DirtyHarry

Skirting the Bayshore Freeway, Burlingame Gardens has a fair number of apartments and older homes. My favorite street here is leafy Winchester, where there is a stretch of cottage style bungalows. It is a really beautiful stretch of stately looking houses with high pitched roofs and often church castle style windows.

The median home price in Burlingame Gardens is around $875K—relatively affordable for Burlingame. The usual caveats for Burlingame apply: these are usually very old homes (pre-1950) of smaller sizes than most of us have become accustomed to, and the schools are great.

There are a lot of renters in the neighborhood as well. A one-bedroom goes for about $1800 on the really nice apartment complexes you will find on the northern end of the neighborhood.

The spot is also a great place for commuters, with the Broadway CalTrain station on its northwestern point.

Overall a pretty good neighborhood to spend a few years in but I don’t know if I would want to stay here forever.

With the Broadway CalTrain on the southeastern edge, Burlingame Gate is yet another Burlingame neighborhood with expensive older homes with great schools.

The median home price here is around $875K, which is relatively low for Burlingame. Prices range from from $700K to $1.4 million. Homes are smaller and older, with homes typically having between 1500 and 2000 ft of floor space and having been built before WWII.

There is also a sizable contingent of renters in this neighborhood, as you can tell from the number of boxy apartment complexes here. The average going rate for a one bedroom is around $1500 (you’ll find a number for $1450 though not much below that). Most of these apartments tend to be concentrated on El Camino and Broadway, the two bordering arteries of Burlingame Gate.

Because of the CalTrain station and all of the stores and activity on Broadway, Burlingame Gate does have slightly higher crime rates than other Burlingame neighborhoods. Mostly you will find thefts here—about one or two per week. In the last six months there have been a couple of assaults—but really nothing to worry much about.

The afore-mentioned stores along Broadway make this a good area for singles and young couples, as well. Not only are there two dozen plus restaurants, but you will also find art galleries, a good Irish pub (Behan’s) and even a dance studio for those preparing for weddings or who just want to learn how to get their groove on.

Overall, a pretty good neighborhood for renters, I think, though buying a house here might not quite be worth it for the value, imo.

Nestled right up against Hillsborough Hills, Burlingame Hills is like the less popular twin to its ritzy neighbor. Which is not to say that it isn’t nice in itself—only compared to Hillsborough would this neighborhood come up wanting.

It is, however, a pretty nice spot, nestled way up in the hills in a leafy area that makes you feel as if you are miles from anywhere. The homes here have a sort of 1960’s feel to them. As with other parts of Hillsborough, Hillsborough Hills is definitely million dollar home territory. In fact, homes here tend to climb closer to $1.5 million territory. This neighborhood is so stable, however, that few houses come on the market even in the volatile market we are currently experiencing.

Homes here tend to be on the larger side, 2000 ft and above, and to have more bedrooms, 4+. It is a fairly typical hillside neighborhood in that sense.

Of course, hillside living does come with its drawbacks such as nighttime visits from forest critters with penchant for destructive behavior such as shredding curbside garbage bags. Also, this is definitely car culture. You will have to drive to everything.

It is a nice spot for families and childrearing, except that the sidewalks are not really walkable or bike-able.

Burlingame Park is a slice of a neighborhood at whose center is Pershing Park. On the interior streets there are a lot of bungalows and older homes. Some of them are quite attractive and well-kept and some are a touch less so and show signs of age. Some of my favorite homes here are in the Spanish Revival style—the stucco and red-tiled roofs can be really attractive when well-kept.

As with other parts of Burlingame, the homes here way overpriced simply because they are in Burlingame. The median home here goes for about $1.25 million (although you can find some deals on foreclosures that sell for less than a million a make for great investment opportunities since they virtually automatically double or triple in value).

There are a number of boxy apartment buildings along El Camino—which, as you probably know, is the main avenue that cutting north south all the way down the Peninsula. It turns into a real mess during rush hour, pretty much becoming packed with commuters going to and from work.

There are a fair number of mediocre stores around here—supermarkets and drugstores and the like. Overall, however, this is pretty much your average Burlingame neighborhood, old overpriced homes with great schools and virtually no crime.

You might call it par for the course.

Burlingame Terrace is yet another Burlingame neighborhood packed with homes from pre-WWII. Some of them date back to the WWI, actually.

These are not the large stately homes that you encounter in Easton Addition. These are smaller homes—a lot more in the Bungalow vein than in the Tudor manor vein. There are exceptions to this general rule. In the narrow lane of Willborough Road at Willborough Place, there are some really attractive cottage style homes with thatched roofs and French style windows with decorative wood shutters. They don’t have much by way of yards and the lane separating them from their across the street neighbors is barely wide enough for one car—but this does give the location a certain cozy feel.

Now, if this neighborhood were in Berkeley or Oakland across the Bay you could probably slice property prices in half, but because this is Burlingame, the median home price here is $1 million. This definitely seems excessive, even by Peninsula standards, but that is what it is.

Of course, there are huge differences between the East Bay and the Peninsula. One big difference is the schools. McKinley Elementary, Crocker Middle School and Burlingame High have API’s in the 7 to 10 range. This is an outstanding educational system that ranks amongst the best in the country.

The other difference, of course, is crime. In the last six months this neighborhood has only experienced about a dozen thefts and 3 assaults (mostly along Broadway where the restaurants and the CalTrain station are located). That is closer to what certain places in the East Bay experience in one week.

That said, this is not just a residential neighborhood. Along the five blocks that make up Broadway you will find a number of restaurants and stores.

There are about 3 Mediterranean places (the best of which is probably Mivan in my opinion); there are also 3 places you can get a good “American” meal (Broadway Grill being the best—it double as a nightspot where you can take in some live jazz on certain nights); a pair of Italian places (Café Figaro and Rocca); and about a dozen East Asian places (the best and most expensive being Coucou Japanese Cuisine).

Many of those restaurants make for good date spots, but if you just want to hang out with friends and have a beer, Behan’s Irish Pub should certainly be your destination.

You can also find your usual assortment of peripheral stores here from a clothing boutique, to a hair stylist (Supercuts) and a nail salon to a coin store and liquor store. It’s one of those very walkable old fashion lanes that is pleasant to visit, on one’s day off.

Overall, this is pretty nice area that has something for everyone—from commuting professionals to singles who like to have a neighborhood bar to frequent to families looking for great schools.

Unfortunately the prices will make sure only the very well-off can manage to settle here permanently.

Burlingame Village, at the edge of Millbrae, is a small slice of a neighborhood made up mostly of smaller older homes. It is a flat neighborhood with streets that are slightly narrower than most you would see in neighborhoods these days.

On the northern end of the neighborhood along the final 2 blocks you get a combination of apartment buildings and office buildings. The office building include a mix of medical and governmental institutions such as the Peninsula Chiropractic Center, San Mateo Rape Trauma Services, Burlingame Police Department and Quest Diagnostics.

A one bedroom apartment around this area will run you about $1700 from what I’ve seen offered.

The Millbrae CalTrain is just three long blocks up so residents can, in theory walk, or even more easily bike and then commute to work in the city.

Most of the residential homes are on the southern end of the neighborhood, where the median prices seems to be about $875K. As throughout Burlingame, the higher prices are largely due to location. Burlingame’s great schools, low crime, and ease of access to both San Francisco and Silicon Valley make it a favorite for commuting power couples.

Overall a pretty nice spot.

With its big old homes, Easton is definitely one of the most exclusive neighborhoods in Burlingame. The median home price here is around $1.2 million. More than half the homes here date to the Roaring Twenties, each with its own unique architecture. You can sense the wealth as you drive through the streets here.

There are classic manors, with their square build and the overhanging flat roofs with attractive trim. Many of the homes here have Tudor accents such as half timbering. Others are more of the Mediterranean style with red tiled roofs and stucco walls.
The homes here also range in sizes with some small bungalow style homes offering barely more than 1000 feet, while some of the larger manors range up to 4000 feet. (These are also the more expensive homes.)

The front lawns often are decorated with interesting topiary—often incorporating English style hedges or rose bushes.

You will also find some 60’s style boxy apartment buildings along El Camino—the kind of apartment buildings that have the name to the building written sideways in fancy script.

Easton Drive, the main artery, is perhaps one of the most compelling of the lanes as well, having towering trees lining the narrow lane—there large bases taking up huge portions of the sidewalks.

As you might expect, this is also a very safe neighborhood (nothing to report accept petty thefts in the last six months) and the schools are fantastic, as throughout Burlingame.

The other nice thing about this neighborhood is that with Broadway just beyond El Camino sporting a half dozen restaurants and a pleasant walk, you are right by the action. You can get a beer Behan’s and a bite at the Broadway Grill.

Also, with the Broadway CalTrain just a few blocks down Broadway, you could actually avoid using a car from most homes in Easton.

Overall, I would say that this is probably the best residential neighborhood in all of Burlingame. Though, of course, you will definitely pay for the privilege of living here.

Stretching out just to the south of SFO, the Ingold/Milldale “neighborhood”—I have to put quotation marks around it since I don’t think anyone actually lives here—is known for being home to a ton of hotels. Doubletree, Red Roof Inn, Embassy Suites, Hilton, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn and the Vagabond Inn all look to take advantage of SFO’s proximity.

You can roughly divide the Ingold/Milldale neighborhood into 2 sections. There is the long watery stretch which has very little other than airport parking and hotels, except for a Kincaid’s, a classic steak joint right by the side of the bay. It’s the pricey sort of place that people of a certain generation used to go to celebrate anniversaries.

The other section is farther to the north and surrounds the Bayshore Freeway. It too has a more significant proportion of hotels. Here, too, there are a number of restaurants here too. Many of them are popular chain restaurants that travelers are likely to recognize, such as Benihana, El Torito, Max’s Opera Café (if you go for the singing waiter thing) and the Elephant Bar.

Others are more unique to this area: Fandorin is a Russian influenced continental restaurant that sits right at the edge of the bay, giving you an excellent view of the airplanes and landing and taking off. Gulliver’s is another restaurant that I think is unique to Burlingame—it is basically a steakhouse similar to Kincaid’s.

For those of a more active mindset, there is also Caribbean Gardens, a salsa place where you can get lessons or just go to get your Latin groove on. And if you prefer sports, there is the Badminton Center—which deals in all things badminton.

There are a number of commercial businesses here, too. For example: Simply Perfect, a catering place; ABC Supply, a roofing and window’s supplier; and Vector Labs, a medical supplier that specializes in detection and labeling products.

Now, like a lot of places like this it is not that attractive—lots of squat commercial offices south and west of the freeway, and hotels dominating the skyline on the eastern side.

Overall, however, it is not a bad place to go if you want to grab a bite to eat.

Lyon Hoag is definitely one of the oldest parts of Burlingame. About half of the homes here date back to first quarter of the 20th Century. So these are smaller homes (lots of bungalows and similar style homes), which in your average East Bay neighborhood would not go for more than $500K. But since we are in the Penninsula, prices start at around $700K, with the median price hovering around $850K.

Lyon Hoag is more of a middle class neighborhood, and as such, you do find a bit of an uptick in crime. It is not a huge problem, but still one worth noting. In the last six months, there have been a handful of assaults and more than dozen thefts.

One very nice thing about his neighborhood is its location. The proximity to the downtown means that just about everything that you need to live in this neighborhood is right at hand. You can do everything from go out for a meal to take the Caltrain up to work.

Overall, however, this is one of the more affordable neighborhoods in Burlingame, at just the right price point for smaller families trying to make in the Peninsula, I think.

The main artery at the center of Mills Estates is Trousdale Drive. It is a long, relatively straight lane that climbs up the hills towards Highway 280. Mills Estates is mostly made up of homes from the late 50’s and early 60’s on wide, slightly curving streets. On the western end of the neighborhood, you get some pretty great views of the flatlands leading to the Bay. The homes are nice—very slick and stylish in a 60’s modish style. (You get some fairly stylish Eichlers mixed in up here that conjure America during the Kennedy Era neatly.) They are also larger than homes in a lot of neighborhoods in Burlingame, averaging about 2,250 street—which sounds average but is pretty good when compared to some of the smaller older houses in other neighborhoods.

The median home price is about $1.25 Million.

The area is super safe with only the occasional vehicle break-in or petty theft. Schools are also great—as you would expect for Burlingame.

You definitely need a car up here in order to make it to the freeway. Overall, I would highly recommend it for families and professionals, although it is definitely on the expensive side.

Oak Grove Manor/Burlingables is a small brick shaped neighborhood, squeezed between California Drive and the Bayshore Freeway.

Judging from the age of the homes, this neighborhood dates from around WWII when most of these homes were built. As with many homes dating to this period, the homes are a bit on the smallish side with the typical home being about 1200 feet.

Despite this somewhat small size, the homes here go for close to $1 million. Of course, it re-affirms that old chestnut about real estate being all about “location, location, location.”

One of the great benefits of most of Burlingame—and this neighborhood is no exception—are the amazing schools. Washington Elementary, Crocker Middle School and Burlingame High certainly don’t disappoint in this regard. And even if they did, there are a number of excellent private schools in the area as well.

The streets are clean and have that older feel to them, which can be nice—especially if you have kids.

Burlingame High School is a part of this neighborhood so if you have high school age kids they can walk right to school. Burlingame High is regularly ranked in the top 250 high U.S. high schools for academic excellence. And if you’re a Glee fan, you may also be excited to note that Diana Agron is also an alum.

The neighborhood borders Downtown Burlingame, as well, so you can basically walk over to where all the action is.

Overall, a nice neighborhood, though perhaps a bit too close to the Bayshore Freeway on the eastern end.

Ray Park in Burlingame, California is home to Mills Peninsula Health Center on its northern end, Burlingame intermediate
school on its western end, and Lincoln Elementary on its southern in (by Ray Park proper).

This is a neighborhood that popped up in the post WWII period. The homes here all date back to the late 40’s or very early 50’s and they are quite modern by our modern days standards with none of them that I could find exceeding 2000 sq. ft.
Despite these modest offerings, however, these homes regularly sell for about $1 million.

Why the high prices?

As always, the key is location. Ray Park and Burlingame in general is a great spot for SF commuters looking to get just far enough away to escape the problems of the city. The neighborhood has virtually no crime (only a pair of assaults near the hospital in the past 6 months). You are only about a mile from two separate CalTrains stations, as well.

The schools are also excellent with both Lincoln and Franklin elementaries having the highest API’s possible while Burlingame Middle School and Mills High are also close to perfect. (And that is not to mention the outstanding choices in private schools as well.)

As far as entertainment and similar matters, you are also pretty close to some restaurants and not far from the downtown areas of both Burlingame and Millbrae. If you are in the mood for a sandwich you might try the Little Lucca Sandwich Shop or the American Bull Bar and Grill which is right by Little Lucca.

As to the medical center that lies on its northern end?

I don’t exactly how I should judge such a facility except to say that it looks like they are a full service hospital that includes most every service from surgery to and ER, but that what perhaps sets it apart is perhaps its inclusion of psychiatric services as part of its offerings.

Overall a pretty nice, though way overpriced upper middle class neighborhood.

Though not as large as San Mateo’s Downtown, Downtown Burlingame has quite a bit to offer its upper middleclass residents.

You will find a number of restaurants worth visiting here. Here are my favorites:

--Ecco: Great Classy American Joint. Try the Salmon with a good California Wine.
--Stella Alpina Osteria: Pricey Italian place, but well worth it.
--Straits: An Asian Fusion restaurant. Rendang Beef and the Butter Chicken.
And here are a few less pricey choices:

--Kabul Afghanistan: Great for a change of pace and exploring new things.
--Trapeze European Cuisine: Try the linguine and clams and a good wine.
--Coconut Bay Caribbean: Yeah, man!
--Barracuda Sushi: Good sushi with no frills.

So those are some of the restaurants. For nightspots, try these:

--Barrelhouse
--the Alibi
--Vinyl Room

Most of these have dancing. Vinyl Room is my favorite.

There are also the usual assortment of boutiques, etc.

For women there are the usual Therapy and Anthropologie; and there are also Francesca’s, Les Deux Compines, and Picasso’s Closet. And all the usual chain stores and similar places.

Put simply, you don’t have to leave Burlingame to fulfill your consumerist urges.

This is also, by the way, an amazingly safe downtown with very little crime of any kind.

Brookside Park is yet another of these woody Portola Valley neighborhoods where homes pop up in the middle of winding woody lanes.

Homes here run between about $1 million and $2.5 million for the most part. These are not huge homes and they would certainly cost a lot less if they were not in Portola Valley. You will find a mix of homes here dating from the 50’s to the 90’s, with older homes tending to be smaller (around 2250 ft.) and newer homes tending to be bigger (~3500 ft.) and prices following a similar pattern.

The area feels very secluded and remote, though you are within a half hour’s drive (maybe less?) of Palo Alto, so although Portola Valley does not have much of anything to offer in terms of entertainment or nightlife, you are close enough to Palo Alto, San Jose and San Francisco where you can go and come back even on a busy weekend.

The schools are good. The neighbors are wealthy, or at least fairly well off. Over all, fairly typical Portola Valley.

If you like feeling as if you are out at the edge of the city in a semirural area, you will probably like Central Portola Valley.

Many of the street names here are themed around Native American tribe names: Iroquois Trail, Cherokee Way, Cheyenne
Point, and Shawnee Pass to just name a few. Homes here are on the larger side and range from around $1 million to $5 million. Most of the homes for $2 million and less are for sale in the more densely packed on the southern end of the neighborhood while the homes that go for $4 and $5 million are in the rest of the neighborhood where homes are more spread apart.

Most of the homes in this area are contemporary style homes and are very luxurious inside.

Overall this is a good spot but a bit on the remote side.

The Ladera neighborhood is yet another leafy Portola Valley neighborhood. This is basically just a hillside so the farther west you go, the higher the elevation and the better the views.

Of course, as you get farther up into the hills prices go up along with the elevation. Near the top where the views are the best, home prices average $2 million. These are largely remodeled 1960’s era homes which though not terribly attractive from the outside tend to have magnificent interiors.

On the far eastern end of the neighborhood is Alpine Road (and then Highway 280). Alpine Road is where you will find the Ladera Shopping Center, which is basically just a sort of strip mall anchored by Bianchini’s Market, the local supermarket.
There are a couple of rather mediocre restaurants here—Mike’s Café and the The Ladera Lobster Shack—but this is mostly just the same old same old in terms of supermarket strip malls. You can get the basics, and maybe grab a bite if you don’t feel like heading into Stanford, but that is about it.

(The best place to get a bite is the Amigos Grill, imo.)

The schools here are pretty great and the proximity to Palo Alto makes it a prime location for Silicon Valley types. If you can afford it, it is a great location. For most people though it is simply beyond their means.

Los Trancos Woods and Vista Verde are the farthest south that you can go in Portola Valley. Much of this area is actual forest (open preserve) and is filled with trails. If you love being outdoors, this is a great place for it. You can go hiking virtually any time that you are home and the wild life is all around. At night time you are no doubt to see the deer and hear other animals as they rummage about. (Be sure to keep your garbage cans well sealed.)

But there are also a number of homes nestled into the trees along these seemingly remote country roads. I do not have enough of a sampling of how much these homes cost, but I sense they are comparatively modest in terms of Portola Valley and the Peninsula. One that is on sale here is currently going for $1.2 million. That is for a home that has 3 bedroom and only has 1700 ft.

There is not much else here, of course. So if you are into living close to anything, this is not the place where you want to set down your stakes.

Portola Valley Ranch is one of the neighborhoods on the far south western reaches of Portola Valley, which basically means that in a city which is already about as remote as it gets, this is one of the remotest areas of it. Put simply, if you want to live here, it is because you really, really want to get away from it all when you go home at night from work.

The homes in the Portola Valley Ranch neighborhood are not, for the most part, the large homes on extensive properties that characterize some of the other Portola Valley neighborhoods. These are more average sized homes. What makes the neighborhood distinct, however, are the turnabout cul-de-sacs; there are a bunch of them and they give a certain consistency to the neighborhood.

In fact, Portola Valley Ranch is a planned community run by a home-owners association that helps in the upkeep. They have a number of facilities that they share as part of living in this community, including a big event facility, swimming pools, tennis courts and even a working vineyard which produces a very competent Pinot Noir (one of my favorites).

There are also some great trails that wind around the valley.

Homes here run about $3 million for a 5600 ft. home with 6 bedrooms. Anywhere else that might be a bit on the high side, but given the astronomical prices you come across in other sections of Portola Valley, this sounds like par for the course.

Corte Madera School is also here. It handles grades 4 to 8 (which is a little weird since most middle schools only do grades 6 to 8 in California) and it is very highly rated with an API of 10 (the highest possible) and standardized test scores that routinely place their students near or over the 90% percentile. (Very amazing!)

So, if like living in community that is more than a little bit off the beaten track, you will probably love it here in the Portola Valley Ranch neighborhood.

The Westridge neighborhood is a long arcing stretch of a neighborhood that stretches from Portola Road all the way to Alpine Road (nearly to Highway 280), all along the northern side of Westridge Drive. There are homes spread throughout the neighborhood, but virtually every lot has quite a bit of land so that no homes are right against each other. It is the sort of place where your neighbors will probably not know your business.

There are a few outright mansions in this area. For example, right now there is an 8,000 ft. 4-bedroom on the western end of Westridge that is going for $25 million. It sits on an 11.5+ acre lot and has a pool, tennis court and what looks like a vineyard. (By the way, in case you are wondering, your estimated monthly payment on a $25 million house is $121,000 PER MONTH—now that’s what I call a mortgage payment.)

Of course, most homes here in Westridge are not $25 million mansions, but none is inexpensive. For example right now, the least expensive home for sale here is on the market at $1.8 million. That is no where near $25 million, but it is not exactly cheap. The home, which is located on the far eastern end of the neighborhood near the freeway, is basically an elongated Ranch home on a big lot.

In the middle, the median priced home is just below $5 million. For that price you can get a pretty good home here, with nice views, a pool and a relatively manageable 2 and a half acre property.

On the far eastern end of the Westridge neighborhood you find yourself right by the Ladera marketplace where you can do things like get groceries and pick up a pizza. None of this is fantastic in itself, but given the remoteness of things here, it is always good for you to know that you can get the basics of life without having to drive too far.

Alpine is also the road that you follow to get to Highway 280 to head to work. (I’m not sure there is really anything by way of public transportation here.)

The nearest schools are Ormandale Elementary, La Entrada Middle School and Woodside High—all of which are above average schools.

Put simply, if you are loaded and like your privacy—you will probably love the Westridge neighborhood.

Woodside Highlands—not to be confused with either Woodside Hills or Woodside Heights which are actually in neighboring Woodside, is actually a tiny Portola Valley neighborhood. It is basically made up of a half dozen or so woody lanes nestled up in the hills in northwest Portola Valley.

Homes here are, of course, expensive. Portola Valley is the number 6 most expensive location in California (in terms of home prices, I believe). Currently there is only one home for sale here currently. It is a 3000 ft. 3 bedroom home with pretty nice view and a wooden deck. It is going for $2.5 million.

This is a very leafy area with narrow roads (some unpaved) winding up to very nice homes. You definitely do feel that you are away from it all. And this is about as un-walkable as it gets, narrow winding roads with no sidewalks basically force you to get into your car for just about everything—even if you just need to go into to town for the paper or cup of Jo.

You are actually not that far from Palo Alto and other centers; which is good because there isn’t much in Portola Valley itself.

Overall, a nice neighborhood, but I’m not sure it is worth the ridiculously high home prices.