West Portal Station

About this location

A few stories people tell about this place

1. One morning, while sorting mail in West Portal Station, a delivery driver noticed an unusual scent of freshly baked cookies wafting through the air. Curious, he followed the smell and found it coming from an old, dusty corner cabinet. Every day after that, around the same time, the aroma returned—mysteriously appearing and disappearing without any visible source. Finally, one day, an elderly neighbor stopped by and asked if anyone was missing their secret cookie recipe. Turned out, it was just Mrs. Jenkins next door, who had accidentally left her batch in the station’s oven during her weekly visit. Since then, everyone in West Portal knows where to find the best homemade treats—and the postal workers get a free cookie every now and then.

2. In West Portal Station, a postal worker often heard strange noises coming from behind the counter one foggy morning. Curious, she peeked around and found a small, sleepy squirrel staring back at her with big round eyes. The little squirrel yawned and stretched, then scampered off into the mailroom. The worker smiled, thinking it was just another neighborhood critter making itself at home. From that day on, whenever there were quiet moments in the station, people would whisper they could hear tiny footsteps running through the stacks of letters—proof that West Portal Station had its very own postal mascot.

3. Every afternoon, as the sun dipped low over San Francisco, a delivery driver would park outside West Portal Station and notice something peculiar. The air around him seemed to hum with a soft, distant buzzing sound, like bees trapped inside a nearby wall. Curious, he leaned closer and saw nothing unusual—until his colleague mentioned that old Mr. Jenkins from next door kept bees in his backyard. Turns out, every day after closing time, Mr. Jenkins would quietly slip past the station to collect his hive’s daily harvest. The delivery driver laughed it off, realizing the ‘strange noise’ was just happy bees on their way home. Since then, whenever someone asked about the mysterious humming, everyone smiled and said, 'Oh, that's just West Portal Station's little bee friend.'

4. A delivery driver always took a shortcut through West Portal Station after work. One day, he found himself delivering letters not just to addresses, but also to secret mailboxes hidden under benches. Finally curious, he asked around and discovered that every old neighbor had their own special mailbox there—letters of thanks for decades-old favors! From then on, our delivery driver made sure to stop by West Portal Station every evening, checking his own secret box for messages from grateful friends.