Glen Park

By Nabewise

Infomation

Glen Park is a San Francisco gem that exudes a small village charm from the center of the city. Surrounded by hills, cozy Glen Park is home to an abundance of well-maintained real estate and long term residents. The thriving business center around Chenery and Diamond features mom and pop-shops and highly regarded restaurants and café’s. This nabe's also home to Glen Canyon Park: a 70-acre green haven with miles of trails winding through rolling canyons and eucalyptus groves (sounds like paradise, eh?). Interstate 280 and the Glen Park BART station are at Glen Park's southern edge, making public transit a breeze.

Top Votes – Score out of 100

Pet friendly
90%
Pet friendly 90
Quiet 84
Public Transportation 83
Families 83
Clean 81

Lowest – Score out of 100

Shopping
32%
Nightlife 50
Seniors 48
Income 44
Singles 39
Shopping 32

Top Reviews from Travel Rentals Neighborhoods

A Small Classy Neighborhood Overshadowed by the Mission at Times

I’ve lived in Glen Park for about a year now, so far, so good. My whole trip in life is culture, so I really love the Mission. But, there’s something to be said about Glen Park, something classy. If you’re standing on the corner of Chenery & Diamond St, you’ll think you’re in a Parisan neighborhood, similar to Montmatre or Cualaincourt.

And although there are only two streets in Glen Park, it’s aself-contained micro cosmos. We have a bart station, a public library, four coffee shops (and a fifth is opening soon), a farmer’s market, a bank branch, a bar, yoga studio, bakeries and muni lines that will take you just about anywhere.

The only drag is that everything closes early and you have to outsource your nightlife to the Mission, which is only one Bart station away, and for some, within walking distance. Galiana’s Pizza and the cheese shop are worth going out of your way for.

What's awesome

Osha, Galiana’s Pizza, Sunnyside conservatory

What's not so awesome

Most establishments close early and the neighborhood is quite small.

Luis M.

Glen Park

Glen Park is for living. It is not a destination. It is a quiet retreat for young families who want a relatively safe and quiet neighborhood, and an affordable alternative for single 20-somethings who need to be near public transit.

Diamond street offers a limited but exceptional selection of restaurants including the very well reputed Gialina Pizzeria, and fine dining options Chenery Park and Le P’tit Laurent. The lone bar, Glen Park Station, is a wonderful neighborhood dive serving mostly locals.

Nearby Glen Park Canyon provides an outdoor escape for dog walkers and day hikers, but the steep slopes also cut of the nabe from Diamond Heights above and limit the bus options for getting in and out. For BARTing commuters this is a non issue, but the going-out types partying past BART hours should live above 24th if reliant on buses for getting around after last call.

David H.

hope to move here when I move to SF

Spent the day exploring this nabe.

The neighborhood is unbelievably cute, lots of flowers, and definitely very quiet. As someone else mentioned, architecture is truly varied. The area has a real authentic and unpretentious sense of community. People know each other and greet each other in the streets. Wherever I went people were welcoming and friendly.

I spoke with a number of locals. People said that Glen Park is like a little village inside the city. Everyone highlighted that while it’s super small it has everything one would need. For more active nightlife/shopping, just hop on the Bart and the Mission Districtis only one stop away. While people agree there are a lot of families and strollers here, I met several 20 somethings who raved about the neighborhood. I also noticed that a few of the people I spoke with have lived here their entire lives.

In terms of dining/shopping, there are 5 coffee shops and several cute restaurants. At first I felt like it was too quiet for me, but after walking into each establishment and realizing that each one is perfect in its own right, I decided I liked how small it is. It truly does seem to have everything one needs. Also, the grocery store is amazing.

Most amazing is Glen Canyon Park, an unbelievable 70 acres with hiking trails, eucalyptus trees, dogs offleash, tennis courts, baseball fields, indoor basketball courts with 4+ pickup games at one time. Many community activities happen at the Glen Canyon Rec Center near the entrance to the park.

In terms of where to live in the nabe, if you want to be near the Bart and the shops, you need to be near the southeast corner of Glen Park. This places you a short 7 minute walk from the entrance to Glen Canyon Park (two short blocks, two long blocks). There is also a zipcar station right near the Bart if you need a car.

What's awesome

Glen Canyon Park, tight-knit, all the shops/restaurants/coffee places one truly needs, quaint and peaceful retreat. So relaxing.

What's not so awesome

Question around fog and weather. It is apparently a little cooler than the Mission District. I’m also curious about how convenient the public transit really is if there isn’t good bus service…

Ann Montgomery

The Hidden Gem Revealed…

The Mission, Nob Hill, Castro…these names instantly evoke the rolling hills and cable cars of San Francisco. If you’ve been to the bay area, you have undoubtedly made a burrito stop, spotted Alcatraz from a hilltop, and snapped photos of the (orange!) Golden Gate Bridge. But for a truly charmed experience, spend an afternoon in Glen Park, the sunny gem tucked away in the south of the city. Both BART and car accessible (Hwy 280, a glorious drive in itself, drops you right in the heart of Glen Park), this neighborhood welcomes you with wide-open arms.

Take a stroll down Diamond Street and explore the shops and cafes, and stop by Canyon Market for some picnic items on your way to a hike in Glen Canyon Park. Swing right on Chenery Street to Bird and Beckett bookstore, and if it happens to be a Friday night, you have a good chance of catching some live music there. For the sommeliers in the crowd, go to Red+White (on the corner of Diamond and Chenery), a chique, sleek wine bar that serves an outstanding, and rotating, selection of wine, as well as delectable bites. The cheese shop next door will let you sample their cheeses and other dairy products, and carries an interesting, if somewhat eclectic, collection of snacks and items.

Wandering the curvy, hilly residential streets of Glen Park will reward you with unexpectedly stunning views of the city, and the locals will similarly reward you with genuine good cheer. Pace of life here is more relaxed than neighborhoods further into SF, and still manages to satisfy urban cravings for bay area natives and visitors alike.

Rujuta

Glen Park is a nice, quiet, convenient place in SF that's got great highway & subway access, and is close to parks & outdoors.

Glen Park rocks, especially if you commute south to Silicon Valley a lot.

Dave M.

Eureka!

Glen Park has it all. Great homes, amazing food, easy transportation and a huge park. You can nosh on an authentic, inexpensive burrito or do it up fine dining style. As one of San Fran’s little “villages”, it has a great neighborhood vibe that’s totally its own. Glen Canyon Park is unreal. Lush hillsides, dense woods, definitely feels more like Marin County than San Francisco. The Glen Park BART Station is the icing on the cake for this tops nabe.

Gena F.

Would Overcome My Aversion To Children To Live Here

Pros:

Glen Park Station (The BART station)

Glen Park Station (The Bar) They let you buy and carry out. WHO DOES THIS?!?! Glen Park Station, that’s who.

Gialina Pizzeria

Glen Park Canyon (I mean, there’s just a canyon sitting there. How randomly awesome)

La Corneta Taqueria

Cons:

Too many strollers and kiddies with snotty noses running around with their parentals. If you’re a parental, this should comfort you. You and your little people should feel right at home here.

The La Corneta line post rush hour can take nearly half an hour to get through. They’re good burritos, but, really.. no burrito is that good.

Rent is kinda high, which is a shame, because I would love to live here despite all the strollers and children rolling around.

Michaela Ann M.

Good nabe to live in, not to visit

The transportation in this nabe is excellent and terrible at the same time. BART is right there, which is super convenient, but the above ground busses that run through here don’t adhere to any schedule, and don’t come very frequently. The food here is good, there aren’t a ton of restaurants but the ones here have yummy food. It’s very convenient for those living in Glen Park or Westwood Highlands. There’s food, a dry cleaner, ATM’s and a grocery store. There’s also a wine shop and a cheese shop. The Glen Canyon Park is huge, one of the bigger parks in the city, which is great for families with kids, or runners. The hustle and bustle of the BART station make this nabe feel enclosed, but still like it’s in a city. Plus the Mission is right there.

Kati S

We moved to Glen Park after growing-up in Pacific Heights, but what a good idea!

I moved to Glen Park after growing-up in Pacific Heights and then living for sometime in North Beach some 15 years ago and my wife and I are very happy we did! I am the Broker and owner of a small local Real Estate firm, Ryan & Associates Realty, so I really know the San Francisco extremely well. Therefore, I moved to Glen Park after careful consideration with special regards to neighborhood and transportation, i.e. a small cozy neighborhood that had close proximately to BART and Freeway’s that could get me Downtown, or anywhere else in S.F. proper, very fast during non-commute times. Glen Park had that all and then some and a lot more!

Glen Park its surrounding neighborhoods, like Mission Terrace, Sunnyside and of course Mission Street / Excelsior District are filled with an abundance of wonderful and affordable Single-Family Homes (SFR), a plethora of multicultural shops and restaurants’ and they are all close to public transportation. There are more than a few public parks providing plenty of “Green” Open Spaces for walking, swimming and tennis courts to just name a few of the public activities’ that are so redolently available. There are also several good public libraries accessible, so all in all one really does not need to leave the immediate area for much should they not wish to travel far.

Paul C. Ryan

Just south of Diamond Heights (which is just south of Twin Peaks). Really easy access because of the Glen Park BART! If you are interested in living in the “Twin Peaks” area for its views and relative isolation from the hustle-bustle, Glen Park provides a small, village feel with easy public transportation.Jessie W.