Santa Clara

The Santa Clara neighborhood is a long mostly residential neighborhood that runs along the eastern shoulder of the Nimitz Freeway from West A Street to Highway 92. Homes here as throughout Hayward are on the older side. You get a lot of Ranch homes and a fair mix of flat roofed homes whose style name I cannot identify. (I would call them cheap Eichlers but the roofs are completely flat like in Mission style homes. They are clearly more recent than Mission homes with materials you might find in a Ranch style. So I am not sure what they are.)

Streets here are fairly narrow and well worn and front lawns are almost invariably overgrown and a touch bushy--the sure signs of a working class neighborhood where the residents simply have neither the time or resources to keep their yards well trimmed. (There are a few streets that are exceptions to this, such as Broadmoor in spots, but it is true of most of the neighborhood.)

The median home price here is around $275K, with the ceiling just above that around $350K. Very affordable by Bay Area standards like most of Hayward. You can also rent a 2 bedroom here for about $2000.

It does mean, however that you will have to deal with the rest of the problems associated with this location. The first being crime. This is the kind of place that has a bail bonds office at its geographical heart. But this crime is not as bad here as in other areas of Hayward. Though there have been some murders just to the east of here in the last six months, there have not been any in this neighborhood. There have also been a dozen assaults and about 2 dozen robberies and break-ins in the last six months.

Schools here are a mixed bag, with Burbank Elementary being passable and Park Elementary and Winton Middle School being bottom of the barrel. I am not sure what the local high school is. It may be Royal Sunset, which is also terrible.

This is actually not too bad a place to begin your commute from given that the Hayward Amtrak Station is on the eastern end and the Hayward BART is in the neighborhood just to the east of here. You are also right by the San Mateo Bridge.

There is also a bit of local nightlife in the area for the single types that like that sort of thing. My favorites being the Dark Horse Lounge just to the west and the 821 Comedy Club way over on Mission.

Overall, I suppose what I am saying is that this might be a good neighborhood for singles who don’t mind taking a few risks as they jump start their careers.