Friendly Acres

Friendly Acres is not quite that friendly. In fact, its down right deplorable. The community is firmly lower middle-class and a hub for crime. And to be blunt, you don’t want to trek through this neighborhood alone. It is made up of underwhelming community aesthetics and small, unattractive residences. The district is pretty sizable and one of only three North Fair Oaks neighborhoods. Geographically speaking, it straddles US Route 101 to the north and runs along Marsh Road to the east. It’s also a predominately residential with a large hispanic population.

Friendly Acres’ residential quarters are everything short of mediocre. Homes are rather cheap, but you get what you pay for. The area is overrun with old, sloppy, one-story houses with dilapidated or ill-groomed front yards. Moreover, properties are small and shallow with thin driveways usually running along the side of each residence. Renters probably have it worse, with only a couple bland, beige apartment buildings congregated towards the Caltrain train tracks. If you drive through the community, there are a handful of old, rusty cars parked along gritty streets and/or dirt paths that were once sidewalks.

For locals, Friendly Acres’ is the kind of neighborhood you might get lost in if your trying to reach the junction of US Route 101 and 84. Or maybe your child’s unfortunate away game has drawn you to the two small youth baseball/soccer fields that sit along Eighth Avenue. The area’s only good characteristic is its proximity to the San Francisco, but even that isn’t the best beach front view with acres of uninhabited marshland.

Like the rest of North Fair Oaks, the neighborhood here is one of those worn down places where the homes date from around WWII. The poor schools and fears about crime make this not too desirable a neighborhood, though I suppose if you are single or are a group of male housemates you might find the neighborhood worth it so as to avoid the long commutes and get a serious break on your rent.

Apartments here run in the $1000/month range for studios and 1 bedrooms, but climb to $1800 for 3 bedrooms. Crime is a worry though. It is the kind of place where you don’t leave anything someone might desire readily visible in your car and where you make sure you keep the blinds down to the outside so people don’t get a good look into your house.

One bright spot though is that although the Taft Elementary isn’t great here (especially compared to the outstanding schools of Palo Alto and Mountain View), I here that the school here is making progress and is much improved from just a couple of years ago. I don’t know if that would be enough to give me enough confidence to send my kids here, if I had them, but it is certainly better than Fair Oaks elementary.

There are a number of Mexican restaurants here and a serviceable sports bar as well, but nothing that you would drive into the area for—more the kind place you might end up in if you happen to be driving through than the kind of place you seek out.

All in all, not that desirable a neighborhood.