Is Presidio Ave, between Bush and Sutter in San Francisco a good neighborhood or a bad one?

Call the local fire and police department for a ranking of incidents in the past few years, they might even have that info. on a website of sorts.

Looks at map…

It’s around Presidio Heights, which I think is a good neighborhood.

It’s fine. The closer you walk toward Van Ness, the seedier it will get, but I wouldn’t worry a bit.

SF is strange in the way that there is a lot of variation from one street to the next.
One thing you can count on in most areas is a high homeless population unless you move to someplace like Pacific Heights which not many people can afford.

Presidio Ave area in general is fair so I think you’ll be in good shape.

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&num=10&lr=&ft=i&cr=&safe=active&q=muni%20Garage%20%22Presidio%22&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl

It’s a nice affordable mixed use area. There is a big Muni garage and a fire station on the west side, mid-rise apt buildings on the east side. North 6 blocks takes you to Pacific Heights and the Presidio. South is Geary where there is a little shopping complex. It is halfway between the Kaiser main campus and California Pacific Hospital (abt 3–4 blocks) There is a nice motel 3 blocks north. It is sort of the yuppified part of the Western Addition and down the hill at Fillmore you are in an upscale small store shopping area.

Yeah, that is a weird area since it is Western Addition which was considered kind of ghetto when I lived there, nearly a decade ago. I think that @galileogirl probably has it right when she says that it is more yuppified there now. It is adjacent to the Presidio and Pacific Heights. There looks to be one of San Francisco’s signature pocket parks just behind the fire station (use the street view on the map link I have provided). It is North of the old urban renewal wasteland of Geary Blvd. I, very wrongly, always sort of secretly (shhh, don’t tell anybody) referred to that whole area as the Richmond District, which I think is typically really nice. A bit more insulated from the fog belt of Daly City that leaks up into the Sunset District. Not as hot as the flatter areas such as the Mission or Bayshore or the East Bay. I used to live at Fillmore and Haight. That was also a pretty warm area.

Bush + Presidio is a nice hilly area. Those tend to at least promote the physics of – and please I am sorry if I offend – shit rolling down hill. The worst areas of that city and many others can tend to be these flat heat traps where no breezes or any mist or anything refresh and wash the area clean. The area is very centrally located and it would be extremely convenient to get to any of the major amenities of the city including being sandwiched between the greenest areas and on a reasonable thoroughfare to drop into North Beach or downtown. Those areas tend to have been mostly developed in the time period following Second World War so expect to see fairly generic housing with occasional pockets of Victorians sprinkled willy-nilly.

That being said, having that fire station right across the street will drive you insane. San Francisco is very dense and very busy and the alarms from that firehouse will have you awake day and night. Also, a bus yard is no amenity. You don’t want to live near something like that. It is best to avoid areas with urban infrastructural wasteland. They attract pollution, noise, traffic jams, homeless encampments, etc. Your primary mass transit in that area will be surface based which is typically less pleasant than the underground which is concentrated on the major arm of Market Street between Castro and the Embarcadero.

Really, the best thing you can do is walk around an area and see if you like it . There are areas that are great with lots of restaurants in walking distance and such. This area doesn’t look like that to me, though. In contrast, here is what it looks like over on Clement Street nearby.

i dont know how it used to be but the part i was in was nice. didnt look like there was a lot to worry about :)