Golden Gate Heights
Sometimes called Larsen Peak or Sunset Heights Park, Golden Gate Heights is perched on a 725 foot high bluff and is characterized by huge retaining walls and panoramic views of the ocean. Steep streets curve around relatively new and very upscale homes. Quaint dwellings face Forest Hill. Golden Gates Heights is at the top of Funston Avenue, south of the Inner Sunset and west of 7th Avenue.

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.

Inner Sunset
Neighborhood Link
A middle class residential area, close to the Golden Gate Park and the University Of California's medical center. The shopping center on Irving Street offers a mixed array of stores and restaurants, with an international flair.

Parkside
Runs along Pine Lake Park and Stern Grove. An area of single family homes, with neat little gardens.

Stern Grove
In the 1870's George M. Greene began what is now Stern Grove, by planting many eucalyptus trees to ward off the invading sand dunes. Sigmund Stern Memorial Grove, was given to the city by Mrs. Stern in 1932, as a place of natural and cultural refreshment through the medium of the summer music festival.

Sunset
Neighborhood Link
Before the 1930's, the Sunset district was made up of sand dunes that extended west to Ocean Beach. The dunes were paved over and replaced with pastel-colored, stucco houses on wide streets. After World War I, the need for smaller lots and low Federal Housing Administration veteran loans created mass housing, cloning mostly square homes with bay windows over the garage.
The sunset is located just South of Golden Gate Park, north of Sloat Boulevard and framed by Stanyan Street and Ocean Beach. Commercial areas include 9th Avenue, Judah Street, Sloat Boulevard, and Noreiga and Taraval streets, where many ethnic specialty stores, coffee shops, Irish Pubs and the like line the bustling streets. The Sunset is also home to San Francisco's Conservatory of Music.
Ironically, the Sunset is one of the foggiest pockets of all San Francisco, thanks to its location near Ocean Beach. The inner Sunset is a bit sunnier, from 19th Avenue eastward. Many students populate this area, while outer Sunset (19th Avenue and westward) is populated by many senior citizens and Asian American families.

Back to Area Map