San Mateo

San Mateo is the largest city in our immediate area, with 91,601 people living there.  It features some of the most affordable homes around as well as some of the most expensive.  The northern most part of the city, where it buffers Burlingame, has the beautiful San Mateo Park area.  This area has large stately homes, streets without sidewalks and trees everywhere, including round-abouts in the middle of the street for traffic flow.  Clark Drive features stately palm trees marching down the divided drive.  Some of the oldest homes in San Mateo are in the Park, with several built before the Great 1906 Quake. And, these are the most expensive homes in San Mateo, reaching up to as much as $3 million. Not only do you find stately homes but huge lots, too.

The homes and apartments just to the south of Peninsula Avenue, the border line between Burlingame and San Mateo, are a mixture of bungalows, large homes, and modest first-time properties.  The large condo development, Woodlake, that does indeed feature a lake in the middle of the complex, is considered one of the best places to live with many activities for the residents. This part of San Mateo is walking distance to Burlingame Avenue and depending on how close you are to Poplar, it could be walking distance to downtown San Mateo as well.   San Mateo High School sits just right next door to Woodlake.  This is where the San Mateo Performing Arts Center is located and where most of the major local musical productions and events are held.

When you cross 101, you come to Coyote Point, where a wonderful natural history museum, CuriOdyssey, resides.  Coyote Point is a county park, with beaches, a golf course and a marina.  Coyote Point has a colorful history, dating back over 4000 years.  The College of San Mateo was originally on Coyote Point, but relocated to the top of the hill — the top of highway 92 at Hillsdale Blvd. —  in 1963.   The San Francisco Bay Trail starts a little north of Coyote Point, just at the Millbrae/Burlingame line and runs south to Redwood Shores. Some day, its hoped that the entire bay will be circles by trails.

Just to the south of Coyote Point are the areas called Shoreview and Parkside.  Here are single family homes that are entry level, and what we laughingly call affordable!  These small homes were mostly built after WWII, and prices can begin as low as $350,000 if they are considered distressed properties.  These homes fill in most of the eastern shoreline down to Foster City.  The North Shoreview area has a very active Homeowners Association. The Shoreview/Parkside Homeowners Association isn’t as active.

South of Crystal Springs Road, which is the diving line between Hillsborough and San Mateo on the south, sits Baywood, Baywood Knolls and Aragon. This much desired area of large, stately homes built between the 1930′s and 1950′s, with some newer replacements feature wide streets, and a proximity to the San Mateo Library and downtown.

Moving south brings many other neighborhoods.  To the east of El Camino Real one finds Hayward Park and Sunnybrae, Fiesta Gardens and San Mateo Village.  To the west of El Camino are multiple neighborhoods of smaller homes and gradually moving towards the many built in the late 1950′s along the hills above Peninsula Country Club.  These neighborhoods include Westwood Knolls, Beresford Manor, San Mateo Knolls, Laurelwood and The Highlands, plus many, many more.

The College of San Mateo, a Junior College, sits at the top of the hill above the city.  The public schools are part of the San Mateo-Foster City Elementary School District for K-8 and San Mateo Union High School District for high school.  There are 3 high schools within the city limits; San Mateo High School, Aragon High School and Hillsdale High School.  There are 13 private schools including Junipero Serra High School a top private Catholic boys school.

Downtown San Mateo features a large city park that includes a beautiful Japanese Garden that is open daily for peaceful walks.  The downtown district has business towers, shopping and many restaurants.  The San Mateo train station is right in the middle of the downtown district.  Further south is another shopping district on 25th Avenue with several blocks of stores and restaurants, and 37th Avenue, a one block shopping district.

Hillsdale Shopping Center is a regional shopping mall with Nordstrom, Macys, and Sears as anchors.  Across from Hillsdale is the Hillsdale Train Station, the second of three stations in the city.  The smallest station is Hayward Park that sits between the other two stations and has some train service but not as much as the other two stations.

San Mateo sits equal distance between San Francisco and San Jose making it a great choice of commuter families who need to go in different directions.  The weather is mild all year round.  There is one golf course, Popular Creek and more than 12 neighborhood parks, 9 community parks and 6 recreation centers and 2 pools.  With part of the city hugging the San Francisco Bay, there is an estuary lagoon for boating.

It’s a short drive on highway 92 west to reach the coast and the Pacific Ocean, or head east on highway 92 and merge on to highway 580 and hit the slopes in about 3 hours.  San Mateo offers just about anything anyone might want in activities both inside and out.