© McCormack's Guides
Zip Code: 94132
Until the
revival of South of Market, Park Merced and Stonestown were among the most
modern neighborhoods in the City. They are located near the Pacific on the
southern border of San Francisco. www.mccormacks.com
The
section includes San Francisco State University, Lake Merced, two golf courses,
a shore park and the only “suburban” shopping mall in the City, Stonestown Galleria. Two
other golf courses located nearby.
Click for regional or detailed map
It also includes the small neighborhood of Lakeside, located across the street from Stonestown and the university.
Lakeside is made up of single homes built before and after World War II. The newer homes are located on the south side, the older on the north. Both sections fall into the categories of well done, well maintained and affluent. But the older side is generally more upmarket than the new. Many two-story structures. Garages in back of the homes, accessed by alleys.
Lakeside is straddled by 19th Avenue (Highway 1) and by Junipero Serra Boulevard, both heavily trafficked and at peak hours congested.
If you took this neighborhood and placed it in a modern suburb, it would be buffered or shielded from the mall, the university and the traffic. Planners might start with retail stores on one street, apartments on the next, townhouses next, then single homes.
Much of San Francisco was built before modern planning principles caught on and in many places you will find upscale neighborhoods smack in the middle of traffic and commerce.
In recent years, planners, dismayed by the uniformity and possibly the blandness of the suburbs, are moving stores closer to single homes and in other ways changing the mix. But many residents still want the buffering.
So ... Lakeside. Close to shopping, commute boulevards and a major university. For some people, no doubt, too close. But if you like the possibilities, from 19th Avenue, turn east on Winston Drive and you are in Lakeside.
Neighborhood has a park, a library and a Catholic high school (Mercy). Streetcars on 19th Avenue to downtown.
Park
Merced is large complex of short and tall (12-story) apartment buildings. Built
in the late 1940s for elderly, it now houses all ages. Innovative for its era, Park
Merced resembles a master planned community. It has lawns, tennis and
basketball courts, a Montessori school, playgrounds, a community park and a dog
run.
Just north
of Park Merced and east of the zoo is the small neighborhood of Stonestown,
which on some maps gets divided into Stonestown and Merced Manor.
For the
most part housing in this area consists of middle to upper middle homes,
well-maintained, built after World War II. Condos and apartments show up on
some streets.
East of
Junipero Serra Boulevard the terrain rises into hills and similar housing. This
is another San Francisco situation where if you drive three or four blocks in
any direction the housing changes. www.mccormacks.com
San
Francisco State University has dorms but for much of its housing the university
has been purchasing apartment buildings in Park Merced. In 2005, the university
bought an apartment cluster near the Stonestown Mall and renamed the complex University Park North. The 670 units house
students, faculty and staff.
For information about housing, students
should contact the university housing office at (415) 338-1067 or see SFSU Housing.
Foggy and
often cold in the summer, balmy in the winter.
By San
Francisco standards, a long way to the downtown. But freeways and Junipero
Serra Boulevard are close by. BART station nearby in Daly City. Also, streetcars go
directly to the downtown.
For
amusements, the zoo, the golf courses, the lake, the Pacific (gorgeous
sunsets), beaches, Stern Grove (concerts), Golden Gate Park close by. The
Pacific a strong presence. Trap and skeet range. Golden Gate National
Recreation Area extends along the coast. Lot of greenery. Harding Park Golf
Course recently got a $15 million renovation. www.mccormacks.com
San Francisco
State U, through its College of Extended Learning, offers classes to help
people win jobs and promotions and enrich themselves culturally.
The
university enrolls 29,000, full and part time, employs thousands and is major
influence in the City.
More
shopping, including large discount stores, over the border in Daly City.
Park
Merced and several neighborhoods, including the Sunset, are patrolled by cops
out of the Taraval police station. In some years, this policing district will
have few murders, in other years they flare to about a dozen. By San Francisco
standards … safe but keep an eye out.
• University wants to build a hotel and conference center at 19th Avenue and Buckingham Way, near mall.
