Renting a Room in Redwood City

May 3, 2007 1:03 PM

I'm looking for a place to live in Redwood City in 3 weeks. Can anyone give me some information about good/bad neighborhoods, or any other advice?
posted by Maia to society & culture (9 comments total)

General advice about housing, entertainment, and the area appreciated as well.
posted by Maia at 1:08 PM on May 3, 2007

There are definitely some good & bad areas, I know that. My first 3 months in the Bay area were in a rented room in a mediocre RC neighborhood. Loud Mexican neighbors but it felt pretty safe. There's are some quaint downtown areas & they just added a ginormous new 20plex theatre that I like to go to although trying to park in the structure for it makes me crazy so I usually look for street parking. I like discount food shopping at Grocery Outlet.
posted by miss lynnster at 1:47 PM on May 3, 2007

There's are?

Also the Savvy Wine Cellar has nice music sometimes.
posted by miss lynnster at 1:47 PM on May 3, 2007

Redwood Shores is a posh bayside suburban community, made up mostly of condos and tract housing. Until about twenty years ago (or so) the entire site used to be owned by a theme park which moved away, leaving the space ripe for development-- so the whole community looks brand spankin' new. For some reason, it's still a part of incorporated Redwood City (as in, your address will say Redwood City on it) even though it doesn't look at all connected to downtown Redwood City when you look at it on a map.

I had a couple friends live there for about a year. It's nice. Maybe too nice.
posted by lou at 3:26 PM on May 3, 2007

I grew up in Redwood City! I think it's fair to say that the closer you get to the hills (and the further from 101), the nicer the neighborhoods are. West of Jefferson and south of El Camino is nice, as is anywhere along Alameda de las Pulgas from Jefferson to Woodside Rd.

Living in the hills above the city (Emerald Hills, as it's now branded) would be nice, but it's expensive, and far away from everything except 280. If I were looking for a place, I'd try to find something in the square formed by Whipple, Alameda, Brittan, and El Camino, or a bit further north in San Carlos.

Email me (in profile) if you have any specific questions...
posted by lalas at 4:37 PM on May 3, 2007

The only residential area I really know is in the area bounded roughly by El Camino/Jefferson/Woodside Road/Alameda de las Pulgas. I don't know about apartment availability there but it seems like a nice enough place, with lots of small homes. My friend has a house around Hudson and Oak and I like her little area. It seems a little busy with traffic and maybe a little noisy - she says her neighbours often have parties outside with mariachi bands but it isn't very bothersome.

Downtown RC has really undergone a revival in the last 5 years or so. The movie theatre mss lynnster mentions is the biggest new addition but there are lots of great restaurants and I go to the Powerhouse gym there (well, as much as I ever actually go to a gym). There's a pretty new Whole Foods at the corner of Jefferson & El Camino.

The only other area I know at all is the area off Middlefield around 5th Avenue, which my friends refer to as Little Michoacán. The impression generally is that Redwood City has a high Mexican population but that area in particular takes on that flavour the most (and I have no idea about the proportion of residents who are actually from Michoacán). Its very jarring to go from that around the corner to Atherton, I'll say that.

Much of Redwood City is semi-industrial or commerical, especially to the east of Middlefield and sometimes to the east of El Camino.

If you have specific ideas of where exactly you might me looking please post them and I'll see if my friend who lives there has any specific comments. Also, are you looking just in RC? The whole peninsula is sort of one big city - there are other places nearby as well (I live one town south in Menlo Park).
posted by marylynn at 4:49 PM on May 3, 2007

The avenues are not that bad (you used to be able to rent a whole house with a backyard) 'fairly' reasonable. I don't know how that is now though.

Amelia's downtown is awesome (pupusas - yum)

The Redwood City Library is pretty nice also.

Bair island (just over 101 near the large "Liberate" sign is a nice place to walk around a loop in the marsh.

The park at the end of MArsh road is also a nice place to get away to that doesn't require going away too far.

It's a very bikable city. Flat.

There's a nice park in Atherton thats close to the avenues and the Atherton train station.
posted by bottlebrushtree at 5:34 PM on May 3, 2007

My son lives in RC, generally in area identified above - Whipple/Woodside a couple blocks off El Camino. I've stayed with him a few times and it seems to be a decent neighborhood. Easy walk to the market and to other necessities. He's taken me to a couple of good restaurants in the area. I sent him a link to this page with the hope that he can give you some more specifics.
posted by X4ster at 5:35 PM on May 3, 2007

Just moved here a month ago. I suggest finding a place within walking distance of the train station (less than a couple miles). Even if you don't plan to commute by public transit, being able to go to SF or other places without to drive is nice.

I can't speak for most areas, but I regularly walk thru the Jefferson/El Camino/Woodside/Hudson rectangle and it all seems fine.

Redwood Shores might as well not be Redwood City and appears to be poorly serviced by transit and worse is way out on the bay partially on fill. Not my idea of a good area, but maybe yours -- it does look nice and groomed.
posted by R343L at 9:26 PM on May 3, 2007