Visitacion Valley

Visitacion Valley is the neighborhood just to the south of Portola. It is basically a slightly larger lower middleclass neighborhood (as compared to Portola) which also has a bit more of a crime problem than Portola though still nowhere near the problem of Bay View. If you just look at total crimes you see that Bay View averages twice as many and V Valley even though V Valley has close to twice the population of Bay View.

The other thing V Valley has going for it are some fairly nice views of Hunters Point and the water (really it should be called Bay View). It’s really not too bad in that regard.

Rents are also fairly comparable to what you find in Portola. As far as I can tell, rooms go for about $700. So you can find a two-bedroom here for $1400 and a three for about $2100. There are some that go higher than this of course, and the location is not the best in terms of commuting—you are starting to get fairly far away from the city. The Bayshore Freeway gets some pretty bad traffic even when is not rush hour, so you do need to take this into account, as well as the costs of parking or using public transportation.

One of the main problems here, if you are a family looking to move in, are the terrible public schools in the area. The students a V Valley Middle School, for example, rank in the bottom third of test scores as compared to other schools in California. That is pretty much across the boards with virtually no category where they even reach average.

In terms of restaurants and that kind of thing there is not that much here except for some taquarias. There are some grocery stores and drugstores—that kind of thing, but you will have to leave V Valley to find anything else. They do have a gym—Fog City Fitness which a friend of mine said is good though I have never been myself.

Overall, I would say that if they could improve the schools and maybe give this part of the city a bit of a makeover it would become as attractive to people as Bernal has become. The distance however may be just a touch too much for people to endure. No one likes having to commute like they would have to from a neighborhood like this.

Visitacion Valley lies on the southern edge of San Francisco, bordered by San Mateo County to the south. It is mostly a residential, working class neighborhood where a large population rents their homes. In recent years, an influx of Chinese families have relocated to the neighborhood upping it from its lower class ranks. However, the town is still much forgotten from the greater San Francisco area. The Sunnydale Projects, formerly a military camp, is a gritty neighborhood, housing hundreds of low-income families. There is a high concentration of crime with break-ins, theft and assaults filling the police blotter. News reports indicate that victims of murders are sometimes found in the lakes and ponds of this area, a chilling truth that, consequently, tells of the neighborhood's reality.

Most of the commerce in the neighborhood is that of liquor stores, gas stations and ethnic family businesses. Transportation is few and far between, except for the T Third Street Muni Line and few buses that cross through the district.

Visitacion Valley hosts a couple perks in the neighborhood. Cow Palace, an indoor arena, lies on the southern edge of the district. It provides a myriad of events including concerts, rodeos, art expos, circus acts and monster truck shows. The Visitacion Valley street Fair promotes local artists, jewelers and craftsman for almost ten years. And finally, John McLaren Golf Course has 18-holes for the golfer with beautiful and widespread trails that course throughout the area.

Visitacion Valley has a bad reputation as a neighborhood, and in reality, it definitely isn’t one of San Francisco’s safest neighborhoods. Visitacion Valley lies on the outer edge of San Francisco near Daly City. One of the main or most probable reasons as to why violence occurs in Visitation Valley is because it lies right next to Bayview and Silver Terrace. These two neighborhoods itself aren’t the best in San Francisco and have been known to contain violence and gang activity, worse would be even Hunter’s Point, on the other side of Bayview. The whole southeastern side of San Francisco has a general makeup of such violence.

I wouldn’t recommend living here as it isn’t the safest place to live, especially when you’re trying to raise a family, you would definitely want to reconsider. There are definitely thefts in this neighborhood you will want to park your car in your garage. I’d say that this neighborhood is mostly for those of lower economic status because home prices here aren’t as high due to the bad reputation of Visitacion Valley. You shouldn’t really have a reason to come by this neighborhood unless you’re trying to reach Daly City or live in this area. By all means don’t come to this neighborhood expecting fun and high spirited residents.

Vistacion Valley is the Southeastern Part of San Francisco. It is located South of Portola and intersects John McLaren Park. Crocker Amazon Playground is also on the outskirts of the neighborhood. People who live in this area have significantly lower incomes than the rest of San Francisco. The average is approximately $38,000 per year, which is about half of the typical San Francisco resident. There has been a major influx of Chinese families of this area.

The good news is that you can find far cheaper places to rent in Vistacion Valley. Unfortunately, this isn’t a very safe neighborhood. This area includes Sunnydale Projects on Sunnydale Avenue, which can be a very dangerous area. There is redevelopment currently going on in this neighborhood, so maybe things will turn around. However, at the moment, when you hear of murders in San Francisco, they are often taking place in Vistacion Valley.

The renovation of various rundown buildings continues. So I would definitely say that there is hope!

One major plus for this part of town is John McLaren Park. This is a pretty popular park which is considered to be safe despite the fact that it is close to some crime-ridden areas. I wouldn't walk around alone at night in this park or anything, but it is a pretty park that is well-worth a visit. It has a duck pond and Jerry Garcia Amphitheater.

Visitation Valley is as close to “the hood” as San Francisco gets. The neighborhood is home to several public housing projects and is riddled with notorious gang violence. The area surrounding the Sunnydale Projects is one of the most violent in all of San Francisco. Outside of the Sunnydale Projects, the neighborhood becomes more tranquil and working class. In recent years Visitation Valley has seen a major influx of Chinese Americans. There is now a thriving Chinese community in the area. Real estate is less expensive in this area than other parts of the city and many first-time buyers are purchasing homes. Developers are also buying up property and building new homes.

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors has designated Visitation Valley as a major area for redevelopment. There are two major redevelopment projects underway at the old Schladge Lock Factory and Southern Pacific Railyard that will bring new condominiums, shops, a grocery store and parks to the neighborhood. MUNI is also extending its T Third Street Line making Visitation Valley much more convenient to Downtown. As the economy improves and if crime is kept at bay, Visitation Valley has a promising future as an up-and-coming San Francisco neighborhood.

Having lived here since birth, I can easily say that this is not such a nice neighborhood, I have been jumped twice during daylight hours, have been followed from the bus stop for 3 blocks, and have almost had my bike stolen by urbanized adults when I was merely 10 years old. If you enjoy walking or taking the bus safely, then this is not the best of neighborhoods. I would recommend having a car to live in this neighborhood to avoid waiting at busstops. My grandma was mugged of her purse by men driving by in an oldsmobile while she was waiting at a busstop in the middle of the day. Suffice to say, as long as you are careful around anyone who appears dangerous, then Visitation Valley is not such a bad place. In fact, many children live here, although most are born of new asian immigrants (filipino, chinese, vietnamese).

As far back as I remember, Visitacion Valley has been known as one of San Francisco's most violent neighborhoods. Always in the news for gang violence and drive-by shootings, this neighborhood is still pretty rough around the edges. There are some fairly sketchy housing projects located on Sunnydale Avenue. This housing project is the largest in San Francisco and a lot goes on there. It is known as one of the most violent areas in the city by law enforcement officials and locals alike.

There are a lot of youth and after-school programs geared toward making Visitacion Valley a safer environment for kids and families. The community is trying and over time this area could become a much better place to live.

Not much here in the way of shopping or dining. It is best to get out of the neighborhood as quickly as possible, but if you must, travel in large groups!

I lived just north of this area in Portola back in the late 90's and early 2000. I had my car stolen from Portola and then driven to Visitacion Valley where it got totaled and abandoned.

This area is relatively safe, though not a thriving nor particularly active area to be in. Working class dominate the city scape with kids and families around. Parking is much easier in this southern part of the city, but then, you're not really very close to anything either and getting anywhere that isn't local but is in SF takes some doing.

If you're working in the South Bay, this might be a good place to live as the commute is shorter because of the southern location.