StBloomSF

Okay, so Potrero is a little bit like the Bernal Heights area—it is super popular with young couples looking for a relatively close spot to the main areas of the city without supposedly having the crime problems that you expect. If you are a fan of the film, 40 Days and 40 Nights with Josh Hartnett, then this is the hill where the main characters lived (though the other spots were mostly in North Beach and the interiors were shot in Canada—don’t try finding the Laundromat with the hidden Tide—its somewhere in Montreal apparently).

So does Potrero stack to the semi-hype it built up a few years ago?

Rents—Okay, let’s start with rent prices. As far as I can tell from my sampling of rents today, we got the average around $1250/room with a fair number of studios and one bedrooms in the sampling only about 10% with 3 bedrooms.

Crime—Given that the Mission is to the west and Bayview to the south, crime might be a worry and it is especially on the southern low lying end. You’ve got about two thirds the number of crimes reported here as in the Mission. Given that there are only 10,000 residents here, that actually seems to make it worse than the Mission for crime.

A closer look though reveals that the main problem is, as you sadly might expect, on the southern end of the neighborhood bordering Bay View where you have a series of projects. This year, for example, there have been 3 murders in that vicinity. Given that there have only been 32 murders so far this year in the entire city, that means 10% of the murders have occurred in this area.

If you stay on the northern heights you are relatively safe—except for the expected burglaries and break-ins.

So given the crime woes on the south, what does Potrero have to offer?

A Neighborhood Feel—North of the recreation center there is definitely a small neighborhood feel to the tightly packed streets with little corner markets. Like in many areas of the city, the houses cozily push up against one another—but here the combination of the freeway forming a sharp border on the west and the hill creates an even greater feeling of community—sort of like you might get if everyone were living one high rise building.

Restaurants—You can actually find about a dozen or so pretty good restaurants in Potrero. My recommendations would be Pera, a Turkish place (the lamb shish kabob is my favorite); Goat Hill Pizza; and Aperto, an Italian place—all of them around the culinary epicenter of Potrero—Connecticut and 18th.

Bars—As far as the bar scene goes, you will really have to go outside of the neighborhood to find any really great options—but that is no big deal with Dogpatch to the east, SoMa to the north and the Mission to the west. There is of course a dive called Thee Parkside and Bottom of the Hill, both of which feature live music.

Overall?

A good little neighborhood with some quiet nooks that make for a great place to live close enough to the action to jump right in when you feel like it, but not so close that you can never have a rest from it.

So the Mission is known basically for two things—as a hipster haven and a high crime area. Both of these explain and are explained by the relatively moderate rents. Hipsters flock here because it is as close to action you can get while paying only about $1K/mo. in rent. Crime explains why the rents remain so low.

There are a lot of run down and boarded up businesses in areas of the Mission that make it look like your typical victim of urban blight. What is strange is that in many spots you can go one street over to find a perfectly lovely lane that would seem to be a part of an idyllic SF neighborhood. There are even a couple of beautiful alleyways filled with murals—urban art alleys really. This is the strange mix which is the Mission.

Crime—So how bad is crime? Well, last year there were 50 murders in all of SF. In the Mission District, there were 6 murders in 2010. So 12% of all murders that occurred in SF happened in the Mission. (Though we are now at the end of August and so far there have only been 2 murders.) If you look at it relative to population, we find that the 45,000 that live in the Mission make up about 5.5% of the population of SF’s ~815K. So your chances of being murdered in the Mission are about twice as high as in the rest of SF. You are also more likely to be assaulted and robbed here especially around 16th street and South Van Ness. That seems to be the epicenter of Mission violence.

That said, 6 of 45K is not really that big of a chance—being only about one in 7,500. (There a fair number of neighborhoods in Oakland’s Fruitvale District where you are at more than twice the danger.)
If you are willing to take your chances and live with the occasional car break-ins, burglaries and possibility of violence, you will find the Mission also has a lot to offer including:

Bookstores--The Mission is known for its several cool bookstores, including Borderlands, Dog Eared Books, and Modern Times. (Also a handful of news stands.)

Bars and Lounges--This is hipster town so, of course, lounges and dives abound, including the Morac Restaurant and Lounge (a Moroccan themed joint—very exotic), Nihon (a Japanese themed whiskey bar), and Casanova, Delirium and Elbo Room. Those are just a few—really there are tons of them.

Restaurants--The world has congregated here. Not only do you get the taco joints you would expect in a place called the Mission, but you also have Italian places like Delfina, sushi joints like Minako, Turkish restaurants like Tuba, Indian eateries like Aslam’s Rosoi, Peruvian bbq’s like Limon, and even Ethiopian places like Café Ethiopia and a handful of Basque tapas bars like Picaro.

Clothing Stores—Lot’s of these along Valencia. Buying clothes isn’t my thing, but if it is yours just take a stroll down there.
With Dolores Park to the west at the border with the Castro, great revival cinemas, the Downtown area to the north and the start-ups in the SoMa, Potrero to east and relatively quiet Bernal to the south, the Mission is great, high energy spot perfect for those tech mavens and artsy types. It’s a wonderful place to spend a year or two after college living it up and finding your place.

I also want to give a shout out to Dave Eggers’ 826 Valencia Street, a volunteer project to help kids develop their writing and thinking skills so they can go to college and make a better life for themselves. Eggers, who you may know from his books (especially A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius), is one of the truly good hearted people in the city and his organization definitely could use all the support it can get.

This area is fairly unusual looking for SF—it is just about all apartments and what looks like community housing developments as far as I can tell. There are lots of older buildings here and a fair number of high rises. Despite all these apartments, it is surprising how many trees you find on the streets—really attractive in some spots.

Crime—Whenever you start talking about Western Addition, you have to start with crime as a consideration, given that it skirts the Tenderloin on the east. Crime is definitely much higher than in some of its neighbors—about seven times higher than Alamo Square on the south and twice as high as in Lower Pacific Heights on the north. Of course, the worst areas are near the Tenderloin, especially near the corner of Laguna and Turk where 2/3 of the crimes occur.

This all seems a little strange to me since when you drive through the area, it doesn’t seem particularly run down or dangerous. Though it does have a bit of an urban feel with lots of apartment complexes and high rises.

Rents—I’m not exactly sure why, but I can’t find a lot of apartments for rent in this area. This is strange to me, because the area is literally filled with apartments. (Perhaps, these are public housing units not listed on regular rental sites?) The apartments that I do find on the far western side of the area are fairly expensive. I found some one bedrooms for $1700 in high rises which were fairly typical. (Though I also found a studio apartment in an older building for $800.) Still seems like there should be a lot more than a handful of listings in this neighborhood.

Parks and Recreation: The open parks are nothing to write home about but there are some recreation areas, like the Hutch Community Center that is great for kids (and has good tennis courts). The Buchanan Y is here as well. So in terms of getting a work out or giving the kids some time to let out some of their excess energy, you can definitely find some places if you are willing to pay for them.

Major Landmarks—St. Mary’s Cathedral is on Van Ness. It is not one of those old style churches with flying buttresses and all that—it is a modernist deal with a strangely shaped dome—you either love it or hate it. I do both depending on how I feel that day.

Mount Zion Medical Center—a really great medical facility associated with UCSF bookmarks the church on the western end.

Restaurants and Nightlife—For restaurants and entertainment, we have to lead off with Yoshi’s. Yoshi’s is sort of live music theater that happens to serve Sushi. It is a little pricey (entrees are in the $20-$30 range so expect to spend a good $50+ per person) but definitely worth it for the live music. They focus on Jazz but they also get bands like the Gin Blossoms that play here. So it’s a pretty cool date spot. Bruno’s—part pizza place, part bar—is right across the street from Yoshi’s and much more reasonably priced—but of course, no live music.
Overall, I would say that this is probably a better place to visit than live in because of the crime worries. But if you are young and street smart you might manage alright here.

Of course, when it comes to Alamo Square, you have to start with the Painted Ladies, that row of stick Victorians that were the pretend house front for the television show, Full House. (They make their appearance in a number of other movies and programs as well, from the Bachelor to Tales from the City.)

Now, I like the Painted Ladies as much as the next guy, but I must say that I have always found Alamo Square to be overrated in terms of its looks. First, although the Painted Ladies are a nice tourist spot, I’m not sure that the rest of Alamo Square is really all that attractive. The park, for example, that the Ladies fronts, is really not that much better than the parks in Pacific Heights. And the streets that surround this touristy area are not particularly attractive to me. The other Victorians in the area are touch on the run down side, and there is a sort of an open air, hilltop feel to Alamo Square that seems more empty to me rather than refreshing.

I recognize of course that “feels” are purely subjective, but I know other people have felt the same way. Okay but this is all fairly superficial.

One of the things that Alamo Square does have going for it, is a feeling of community. Every so often the residents take a page from the Dolores Park and play movies in the park in the summer time. Though given how cold the summers have been the last two years I’m not sure many people want to hang out at a hillside park on top of a hill in the middle of summer.

Bars--One thing that you definitely do have in Alamo Square is a lot of choices in terms of nightspots where you can get a drink. Just about all of these are down on Divisidero. The bars here have a slightly snooty feel to them. You have wine bars like Corkage and Fat Angel (which bills itself as a gastropub—meaning you can grab a bite to eat there as well). My favorite of the bars there is the Madrone Art Bar, whose walls are packed with frames and which has a really cool lounge with cool cushioned chairs and couches. The bartenders are really cool too—I highly recommend it.

Restaurants--There are also a number of restaurants along Divisidero including Bar Crudo (a raw food joint—yuck!). My recommendation would be the Sheba Piano Lounge where you can catch great live Jazz like the local Louisiana style band, Bohemian Kunckleboogie—put simply, a really great date spot. It’s an Ethiopian (“Abyssinian”) Vegetarian place, so the whole experience is really an adventure—perfect for showing off SF’s cosmopolitan delights. If you’re not into Ethiopian food but still want something spicy, try the Saffron Grill—a postage stamp sized Indian place just a little ways north on Divisidero. Delicious and very, very romantic.

Gyms--One thing that Alamo Square does not have are good gyms. If you want to find a good gym where you can take a dip you will have to go up to Pacific Heights—which of course means slightly higher gym membership prices. Of course, you could always go the Buchanan Y—the adult membership is $44/mo while a family membership is $99. Given the facilities that doesn’t sound too bad to me.

Parking—How bad is the parking in Alamo Square? So bad that the residents have set up a Facebook Page trying to get residential permits specific to their neighborhood. In the words of residents, parking is “a nightmare.” Here’s the URL if you want to check that out: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=21194612665
Public Transportation: Public transportation is really pretty good around here with MUNI lines on Fillmore, Divisidero, Hayes and MacAllister. Not to mention that you are so close to most places in the city that you could easily bike or even walk to them. So get with it and get off the carbon—no excuses if you are living here.

Childcare—the Phoebe Hearst Pre-School is just north of the park and you could also try the Montessori up in Japantown.

Rents—A lot of variation—I’ve seen studios for around $500 (though this is not typical) and I’ve seen them for $1800. The
average seems to be somewhere around $1200 to $1500. The farther north and east you go the higher.

Okay, so even though I don’t really find it all that attractive an area, I would definitely have to give it kudos for being a great nightlife destination right by its border with NOPA.