here in terms of entertainment or going out to restaurants or bars, just mostly homes. But if you’re looking for entertainment, food, shopping, bars, things like that, you might have to travel a good distance before find anything of that sort. This is because Portola is deep within a residential area of San Francisco. But I mean, if you’re a laid back person, who likes nature, the open outdoors rather than spending money, then I’d say Portola is a good neighborhood for you as Portola is a neighborhood that’s nature-filled. You have John McLaren Park, a big park, in the area, including a golf course and several playgrouns. There is also a basin, split up into two. There are also an abundant amount of schools in Portola. There are a few elementary schools, there is MLK Jr Middle School and Philip and Sala Burton High School. Living in this neighborhood would be great for raising a family, you have a great natural setting including nearby schools of all grades up until 12th grade. Commuting and transportation is quite adequate as well since the 101 and 280 freeway lies right next to Portola. Candlestick Park isn’t far from Portola as well.

With easy access to both 101 and 280, this part of town is perfect for people who want to be near the city, but not in the heart of it, and also able to get to the south bay easily. I lived in Portola when I was working in Mountain View and the commute was often under 40 minutes during non rush hour times because I was so close to the highway. I also travelled a lot so this location made getting to and from the airport a breeze.

While eating out and the night life in this area are quite limited, you do have the amazing McLaren Park right near by with trees and open space as well as views and nature.

I did get my car stolen from this area -- right in front of my house. But it was recovered quickly (totaled, sadly). Still, the houses are mostly free standing with back and/or front yards and it's a great place for families.

Portola is a great neighborhood for kids and adults alike. Hilly streets, although not too hilly, make for a fun and energetic walk or jog. Our dog used to love to run her short little legs up and down these streets.

Have only eaten at one restaurant in Portola and would never return. Stay away from Wing Hing Restaurant – bad service and equally bad food. The food is cheap though, and they hang the meat in the window like most places in Chinatown storefronts.

The Portola Library is a great place to browse for those research books. Previously located on San Bruno, the library just moved into its new building this year (2009) and celebrated a grand opening in late February. Dana Zed, renowned artist, created art glass shutters near the entrance and the look is stunning.