© McCormack's Guides
Zip Codes: 94112, 94134
Working-middle
class neighborhoods on south side of San Francisco. For orientation, key on McLaren Park. Excelsior borders the
park on the east, Portola District on the north. www.mccormacks.com
Favored in past by Italians, now home to
other immigrants and newcomers. Homes, about 60 years and older, are usually
single-family, stucco and wood frame construction built over one- and two-car
garages. Some apartments complexes along with duplexes.
Click for regional or detailed map
Appearances
range from dilapidated and in need of paint and remodeling to near-mint
condition. You'll find in these neighborhoods many nice, well-cared-for homes.
Many in-law units, portions of homes that have been remodeled as rental units.
These neighborhoods attract buyers who can't afford downtown prices but want to
live in the City.
In
reputation, Portola District and Excelsior come across as transition
neighborhoods. Many residents build equity, then move on or their kids move, to
be replaced often by another immigrant group.
Excelsior
and Portola rarely make the news, for crime or anything else. Not glamorous
neighborhoods. Residents work, mind own business, generally stay out of
mischief. Some concern about crime from a large public housing project to west,
on Sunnydale Avenue.
Shops along Mission Street. Large malls
with discount stores just over the border in Daly City. www.mccormacks.com
A
half-hour bus ride to downtown along Mission. Near Highway 101 and Interstate
280. BART station (trains to downtown). Good commute to downtown or to job
centers of San Mateo County.
When
Interstate 280-Highway 101 interchange was overhauled for earthquake repairs,
Caltrans tried to eliminate the freeway ramps serving the Portola District.
Residents and merchants fought back. Ramps reopened in 1996.
McLaren,
which has a golf course, is one of the largest parks in the city. Library
recently remodeled.
Balboa
High School, which serves the southern sections, was threatened with closure in
1991 but parents, alumni and students rallied to its survival and persuaded the
school board to keep it open. Both neighborhoods are close to City College of
San Francisco — many classes and activities.
In 2005,
the Excelsior district threw a celebration in memory of one of its favorite
sons, Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead. www.mccormacks.com
