South San Francisco CA (Daly City, San Mateo: apartments, renting, low crime)

[chanel1202]

We are thinking about moving from Seattle, WA to South San Francisco, CA next year.

We are going to be buying a home, so we wanted to know what areas and/or streets are safe and nice down there?

Is there a lot to do in South San Francisco?

Please give us any information you have....crime, weather, jobs, people, schools, housing, entertainment, etc.

Please let me know. Thanks so much!

[sonarrat]

SSF is a pretty sleepy town.. not much happens there. It's a town of working-class commuters and skilled industrial types. But it's great if you love San Francisco, but want to be able to get to sleep when you turn in for the night. I would just avoid the downtown area around Grand Avenue, and then anything near El Camino & Chestnut.

[gizmo980]

SSF isn't much of a "town," like sonarrat said... but I really like the west side near 280, mostly because of the hills and fog - which are negatives to some. The good part about being anywhere on the Peninsula, though, is that you're still NEAR the cool stuff. While SSF might not have a lot going on, you're only like 10-15 minutes from San Francisco, and a few miles from more "exciting" towns (San Bruno, Daly City, Burlingame, etc.). Serramonte Mall is actually in SSF, they have a BART station, and the Daly City movie theater, Tanforan Mall & airport are very close - also near my favorite card room, Artichoke Joe's in San Bruno. So I wouldn't say it's a bad place to live, especially if you can find something reasonably-priced in the better parts... I looked at a few nice apartments there last year, renting from between $1100-1600 for a 1-bedroom.

[humboldtrat]

Two negatives about S. San Francisco:

1)Too much wind and fog. More sun and less wind if you go a few miles south.

2)Too close to SFO airport. Planes taking off usually fly over SSF and make a lot of noise. I was recently in a mall parking lot when a plane flew overhead, setting off a bunch of car alarms in the lot. The plane was that low.

[Coffee Mate]

The best weather in San Francisco is the Bay-View area of Visitacion Valley in South City....which...by cruel twist of fate....also happens to be THE WORST GANG-INFESTED HOUSING PROJECT IN ALL OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA.....
Think about moving to San Mateo....WEST of El Camino Real....

[sonarrat]

We're not talking about southern San Francisco here (of which the Ingleside and Balboa Park neighborhoods aren't bad), but the city of South San Francisco, which is completely different and even sits in San Mateo county instead of San Francisco.

[CTC]

South City (as the locals call it) pretty much sucks.

I lived there for a couple of years (1999-2000)

It has the highest concentration of Biotech firms in the world (I worked in drug discovery research).

here is what I remember about living there

1)some scary neighborhoods-I lived up off of Willow Ave. There was a whole block of burned out apts which had never been rebuilt. I would see needles on the sidewalk etc

2)Weather:cold, foggy, and windy. A sunny afternoon was a rare thing indeed

3) My truck being stolen in broad daylight (locked and all)

4)Great taqueria on Grand Avenue, close to Pacifica and other beaches and a good hiking trail up to the top a small mountain (forgot the name)

those last 3 are the only thing I can recommend about SSF (yes there were a few positives)-I ended up moving down to Burlingame where the weather was great, low crime, and opportunities to socialize.

IMO you can do much better than South City-a good place to work, but not to live


hey the official slogan is "South San Francisco, the Industrial City" that should tell you something..and oh yeah Tanforan mall was nasty and run down then

Perhaps longtime residents have a different take, but that is how I remember my 2 years there

[gizmo980]

Originally Posted by Coffee Mate

The best weather in San Francisco is the Bay-View area of Visitacion Valley in South City....which...by cruel twist of fate....also happens to be THE WORST GANG-INFESTED HOUSING PROJECT IN ALL OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA.....
Think about moving to San Mateo....WEST of El Camino Real....

Bayview and Visitacion Valley are separate districts... trust me, I live in one & used to work in the other. Yes, the Vis Valley housing projects are terrible, but parts of that district aren't bad. And as sonarrat said, the OP was asking about the town of SSF, which isn't part of SF city or county.

[gizmo980]

Originally Posted by CTC

hey the official slogan is "South San Francisco, the Industrial City" that should tell you something..and oh yeah Tanforan mall was nasty and run down then

LOL about the slogan, and we used to call SSF "South shi--y." Oh, but Tanforan has been completely remodeled, and is now actually quite nice - with a BJ's restaurant, which is really yummy!

[sonarrat]

Tanforan is also in San Bruno, though when I lived in SSF I never actually did any shopping in SSF, except at the TWO Costcos. Usually it was either San Bruno or Daly City.