Hayward Acres

San Lorenzo is the tiny city just to the north of the Hayward Executive Airport, a private airport that only rich folks and people training to be pilots use as far as I can tell. (I really don’t know.)

The first thing that you should take into account when considering moving to anywhere around here is your level of tolerance for crime. Sandwiched between San Leandro and Hayward, San Lorenzo generally--and this part of it specifically--does have a bit of a crime problem. In the last 6 months there have been a murder in the neighborhood and one just to the east of here.

There have also been about a dozen or so assaults during the same time period and about the same number of robberies and break-ins.

West A Street that marks the southern border of this neighborhood is also hot zone for prostitution.

Now that is not that bad relative to some of San Lorenzo’s neighbors, but it is certainly more than the suburbs to the east of here.

Another problem out here are the below average schools in the area. I know that test scores aren’t everything but low test scores tend to indicate a school that has other problems. The schools here are not rock bottom, but they are below average.

If that level of crime and schools are not dealbreakers for you, then here is what else you should know about San Lorenzo. San Lorenzo is one of the oldest areas in the East Bay, having popped up as a Gold Rush town more than a century and a half ago. San Lorenzo was also once one of the first planned cities in the United States, sort of a model for Levittown on the East Coast.

These days, this section of San Lorenzo is much like the surrounding areas, surrounded by older, smaller homes. (Most homes here date from before 1960 with a substantial portion from before World War II.) This is a middle class neighborhood.

The median home price here is around $250 K, with ceiling for single family homes being around $400 K.

Being close to Hayward BART, the San Mateo Bridge and not that far from San Jose, this is also not a terrible spot from which to start most commutes.

As to restaurants and that sort of thing?

There are some okay lounges out here such as the Why Not Lounge and The Manor Lounge.

In terms of restaurants you will find that it is mostly fast food places in the immediate vicinity. The exceptions would be some pretty good Mexican food places, like Avila’s and Feria’s.

Overall, I guess this might not be a bad place to live when you are just getting started out in the world as a single person, but I think the crime and school problems are deal breakers for families--if you can afford better then you should definitely take those options.