Merced Manor

Merced Manor is a little neighborhood that I would definitely say, lies in the middle of it all. Merced Manor lies in a great location yet at the same time a pretty bad one. I’ll start off with the good. If you live in Merced Manor you’re not far from things to do. Walking away from Stonestown you’ll go through a large park with some tennis courts and a playground. On the other side of this park is the 19th Avenue Sava Pool on Wawona Street. This pool is one of the most frequented pools in San Francisco, it was just recently remodeled so it looks super-duper nice! If you live in the area you must go and swim there (recreationally) some day. The pool is also kept clean, and again, probably one of the cleanest pools around. On the other side of Merced Manor is the Stonestown Galleria, the place to go to hang out with friends, grab a bite, or to go and just shop. There are so many stores at Stonestown, you could literally spend a whole day there, seriously. There is also a YMCA center, great for those who have a membership to go and workout or play sports. Going down Eucalyptus Drive you’ll hit Lowell High School, and on school days, there will always be high schools heading home, specially towards bus stops on 19th Avenue or to go and chill at Stonestown. Traffic gets pretty heavy too in the mornings and after school when parents go to pick up their children. There is also a great park behind Lowell High School. The bad thing about Merced Manor is that it lies in the middle of everything noisy. From the high schoolers heading home plus their parents going to drop and pick them up, there’s more. Merced Manor lies right next to Sloat Boulevard, definitely a busy street, since many commuters use it to transition over to 19th Avenue. There is also Ocean Avenue where many use it to get onto 19th Avenue as well. Eucalyptus Drive is just as busy since parents use it to get to and from Lowell High. 19th Avenue is probably what contributes to the most noise for Merced Manor, I don’t even need to explain it, you’ll know what I mean if you just walk around Merced Manor.

There is a block on Merced Manor dedicated to the San Francisco Water Department as a water reservoir. I’ve never really known what it was because it lies on a hill and it concaves in so when you pass by it, you’ll just see a hill and sometimes wonder where the building is.

The defining character of a neighborhood is sometimes the sum of its many houses. Merced Manor fits right in to that category, having a collection of homes that suggest a resort town somewhere along the coast in Southern California. This picturesque neighborhood, barely a quarter-mile square, could in fact be mistaken for a mini version of La Jolla were it not for the frequent fog and easy parking.

Most of the tiled-roof, stucco homes come in preposterous shades of pink, café au lait, heather gray, cream, and chiffon green, their picture windows framed in beveled plaster or carved wood or cast-iron grillwork. Many are the work of Ray F. Galli, a developer with a reputation in a number of western San Francisco neighborhoods who purchased lots here in the 1930s, ignoring the Great Depression and building residences with highly stylized elements such as arched porches, half-timbered facades, turrets, and faux bell towers that imparted a home-is-an-owner’s-castle look. Most of these houses were built between the early 1930s and late 1950s, so even the more modern examples have exterior decoration that gives them historic charm, such as moderne’s linear symmetry and labyrinthine grates around porches and terraces. The neighborhood is also known for its alleys, a rarity in San Francisco. This permits owners to access garages from behind, preserving the integrity and beauty of the home’s façade.

In addition to its historic domiciles, the neighborhood has one exceptional public building. On the area’s northern border, bounded by Ocean Avenue, Sloat Boulevard, and 22nd and 23rd avenues, is the Merced Manor Reservoir, a concrete structure built in 1936 (as the sign on its faintly deco stairway proclaims). The contained reservoir has approximately 70,000 square feet of roof area (which is locally rumored to be transformed into tennis courts, though the city’s Recreation and Park Department cannot provide any confirmation) and is sub-divided into two basins. During its recent seismic upgrade (completed in 2006), the entire monumental structure and ornamental stairways were restored and repainted.

Also on the north side of this square block, facing Sloat Boulevard, sits a large, windowless building. This is the Central Pump Station, built in 1915. It has an imposing look, its wide, columned door surmounted by the following inscription from the Bible: "LET THY FOUNTAINS BE DISPERSED ABROAD AND RIVERS OF WATERS IN THE STREETS." (Proverbs, 5:16). Above this, along the frieze, is another biblical quotatition: “BUT THE LAND WHITHER YE GO TO POSSESS IT IS A LAND OF HILLS AND VALLEYS AND DRINKETH WATER OF THE RAIN OF HEAVEN.” (Deuteronomy, 11:11) There are representations of human-faced fish on each corner, their twisted tails ending in a red trident, with a vase spilling water from above. In the center of the facade, above the frieze, is a cartouche, surmounted by the face of an old man and flanked on either side by a draped female figure and an eagle. Little is known about the architect or the significance of the religious inscriptions, other than to remind San Franciscans of the precious gift of water.

The neighborhood is obviously desirable, its detached, single-family homes a plus so close to both Stonestown and University Park North (the former Stonestown Apartments). There are a little more than 1,000 residents here, more than half white, a little more than a third Asian, with the remaining mixed race. The median age is 46, and the residents are comfortable if not well to do, with a median household income of $120,000 annually.

Amenities include the Stonestown Family YMCA (one of the city’s largest, at 20th Avenue and Eucalyptus Drive, offering a pool, workout gym, cycling studio, and a senior center, with programs and classes for kids, teens, and young adults) and St. Stephen Extension Center (on Eucalyptus Drive at Melba Avenue), which hosts adult sports and games, an over-50 club, and Gamblers Anonymous meetings.

The Stonestown Galleria shopping mall serves as this neighborhood’s commercial district, with an array of stores anchored by Macy’s and Nordstrom. There’s a Borders bookstore, a Trader Joe’s grocery, a twin cinema, and a number of chain restaurants and fast-food eateries. The indoor mall is enveloped by a huge parking lot, perhaps its one unsightly feature, with few trees and pedestrian medians, signaling that it was built in the age when the automobile was the paramount mode of transportation.

Public transportation is straightforward: the No. 23 bus goes east/west along Sloat Boulevard (the neighborhood’s northern limit), and the No. 28 travels north and south along 19th Avenue. The “M” streetcar is an option for downtown commuters, traveling along 19th Avenue (there’s a stop at Stonestown Mall) before veering northeast through the West Portal tunnel to Civic Center, Union Square, and the Financial District in about half an hour.

Parking is not an issue if you own a home here, as most residences have garages (many, as noted, tucked in the alley). It’s also generally fairly easy to park on the streets, though near Lowell High during school hours, the influx of cars can make finding a spot difficult; likely for that reason, the city’s Department of Parking and Traffic has issued residential parking permit “H” for certain streets between Ocean and Eucalyptus avenues.
Bordering Merced Manor are the campuses of two of San Francisco’s best schools (which themselves lie side by side on Eucalyptus): Lowell High and Lakeshore Alternative Elementary. Lowell High, which got a coveted 10 out of 10 rating by GreatSchools and was rated 28th in the nation by the U.S. News & World Report, is known for attracting college-bound students, with an almost 100 percent graduation rate, as well as the largest number of graduates entering the University of California system, primarily at Berkeley and Davis. Lakeshore Alternative Elementary, rated 7 out of 10 by GreatSchools, is noted for its strong parental participation and art enrichment programs. St. Stephen School, affiliated with the Roman Catholic Parish of the same name, is a K-8 elementary on Eucalyptus Drive at 22nd Avenue.
What little crime occurs here is generally indicative of the pernicious trend in San Francisco: car break-ins (though only three were committed in a recent three-month period). According to San Francisco Police Department statistics, there are occasional disturbing the peace, vandalism, and intoxicated-person violations as well, though these are all infrequent. No homicides have been reported here in the last three years.

Because of its desirability as a place to live, raise a family, and even retire, home values here have stayed constantly high, even during the recent economic downturn. Median home prices are up 24 percent from a year ago, with the average price of $955,000, according to Trulia. A four-bedroom/three-bathroom home goes for about $1.3 million, with two-bedroom/two-bathroom homes between $760,000 and $850,000. There are no apartments for rent here, perhaps owing to the zoning of this enclave and the great number of renters in the adjoining University Park North development. That’s just fine with the residents. Even with the fog, they like the peace and quiet of their little piece of La Jolla North just fine.

Lake Merced's fresh water supply keeps the Harding Park Municipal Golf Course's fairways green and its marshy shores attracting a wide variety of birds. This is a great bonus to the neighborhood of Merced Manor.

You can rent a boat at the Lake Merced Sports Center or join the ever-present throng of young and old taking advantage of the lake's excellent fishing. The 700-acre Harding Park surrounding the lake offers picnic areas and hiking and bike trails.

An interesting mix of families, retirees and students from San Francisco State University reside in the row houses of the Parkside neighborhoods. This district includes plentiful parking, detached, single family houses, middle-to-upper-middle income families, the San Francisco Country Club, and the San Francisco City College.

The houses within Merced Manor tend to have a Spanish look to them. The trees tend to be small palms, and there's a park like reservoir in the middle.

The Stonestown Galleria mall is just minutes away and provides great cafes and boutiques.