Portola, San Francisco

Portola
Neighborhood of San Francisco
Nickname:  Garden District
Portola Location within San Francisco Portola Portola (San Francisco County) Portola Portola (San Francisco Bay Area)
Coordinates: 37.72740°N 122.40653°W / 37.72740; -122.40653
State	California
City	San Francisco
Government
• Supervisor	Jackie Felder
• CA Assembly	Matt Haney (D)
• State Senator	Scott Wiener (D)
• U.S. Rep.	Kevin Mullin (D)
Area
• Total	1.582 sq mi (4.10 km2)
Population  (2022)
• Total	16,410
• Density	16,500/sq mi (6,400/km2)
Time zone	UTC-8 (PST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-7 (PDT)
ZIP Code	94134
Area codes	415/628

Portola (Por-to-la, also known as Portola District) is a neighborhood located in the southeastern quadrant of San Francisco, California.

Portola is a neighborhood in the southeastern part of San Francisco, northeast of McLaren Park. It is roughly bordered by San Bruno Avenue and the James Lick Freeway (U.S. Route 101) to the east, Mansell Street to the south, University Street to the west and the Southern Freeway (Interstate 280) to the north. The adjacent Portola Heights extension lies west uphill from University Street to the Excelsior District, bordering McLaren Park to the south.

Name

Portola (pronounced PORE-toe-luh, by denizens) was named after the old Portola School, which in turn was named after the Spanish explorer Gaspar de Portolà (credited by some as the discoverer of San Francisco Bay).

It earned the nickname Garden District for its history of urban farming dating back to the early 1900s. The neighborhood once had over 20 functioning commercial farms and greenhouses.

Characteristics

Portola is a quiet residential neighborhood with low-slung single family homes popular with growing or established families. Housing prices is on the rise driven by the popularity of homes with a yard in an urban city where dwellings often lack such amenities. The local residents have plans to resurrect the neighborhood's heritage as a garden district.

According to the U.S. Census, the Asian population in the Portola has been steadily increasing since the 1990s. The Portola is marked by Census Tract 257.

History

Originally settled after the 1906 earthquake by Jewish and Italian immigrants, the area evolved into a community populated by nurserymen and their families who grew much of the city's flower crop there and uphill to the west in the Portola Heights extension. "The Road", as San Bruno Avenue was affectionately referred to by the locals, still hosts businesses that include bakeries, grocery stores, pharmacies, and in earlier times the Avenue Theater, now a church. The Portola was also once home to a significant population of Maltese immigrants and settlers and at one time the Maltese Consulate.

Demographics

According to the 2020 census data gathered by the San Francisco Planning Dept.

	Population Total Population 16,243 2010 to 2020 Population Growth 10.7% Income Median Household Income $104,452 2010-20 Income Growth 52.7% Housing Median Home Value $959,000 Median Rent Value $1,861		Households Family Households 72% Households with 60 years and older 51% Households with Children 27% Non-Family Households 22% Single Person Households 20% Single Senior (65+) Households 8% Avg. Household Size 3.3 Avg. Family Household Size 3.9
	Race/Ethnicity Asian 54% Latino (of any race) 26% Not listed/Multi-racial 23% White 18% African American 4% American Indian 1%		Educational Attainment (Residents 25 years and older) Less than high school degree 23% High school degree or equivalent 21% Some College/Associate Degree 28% Bachelor degree or higher 28%

Education

Elementary

• E.R. Taylor Elementary School

High school

• Philip and Sala Burton Academic School

Gallery

• 
  Portola viewed from John McLaren Park

External links

• Visitacion Valley San Francisco Heritage
• Visitacion Valley TOD Project
• Visitacion Valley Community Development Corporation
• San Francisco Visitacion Valley
• Visitacion Valley Branch Library
• Visitacion Valley Facebook Fan's Page