Portola

What we like:
We bought here about 3 years ago, moved from the Mission, and have grown to love this funky little neighborhood. It's no "sNOEwy Valley" and we are totally cool with that. Instead, It's a unique working class "old San Francisco" community that's getting nicer without getting exclusive. You will know your neighbors here - if you make the effort, it will be returned. Our neighbors close our garage door if we leave it open and collect our FedEx packages if we are not home. There is a strong and active community of neighbors committed to making the neighborhood a good place to live and in the short time we have been here, it looks to be making a difference. Murals by local artist have been popping up and once neglected and overgrown areas are being turned into gardens slowly. While the neighborhood is not as green as we would like to see it, the massive McLaren Park more than makes up for our need for nature. It's vast and lush and a walk through the eucalyptus or redwood groves recharges us when the pressure of the city becomes too much. It also helps that this neighborhood is sunny (and very windy at times) so when the rest of SF in fogged in, we pretty much see the sun in Portola every day of the year-if only for an hour.

Businesses:
A strong neighborhood association is attracting interesting new businesses to San Bruno Ave. (the neighborhood's main street). A new mircobrewery opened up last year and while it's not inexpensive, it has become a gathering spot for all walks of life in the community with it's award winning beers. The neighborhood brunch spot, Breakfast At Tiffany's, was recently renovated and has become very popular with large servings of tasty high quality meals that attracts a diverse crowd. There is also several places to get coffee with Four Barrel being a hidden away gen for the neighborhood. A cool little park and free library that community volunteers maintain is next to the coffee shop, providing a great place to meet neighbors or relax. The majority of San Bruno Ave businesses are Asian and Mexican restaurants, markets and herbalists. Some are good and others aren't but they all help to create a bustling street atmosphere during the day that reminds me of 24th street in the Mission years ago.

A new grocery store opened this year, Grocery Outlet. While we didn't think much of it before it opened, we are total converts now. The Portola store is new, clean and well stocked with a lot of organic and specialty items. We still supplement with other stores like Rainbow or TJ's but this place is great for everyday basics and it's constantly changing. It's also walk able and the parking lot is nice. Owned and run by a Portola resident and feels well run.

Residential Area & Crime:
The residential part of the neighborhood could use more trees (community groups working on that too) but the houses have huge back yards and are generally well built. Not many typical SF Victorians but a lot of variation including charming Mediterranean style bungalows, a lot of art deco and mid-century homes waiting to be appreciated. Some neighbors feel the crime is high due to fear mongering on Nextdoor.com (where everyone goes to complain) but we don't feel unsafe here. It's still the city and we treat it as such when walking around at night or remembering to lock the front door. .

Since the city is growing out, many of the once single family homes are being rented to multiple roommates or large multi-generational families. This means that while most houses have garages, there are a lot more cars and parking is becoming tight if you don't have a garage. Still better than most other neighborhoods though. The upside is that the added population density and influx of 20-somethings is slowly changing the vibe for the better IMO.

Location & Transit:
If you want one toe in the city and one toe out, this is a good place for you. We are in our 30s now and while we want access to all our old haunts, we also want space, some peace and a yard. All with the density of a walkable urban community. From the Portola, all of our favorite areas of the city for culture and food (Castro, Mission, Hayes, Downtown, SOMA, etc) are only a 10 minute Lyft/Uber ride away. Public transit to downtown is easy on the 8x or 9 buses which run very often and can be crowded. Depending on which side of the neighborhood you are on, Glen Park Bart or Muni T line are fairly close by depending if you mind walking or taking a 5 minute bus ride. Bike access to downtown is flat through the Mission and along 3rd and car access can't be beat. The proximity to 101 and 280 mean that most areas of the Bay Area are easy to get to including SFO, silicon valley and Oakland. I work in downtown SF and my partner is in Palo Alto so this is the perfect location to get in and out of the city easily.

LGBTQ:
We never expected to find such a large and active community here. Portola and Bayview appear to be a new destination for couples and families that have been priced out of, or are a bit tired of, the Castro & Bernal. The neighborhood association now holds a Drag Queen Bingo fundraiser every year that is hosted by a Portola Drag Queen (who knew?). This year was also the first "Portola Pride" event at the Brewery to kick off pride month for the neighborhood. There is even now a prominent rainbow painted house perched up on the hill overlooking the neighborhood.

Changes We Would Like:
More beautification and greenery in the neighborhood to sum up in one sentence. As another review called it, "a diamond in the rough." This neighborhood has the potential to be very charming with wide streets, classic California architecture and plenty of nice light. Since we have lived here, the trash on the streets has gotten better, more houses are being painted and little bits of greenery are popping up. San Bruno Ave. could use monthly powerwashings too but we will take gritty over vanilla any day.

I lived with my friend in Portola for several months in 2012 and 2013 (and have visited for short periods of time many, many times). Overall, the neighborhood is fairly run down. There are a few great Pho restaurants, but the area is fairly lacking in in bars or great restaurants. Very diverse population, you'll be in the extreme minority if you're caucasian.

Only a short drive to to SFO. The 8X gets you downtown fairly easily, and runs every 15-20 minutes. The 9 will take you closer to Mission on a slightly longer/slower route to downtown. Unfortunately, there isn't a BART stop that is easily walkable, you'd likely want to take a cab to the 24th street station to get on.

The plus of the neighborhood is that its affordable comparatively to other nearby neighborhoods. The Mission, where a lot of startups reside and is in extremely high demand, isn't too far away.

We love living here, close to everything, yet away just enough to be quiet with a small town feel. We can get to the airport or downtown in just ten minutes, biking to and from the neighborhood is getting easier, transit is busy but direct to everywhere you want to go, and access to the Saturday Alemany Farmers Market and McLaren Park can't be beat. The neighborhood is generally safe. Homes tend to be less expensive here, but prices are rising. New schools like SF School and Alta Vista are giving us much better education options. A vibrant neighborhood association is working hard to improve the appearance and offerings along San Bruno Ave.

This part of town is the best for those who own a car and need to drive for work as there is still street parking available. It's literally a 1 minute drive to get onto the highway(101/280) yet you can still walk around if you'd like. Food is limited to ethnic(Asian/Mexican) but new spots are re/opening such as Breakfast at Tiffany's.

Some people are concerned about safety and theft and I will say that those fears are not unfounded. That being said, those concerns hold true for 99% of SF except for maybe St Francis Wood and Pac Height/Marina. Don't leave valuables/bags in your car and no one will smash your car window. Don't walk around staring at your phone and you'll be just fine.

I love living here and can only see this neighborhood getting even better.

I have lived in Portola for a little over a year now. I previously lived in the East Bay where Oakland, Berkeley and Emeryville all meet up. While I do feel slightly safer walking around Portola at night, my car has been stolen (and unharmed upon recovery) not once, but twice, from a few houses down the street. Both times, when at the Bayview Police Station, I flipped through the rap sheet and noticed many other car thefts in the neighborhood as well. If you want to move here and have an older model car, BUY A CLUB! Or install a kill switch or something. Protect your car!

Other than the abundance of car theft, I have had few other problems. My apartment is spacious with a great kitchen and an AMAZING view of the entire Bay Area. Close proximity to the high school does mean alot of noise from band practice (I swear, they only play ONE song). Being atop the hill also means parking is a nightmare if you don't have a spot to claim directly in front of your house. Also, there I have often seen and smelled skunks that stalk the area where I live. In fact, one night coming home from work, I had to wait until my downstairs neighbor parked in front the house and scared away the skunk that was hanging out right outside the entryway to my place. But these are manageable problems, and walking up the hill is a great way to get some exercise everyday.

The reason I moved here was the rent is way more affordable than anywhere else I looked in SF and I can get to and from work in less than 10 minutes by car. 15 if there is traffic. After commuting on BART and MUNI from the east bay and then driving across the bridge for a while, the practically non-existent commute makes it pretty much worth it for me.

Sure there aren't many lively social spots or great restaurants, but McLaren park is barely more than a stone's throw away and you can hop on the freeway and be in the heart of SF in 15 minutes. Sure, it would be nice not to have to worry about my car all the time and to be closer to all the great stuff SF has to offer. But there are way fewer gunshots at night than there were in the East Bay and you can't beat the rent.

Overall, its a decent place to live if you prefer affordable housing to nightlife and fancy restaurants, if you can tolerate the inconvenience of occasionally having your car stolen and if you don't mind skunk odor every now and again.

The Portola is a blue collar neighborhood on The City's southeast side. It is mostly residential with a busy commercial corridor, San Bruno Avenue. The Portola has two large parks, Palega Rec Center at Portola Park between Silliman and Wayland, Hamilton and Somerset and McLaren Park which has more than 300 acres of recreational space and spans from Burrows Street to Mansell. It has many hilly areas with great views of the bay and downtown. San Bruno Avenue has its challenges. There are a lot of restaurants with fairly good food at good prices, but there are few comfortable enough to sit and enjoy a meal as you would in other areas of The City. Portola Four Barrel, a trendy coffee shop, is slated to open in November of 2012 on Burrows Street at San Bruno Avenue which may help change attitudes about the area and ultimately the choices available. A Fresh and Easy grocery store opened in February 2012 at Silver Avenue and Goettingen and filled a need for a one stop shopping experience that was missing for more than three years. The neighborhood has a friendly feel with an active community working to improve the quality of life. The Portola Neighborhood Association is working to clean and green San Bruno Avenue, the Goettingen Neighbors Group maintains a community garden on Dwight and Goettingen and Help McLaren Park is working to make McLaren Park more beautiful and welcoming. A yearly garden tour takes place the last Saturday in September and benefits a scholarship fund at City College of San Francisco and work projects for students in the Portola. The elementary schools, private and public, are inviting and have fairly good ratings. The middle school and high school have their challenges. The neighborhood is among the most diverse in San Francisco with a high level of home ownership.

Portola is a great neighborhood for kids and adults alike. Hilly streets, although not too hilly, make for a fun and energetic walk or jog. Our dog used to love to run her short little legs up and down these streets.

Have only eaten at one restaurant in Portola and would never return. Stay away from Wing Hing Restaurant – bad service and equally bad food. The food is cheap though, and they hang the meat in the window like most places in Chinatown storefronts.

The Portola Library is a great place to browse for those research books. Previously located on San Bruno, the library just moved into its new building this year (2009) and celebrated a grand opening in late February. Dana Zed, renowned artist, created art glass shutters near the entrance and the look is stunning.