Lake Merced to OMI

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Lake Merced to OMI

The short drive from the Pacific Ocean to City College will take one from the uniformity of the Parkmerced apartment towers and Stonestown to the grand cultural mix of the "OMI" (Ocean View-Merced Heights-Ingleside) neighborhood.

The far southwest corner of the city has played host to famous horse races, horse tracks, and infamous gun duels.

Near the shoreline of Lake Merced on September 13, 1859, chief justice of the California Supreme Court, David Terry, shot United States senator David Broderick. Their duel revolved around personal grievances and North/South politics.

Three days later Broderick was dead.

This one small patch of San Francisco, so distant from downtown, is the city's center of higher public education with San Francisco State University and City College of San Francisco as its bookends. Land use issues and changing demographics make the area a constant subject of political discussion.

Geographically, Ingleside Terraces dips into this slice of the western neighborhoods, but the Terraces development is more typical of the adjoining West of Twin Peaks neighborhood.

Read more on the neighborhood: The El Rey theater on Ocean Avenue; the giant sundial in Ingleside Terraces; the San Francisco Zoo; the Ingleside branch library; the missing Ocean View Park development; and the Stoneson Brothers.

Most importantly, read about our "I am OMI" project!

Images: 1) Parkmerced apartment village, August 2001. WNP photo. 2) Ocean Avenue at Miramar - 1920s. Courtesy of Greg Gaar.

Contribute your own stories about the OMI!

This project is made possible by a grant from the CALIFORNIA COUNCIL FOR THE HUMANITIES with generous support from the San Francisco Foundation, as part of the Council's statewide California Stories Initiative. The COUNCIL is an independent non-profit organization and a state affiliate of the NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES. For more information on the Council and the California Stories Initiative, visit www.californiastories.org.

Page updated 4 June 2006.

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  Farms, Fire and Forest

  Sutro's ownership of the old Rancho San Miguel ( Jan 1, 2005)
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  Streetwise: Urbano's Racetrack

  Urbano Drive is an oval laid exactly along the lines of the old Ingleside Racetrack, the last venue for horse racing in San Francisco. ( Jan 1, 2005)
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  The Talking Cat of the Ingleside District

  There was also some appeal in whatever mischief one could get into while most adults were still sleeping soundly. ( Jan 1, 2006)
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  Streetwise: A Boxer's Death

  Alex Gdovin died from a punch to the chest that stopped his heart in a boxing match. ( Jan 1, 2006)
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  Jockey House: 280 Byxbee Avenue

  The Last Remnant of The Ingleside Racetrack? ( Jan 1, 2006)
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  Ingleside Terraces Sundial

  The story of this mysterious monolith ( Jan 1, 2006)
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  Streetwise: The Burned Cross

  Patti Poole was six years old at the time, and stayed home from school while her parents talked to reporters and defended the people of Ingleside Terraces. ( Jan 1, 2006)
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  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. ( Jan 1, 2006)
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  Streetwise: Guns and Golf

  The 1859 duel between Broderick and Terry at Lake Merced. ( Jan 1, 2006)
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  100 Stonecrest Drive

  Henry Stoneson built this house in Lakeside for his own use. ( Jan 1, 2006)

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