District 1
Golden
Gate Park
In 1871 William Hammond Hall, an ex-army engineer, was appointed as
the parks first superintendent. Within 5 years, he designed the park,
figured out how to anchor the sand dunes by planting imported sand
grass and how to make the trees grow, and he had begun at the east
end to landscape the barren waste. Uncle John McLaren later took over
the work. The park that Hall designed and McLaren built is one of
the great monuments of romantic landscape design. The park is perennially
green, since most of the vegetation is not deciduous and there are
beautiful gardens throughout. Also, the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum
and the California Academy of Sciences occupy the park. The 'de Young'
is currently being re-designed by noted architects
Herzog and de Meuron.
Jordan
Park
An unpretentious area, filled with mostly detached homes, well designed
and nicely landscaped. This area seems forever genteel. Utilities
are underground. The closest shopping area is Laurel Village.
Lake
Street
The Lake Street area runs parallel with the Richmond area and borders
the Park Presidio. Most of these homes are detached and many of the
cul-de-sacs North of Lake are traffic free and back up to the Presidio.
The North of Lake homes are often the bigger in the area. A nice neighborhood.
Lincoln
Manor
A select corner of the outer Richmond, with old and gracious houses.
Also known as Shoreview Terrace.
Lone
Mountain
Close to the University of San Francisco and the Golden Gate Park,
this handsome and neat neighborhood offers older and newer homes,
with well maintained gardens and surrounded by greenery. There is
also the newer USF sports center.
Richmond
Area
An ethnically mixed area, where immigrant Russians and East European
Jews settled in the late teens and twenties. Businesses, restaurants,
bookstores and the Russian Cathedral on Geary still testify to their
presence. The largest ethnic group is the Chinese, who, overflowing
from Chinatown, found it easier to acquire property here than in the
inner-city areas. The commercial strips along Geary and Clement are
the new Chinatown. The residential boom in this area began in 1912
with the opening of the Municipal Railway line on Geary Boulevard,
providing good transportation to downtown. The next boom followed
World War II and succeeded in filling all of the blocks to the ocean.
Rossi
Park
A flat area, names for its adjoining playground. The houses are well
maintained and quiet.
Sea
Cliff
City living rarely offers a residential area as dramatically perched
as Sea Cliff. It is high enough above sea level to be out of reach
of the waves, yet close enough to the shore to share with its residents
a sense of intimacy with the salt spray and the sound of the surf.
Its winding landscaped streets, beautiful houses and no overhead wiring
attract many sightseers. There are also two beaches here; China Beach
and Baker Beach.
Sutro
Heights
Adolph Sutro acquired his estate in 1879. He passed away in 1898.
The park named after him, offers fantastic views of the Ocean and
is well landscaped. Surrounded by pretty houses in the outer Richmond
area.
West
Clay Park
A prestigious neighborhood, with two-story, square shaped houses of
good size, pleasantly isolated by the Presidio and close to Lake Street.