Tara St, East Palo Alto

Tara Street is a dead-end road at the end of Bay Road in East Palo Alto. The street has to be one of the worst of its kind in the area - run-down houses, dead end, off of a busy drag that is not very pedestrian-friendly, and in a town that has had a bad reputation that is tough to shake. The nearby University Avenue exit on the 101 has some of the worst traffic in all of Silicon Valley.

The nearby Ravenswood Regional Open Space Preserve is nothing like some of the other open spaces in Northern California - it is more of a marshland than a hiker's haven, with several decent trails but nothing too appealing. The views of industrial buildings cannot be hidden, and this really does feel downright scary after dark.

The biggest redeeming factors to Tara Street are the proximity to downtown Palo Alto, and the relatively low price point for the area. But there are many other places in the Bay Area where one can get similar benefits, and this is one street that has not been cleaned up.