Living in San Mateo

Neighborhoods — The slope

Aragon

1920s and 30s stucco on the lower slope, with hill trees above it and the El Camino corridor a short walk below.

An Aragon corner in full sun: a mature sycamore over a planting bed, a white stucco house with a tiled roof and arched entry across the street, and a wooden bench on the front lawn
Stucco, tile, and an arched entry across the road, under eighty years of sycamore. The bench is out on the lawn — the front yards here still get used as rooms.

On the map

On the slope

Elevation cross section of San Mateo, west to east: the Crystal Springs watershed at 560 feet falls to San Francisco Bay at sea level in roughly four miles. San Mateo Highlands — 310 ft Laurelwood & Sugarloaf — 330 ft Baywood — 130 ft Aragon — 90 ft North Central — 38 ft Downtown — 28 ft Hillsdale — 22 ft Bay Meadows — 14 ft Sunnybrae — 11 ft Shoreview & Fiesta Gardens — 8 ft Coyote Point & North Shoreview — 5 ft
The hills Mid-slope, between the ridge road and El Camino. The Bay Drag toward the Bay →
Elevation
90 ft
Band
The slope
Nearest platform
Hayward Park
Getting to it
15 minutes
Street pattern
A loose grid that bends where the hill does
Fog
Occasional, thin, gone by ten
Tree canopy
Good — eighty years of street trees, near-continuous on the older blocks
Noise
El Camino carries faintly to the eastern edge; SR-92 at the south end

Aragon takes its name from the high school at its center, and the housing around it is 1920s and 30s stock: stucco, arched entries, tile accents, small front yards, garages built for a Model A that now hold half a car. Later infill filled the gaps without breaking the rhythm.

The advantage is position. Above the flats, the lots are leafier and the air a couple of degrees cooler; close enough to El Camino that a train, a grocery store, and dinner are a short walk or a five-minute drive. That band is narrow, and Aragon sits in the middle of it.

What it's actually like

Sidewalks everywhere, street trees that have had eighty years to fill in, and enough of a grade to register on a bike. Kids walk to school. Not quiet the way Baywood is quiet — El Camino carries faintly to the eastern edge — but calm.

Getting out

On foot, sidewalks everywhere and a grade gentle enough not to matter. Kids walk to the high school. El Camino, with the groceries and the train beyond it, is a short walk downhill and a slightly longer one back.

By train, Hayward Park is a flat fifteen minutes from the eastern edge; downtown San Mateo is a longer walk with more frequent service, and most regular commuters here end up choosing frequency over distance.

By bike, enough grade to register going home and none at all toward the corridor. The neighborhood streets are calm; the crossings of El Camino and 92 are the parts to plan.

By car, 92 is close, which cuts both ways — it is the route to both freeways and it backs up onto the surface streets at rush hour.