Avalon Park / Avalon Pines / Francisco Terrance

Just south of California Golf Course, Avalon Park is a tiny neighborhood, right in the middle of South San Francisco. You do get some pretty good views of the Bay from spots in this neighborhood (mostly those on the eastern end where the neighborhood climbs slightly as it nears Highway 280).

Like many neighborhoods in South SF, the mortgage crisis is still having a major effect in Avalon Park, with fully 80% of homes here on sale due to foreclosure. The median home here seems to sell for about $475 K which is slightly higher for SSF, but is low for the Peninsula.

These are mostly smaller homes dating from the 1950’s. They have about 1000-2000 feet and most in this area have 2 stories. The feel is similar to areas in the Sunset District of SF if you are familiar with that area, though a lot less urban feeling, if that makes sense. Homes have small front yards and garages over which you get rooms, often featuring bay windows.

Homes seemed really nicely kept as well in this area with trees and decorative stones placed down for merely aesthetic purposes, which I think means people here care about their neighborhood and have some sense of community spirit.

Schools are strong and crime is low, so this is definitely a great place to raise kids.

There are also all the usual amenities of suburban life, including supermarkets, drugstores, fast food restaurants and 24-hour gyms, which you will find along El Camino Real on the eastern end of the neighborhood. (This is the same El Camino that forms the spine of the Peninsula taking you all the way down past Stanford to Sunnyvale before curving east and ending at San Jose International Airport.)

Overall, this is pretty standard suburban living, and about as affordable as you will find on this side of the San Mateo Bridge.

Part of the greater South San Francisco, Avalon Park is a small, bland and middle-class community located smack dab in the middle of the San Francisco peninsula. The neighborhood is densely packed and bounded by El Camino Real, California Golf Club, Highway 280 and Northwood Drive. Its almost completely residential, with homes typically two-stories in size and plotted on a steep hillside. More specifically, houses have an old style look to them, but still maintain a sense of charm and quaintness. Yet, their closely packed along streets with shallow, grassy front yards.

Avalon Park’s shopping quarters are anything but glamorous. Its only commercial area is fitted along its eastern edges: Southwood and Brentwood Shopping Centers. They are small commercial areas that only host a few shabby neighborhood restaurants (i.e. pizza place and a boutiques) and a CVS Pharmacy. Most residents do their department store shopping a couple blocks down El Camino Real, considering it hosts a Target, a JC Penney and a century Theaters Multiplex. Avalon Park’s southerly neighbor is the large Golden Gate National Cemetery and the San Bruno Bart Station.

For young families, South San Francisco High School skirts the neighborhood’s eastern edge while Ponderosa Elementary School is located on Ponderosa Road. Both of which are considered above average schools across greatschools.org and other such review websites. And for outdoor recreation, California Golf Club lies directly north of the neighborhood. The private club offers 18-holes of golfing and was recently added in Golf Week’s Top 100 Classic courses.