Portola Dr, Forest Hill Extension

Portola Drive serves as the gateway from scenic, suburban, beachfront, parkland western San Francisco to the vibrant, bustling, exciting eastern San Francisco that many people are more familiar with. It winds through Forest Hill (which is, indeed, a hill) before eventually turning into Market Street in the Castro District.

The road is on a moderate gradient, so you will be biking uphill, but at a moderate rate (although, to be fair, it is tough for any driver to make a judgment on the difficulty of biking from the vantage point of their car).

Portola is super-residential and is dotted with suburban San Francisco homes. It offers proximity to a fantastic, vibrant city but with a much more manageable feel. This could be a great place to raise a family if you want an urban life in a suburban neighborhood. Just be aware of traffic (which is manageable to drive in, but could be problematic if you have small children.

Portola Drive, located on Twin Peaks, is a path that, if heading east, has an upward slope. This street is not a straight path like those in the sunset district; rather, it curves occasionally. Driving through this street, one would see that there are close to no pedestrians. The street is wide enough to provide 2 lanes and a parking lane in each direction. Decent houses line the road and there are occasional street lights and some pedestrian crosswalks with no stop signs. The 48 Muni line is the main bus line that runs on Portola, however, the 43 bus line also runs on this street for part of its route. Nearing O’Shaughnessy Blvd, convenient stores and small grocery stores are in business. Perhaps it is because they want to attract teenage customers from the nearby high school, The School of the Arts.

Portola Drive is a very busy street that connects West Portal to the upper twin peaks area. Portola starts at St. Francis Circle in St. Francis Woods district and than runs all the way past Twin Peaks and turns into San Francisco’s famous Market Street. There is a lot of car traffic going on this street but there is hardly ever any major traffic. The view from the top of Portola Drive is spectacular as you can see most of the city including the downtown skyline.

Portola Drive has a lot of stores including a small grocery store and various eateries such as Round Table Pizza. Portola Drive runs right by the street that leads up to the top of Twin Peaks. Portola Drive runs right behind West Portal Drive which has many shops. The street is a block away from West Portal muni station which leads downtown. Portola Drive eventually turns into Junipero Serra Boulevard which leads to highway 280 and goes to Daly City. Bus lines run all the way up and down Portola so public transportation is no concern.

There are not that many houses on Portola Drive, but there is plenty of housing for families right off the street. There is virtually no night life on Portola Drive as it mainly serves as a connecting street.