The places, past and present, that make up the western neighborhoods of San Francisco:

Parks and Open Spaces
• A Short History of Lake Merced
  Lake Merced was originally inhabited by the Ohlone Indians, who fished the lake and plied the nearby Pacific for fish, seal and the occasional beached whale. - by Tony Van Houten
• China Beach
  China beach leaves out the bad parts - by James W. Loewen
• Dutch Windmill
  Sometimes referred to as the "North Windmill", the first Golden Gate Park windmill stands 75 feet tall.
• Ewing Field: Lost in the Fog Bank
  Minor-league baseball in the fog - by Greg Gaar
• Farms, Fire and Forest
  Sutro's ownership of the old Rancho San Miguel - by Richard Brandi
• Golden Gate Park Bums
  1937 article about the "bums" (some professional) who play baseball in Golden Gate Park - by Will Connolly
• Golden Gate Park Children's Playground
  Yes, there were grizzly bears in Golden Gate Park, near the Children's Playground. - by Pat French Swendsen
• Ingleside Terraces Sundial
  The story of this mysterious monolith - by Hamilton Barrett
• Madie Brown
  An ardent nature lover, she was the one who organized a citywide preservation effort to make Mt. Davidson a public park. - by Jacquie Proctor
• Monastery Stones of GGP
  A monastery chapel's odyssey in Golden Gate Park - Jack Liebman
• Murphy Windmill
  A gift to the city from banker Samuel G. Murphy, the now sail-less windmill was the largest in the world when it was built.
• San Francisco Zoo
  The San Francisco Zoo was established in 1929, and built in the 1930's as part of a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project. - by Nancy R. Chan
• Sand Dunes to a City Park
  Memories of Golden Gate Park and the Inner Sunset from 1920. - by Rosemarie Marshall Green
• Sigmund Stern Grove
  The history of this musical glen - by Jacob Pemberton
• Speed Road and Polo Fields
  Last in a series on west side racetracks - by Angus Macfarlane
• Streetwise: Brooks Park
  A hillside home's rough ride to parkland - by Steve "Woody" LaBounty
• Streetwise: Guns and Golf
  The Broderick-Terry Duel - by Steve "Woody" LaBounty
• Streetwise: Mountain Lake
  Juan Bautista de Anza camped at a lake "of very fine water near the mouth of the port of San Francisco". - by Steve "Woody" LaBounty
• Streetwise: Windmill Walk
  Designed to pump 40,000 gallons of water an hour for the park's irrigation needs, the Murphy Windmill was a gift from banker Samuel G. Murphy back in 1905. - by Steve "Woody" LaBounty
• Strybing Arboretum
  The plan for a botanical garden on this site came from Park Superintendent John McLaren back in the 1890s.
• Sundial at Ingleside Terraces Brochure
  Photos of Ingleside Terraces, home floorplans, and the 1913 dedication ceremony - Courtesy of Margie Whitnah
• Sunnyside Conservatory
  The other conservatory with a colorful past
• Supervisor McLeran Tours the West Side
  1920 newsreel footage of Ocean Beach, the Cliff House, Lincoln Park and Golden Gate Park. - Courtesy of Jack Tillmany
• Sutro Forest
  To celebrate Arbor Day in November 1886, Adolph Sutro arranged for the planting of thousands of trees on what was then called Mount Parnassus.
• Sweeney Observatory
  Built by Thomas U. Sweeney on Strawberry Hill in Golden Gate Park in 1891.
• The Gjoa and the Roald Amundsen monument
  A famous ship that spent decades in the Golden Gate Park - by Hamilton Barrett
• Trocadero Inn
  This Stern Grove victorian gem has a storied past.

Sutro District
• Merrie Way: Adolph Sutro's Forgotten Pleasure Grounds
  by John Martini
• Sutro Heights Album
  A feast of views at and around Sutro's estate, circa 1890
• Sutro Baths
  Seven pools of wonder, eventually frozen over...
• History of Wave Motors and Tidal Machines
  Sutro and others have tried to capture the ocean's power.
• The Cliff House
  The historic roadhouse where the rocks meet the sea.
• Cliff House Disasters
  Explosions and Fires...
• Giant Camera
  The camera obscura behind the Cliff House, saved!
• Musée Mécanique
  Arcade antiques that still elicit wonder

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Cemeteries
• Columbarium
  The last remnant of the Odd Fellows Cemetery
• Laurel Hill Cemetery
  Bounded by California, Geary, Parker and Presidio Aves.
• Marine Hospital Cemetery
  Located behind the Public Health Hospital, Presidio of San Francisco, near 15th Avenue and Lake Streets.
• Odd Fellows Cemetery
  All that remains of the cemetery founded on the western slopes of Lone Mountain is the Columbarium.
• Streetwise: Dearly Departed
  At the turn of the 20th century most of San Francisco's dead were interred to the northwestern side of the city. - by Steve "Woody" LaBounty
 

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Libraries/Government/Civic
• De Young Museum Photos
  The first museum to occupy space on the north side of Golden Gate Park's music concourse was the repurposed "Fine and Decorative Arts Building" from the California Midwinter International Exposition of 1894.
• Fort Miley - VA Medical Center
  The San Francisco VA Medical Center occupies a twenty-nine-acre campus in the northwest corner of San Francisco, California, between Point Lobos and the Golden Gate. - by Chris VerPlanck
• Ingleside Branch Library
  On June 2, 2001, the Ingleside branch library reopened in a new location--1649 Ocean Avenue.
• Parkside Branch Library
  Architects Appleton and Wolfard designed eight modern libraries in the 1950s and '60s for the San Francisco Public Library. - by Richard Brandi
• Richmond Branch Library
  The Richmond Branch Library was the fourth branch established in the San Francisco Library system.
 

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Homes, Houses, and Streets
• 100 Stonecrest Drive
  Henry Stoneson built this house in Lakeside for his own use
• 1913 SF Chronicle article on Sunset homes
  News of the burgeoning neighborhood in the dunes
• 2701 Lincoln Way
  Fernando Nelson's home in Parkway Terrace
• 38th Avenue and Clement Street Then and Now
   
• 4329 and 4331 Kirkham Street
  The Sunset Earthquake Cottages
• 90 Cedro Avenue
  San Francisco Landmark #213 in Ingleside Terraces
• Architectural and Historical Resources of the Oceanside
  History and buildings in the Outer Sunset. - Produced by S.P.E.A.K.
• Carville - 1415-47th Avenue
  The last streetcar house
• Carzonia Apartments
  A whole neighborhood of streetcar homes existed in the inner Richmond after the 1906 earthquake.
• Fire Chief's Cottage: 1984 Great Highway
  Built as a vacation retreat in 1905 by Fire Chief Dennis T. Sullivan
• First Doelger Home Identified
  First Doelger House Discovered: 1427-39th Avenue
• Forest Hill Broadsheet
  A re-creation of a flyer printed by the Newell-Murdoch Company, circa 1912
• Forest Hill Club House
  Residents of the Forest Hill neighborhood themselves built the club house designed by the renowned Bernard Maybeck.
• Gunslinger in the Avenues
  Wyatt Earp lived in the Richmond in the 1890's
• Henry H. Gutterson
  Supervising Architect of St. Francis Wood - by Richard Brandi
• Ingleside Terraces
  The most fully-realized of San Francisco's "residence parks"
• Ingleside Terraces Video
  1920s Newsreel footage of Ingleside Terrace and "Villa Maria" house. - Courtesy of Jack Tillmany
• Jane Cryan's Little Red Shacks
  The houses that started it all
• Jockey House: 280 Byxbee Avenue
  The Last Remnant of The Ingleside Racetrack? - by Sean Hall
• Monterey Boulevard
  From the A.S. Baldwin survey of Adolph Sutro's estate in 1912
• Niantic Street Shacks
  Niantic Street is a tiny dead-end road trapped between Alemany Boulevard and the 280 freeway. - by Steve "Woody" LaBounty
• Parkway Terrace
  Fernando Nelson's Sunset development
• Signs of the Times: 536 Judah Street
  A Look back at home prices circa 1970
• Streetwise: Carville
  19th Century Recycling: a neighborhood of derelicts - by Steve "Woody" LaBounty
• Streetwise: Carville's Last Remnant
  In search of the steetcar houses - by Steve "Woody" LaBounty
• Streetwise: Doelger City
  No man had a greater impact on the Sunset District than builder Henry Doelger - by Steve "Woody" LaBounty
• Streetwise: Ocean View Redux
  Ninety years ago, J.W. Wright & Co., had high hopes that hoards of people would move to Ocean View Park. - by Steve "Woody" LaBounty
• Streetwise: Willie Mays
  The Giants centerfielder moves to the western neighborhoods - by Steve "Woody" LaBounty
• The Chronicle House
  A promotional bungalow built in Westwood Park
 
Homes, Houses, and Streets
Richmond
• Carzonia Apartments
  Made of cable cars!
• 38th Avenue and Clement Street
  A 1912 view and one from 2002.
• Wyatt Earp's House
  Gunslingers in the Richmond District?
Sunset
• Carville
  The suburb of streetcars
• Great Highway Carville house
• 1415-47th Avenue Carville house
• 536 Judah Street
  You could have bought it in 1970 for $34,500
• 4329 and 4331 Kirkham Street
  Earthquake Refugee shacks in trouble
• 1227 24th Avenue
  City Landmark #171 (Jane Cryan's earthquake shacks)
• Parkway Terrace
  27th to 32nd Avenue in the Sunset, between Lincoln Way and Irving Street
• 2701 Lincoln Way
  Fernando Nelson's Parkway Terrace home.
• Sunset houses featured in a 1913 San Francisco Chronicle article
• 1347 - 1369 Fourth Avenue
• 1242 - 1264 Eighth Avenue
• Fifteenth Avenue
• Thirty-seventh avenue
• Forty-second avenue
• Forty-third avenue
• 1984 Great Highway
  The fire chief's beach cottage
• Doelger City
  A small tribute to a unmapped metropolis.
West of Twin Peaks
• Willie Mays lived here
  The hall-of-famer didn't find it smooth sailing
• Monterey Boulevard
  See it in 1912 when it was Sunnyside Avenue
• Forest Hill Club House
  Bernard Maybeck designed it, neighbors built it
• Forest Hill Flyer Advertisement
  See how Newell-Murdoch promoted their residence park in the 1910s
Lake Merced to OMI
• 90 Cedro Avenue
  San Francisco Landmark #213
• 30 Niantic Street
  Earthquake shacks get a boost up!
• 100 Stonecrest Drive
  Henry Stoneson's mansion described in 1941
• Ocean View Park
  In the far southwest of the city, this place never got off the ground.
• Ingleside Terraces
  Pillars guard the site of an old racetrack
• 280 Byxbee Avenue
  Sean M. Hall investigates the old jockey house

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Schools
• Alamo School
  Alamo Elementary School
• Argonne School
  Argonne Elementary School
• Cabrillo Elementary School
  The history of this 24th avenue institution including class photos from the 20's and 30's
• Columbus School Traffic Squads
  Columbus Elementary School was located between on 12th Avenue between Kirkham and Lawton streets in the Sunset district.
• Juan Crespi Home School
  The Forgotten School - by Lorri Ungaretti
• Miraloma Elementary School
  Built in 1940 with potbelly stoves
• Parkside Primary School
  Parkside's first school, dedicated September 1909
• Parkside School
  History of the (now demolished) John Reid-designed school - by Roy H. Jarl
• RDASC Poems 2007
  Poems from the Richmond District After School Collaborative, 2007
• San Francisco State University
  State moved to its current location in 1953
• Sheridan Elementary School
  The cornerstone of the old Sheridan Primary School was laid on February 20, 1910
• Sunset Nursery School
  This Great Highway Co-Op has a long history
• Sutro Elementary School
  Over 100 years old, Sutro Elementary was torn down and rebuilt in 1976.
• West Portal Elementary School
  Class photos, history, and memories
• Young Hearts in Showtime
  A 1965 Richmond District musical that featured youth from many schools. - by Mary-Ann Orr
 

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Places of Worship/Religious
• Arden Wood
  The First Church of Christ, Scientist selected the plot of land in the newly-developed West Portal neighborhood for its west coast nursing facility in the 1920s.
• Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church
  Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church began as a Sunday school in 1940.
• Ingleside Presbyterian Church
  Built as the "Ingleside Community Church" the impressive building at Ocean Avenue and Granada Avenue was designed and constructed by Joseph A. Leonard.
• Park Presidio United Methodist Church
  PPUMC started in a storefront off Clement Street at 338 Fifth Avenue in April 1897 as the Richmond Methodist Episcopal Church.
• Pinehurst Lodge
  Pinehurst was built by the San Francisco Junior League as a home for underprivileged children and orphans awaiting foster homes.
• St. Andrews Church in Carville
  served the streetcar community of Carville
• St. Paul's Presbyterian, 1907
  St. Paul's Presbyterian Church, 43rd Avenue and Judah Street
 

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Businesses
• Conservatory of Music
  The story of this 19th Avenue landmark
• Doggie Diner Dedication
  The restored Doggie Diner Head was dedicated with much ceremony in 2001
• Doggie Diner Head
  A Landmark Dachshund
• Geary Bakery, 1925
  5321 Geary Boulevard, the future site of Dave Sullivan's Sporting Goods
• Golden Gate Driving Park
  Second in a series on west side racetracks. - by Angus Macfarlane
• Joe Politz
  The Joe from the Richmond's Joe's Ice Cream
• Larraburu Brothers Bakery
  The Larraburu Brothers were famous for their San Francisco sourdough bread.
• Ocean Course Racetrack
  First in a series about west side racetracks - by Angus Macfarlane
• Ocean Park Motel
  San Francisco's first motel
• Polly Ann Ice Cream Parlor
  Sunset Institution Celebrated 50 Years in 2005
• Rickey's Red Chimney
  The former Stonestown restaurant brings back a lot of memories
• Stonestown
  Reportedly on the site of former cabbage fields, Stonestown opened as the United States' fourth largest apartment complex/shopping center.
• Streetwise: Tait's
  The long-gone beach resort - by Steve "Woody" LaBounty
• Sutro Baths Interior, 1960
  A derelict Sutro Baths in the 1960s. - Courtesy of Cliff Tune.
• Sutro Baths Memories, 1952
  1952 San Francisco Chronicle article colorfully bemoaning Sutro Baths' demise. - by Will Connolly
• The Chutes
  This long-gone amusement was at 10th and Fulton
• The Circle of History
  Chance meetings make for good history - by Woody LaBounty
• The Gap clothing empire
  The first store opened in the Ingleside in 1969.
• West Portal Creamery
  118 West Portal Avenue
 

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Movie Theaters
• 4-Star Theater
  Opened in 1912 as La Bonita, still going at 23rd and Clement
• Alexandria Theater
  This 1923 Richmond District landmark by the Reid Brothers closed in 2004
• Balboa Theater
  A gem of the outer avenues.
• Balboa/Westwood Theater
  The first Balboa theater was on Ocean Avenue.
• Bridge Theater
  Geary at Blake, Supposedly named in honor of the recently-constructed Golden Gate Bridge, it opened in 1939
• Coliseum Theater
  Clement Street at Ninth Avenue
• Coronet Theater
  3575 Geary Boulevard
• El Rey Theater
  The structure of the old El Rey prospers today as the Voice of Pentecost church
• Irving Theater
  Irving Street between 14th and 15th Avenues
• Lincoln Theatre/Bowling
  Sixth Avenue, near Clement
• Palm Theater
  448 Clement Street at Sixth Avenue 1909-1918
• Parkside Theater
  Taraval Street at Nineteenth Avenue
• Remembering the Coliseum
  Going to the Saturday matinee movies was the highlight of the week for all the neighborhood kids. - by Pat French Swendsen
• Surf Theater
  Irving Street at 45th Avenue
 

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Streetcar lines and places
• The "Boneyard"
  The Sunset's streetcar cemetery
• Read Jack Tillmany's memory (and see photos) of the day in 1947 when a 31 crashed into a 21 Hayes!
• A Geary-Park
• B Geary-Ocean
• C Geary-California
• N-Judah
• 2 Sutter-Clement
• 4 Sutter-Sacramento
• 5 McAllister
• 6 Haight and Masonic
• 17 Haight and Ingleside
• 21 Hayes
• 31 Balboa

Page updated 18 October 2007.