San Francisco’s Neighborhoods Within Neighborhoods

San Francisco is a city of neighborhoods.  Many of them, such as Chinatown, The Castro, and Nob Hill, are quite well known.  However adjacent (and sometimes even within) many neighborhoods in the city are smaller enclaves with their own dynamic vibe.

Some are only a block or two long, but have a vitality all their own.

The Richmond District straddles the northwest section of San Francisco, between Golden Gate Park and The Presidio, and jutting out of its northwest boundary is the little wealthy enclave of Sea Cliff.  Palatial mansions clinging to sheer cliffs are common for this neighborhood, some of whose inhabitants have been Robin Williams and Sharon Stone, once called the neighborhood home. It’s also sandwiched between the Land's End hiking trail towards the Palace of the Legion of Honor Museum to the west, and the multiple hiking trails of the Presidio to the east. 

This is a residential neighborhood as there are no other businesses there, save for a private school.  The one area accessible to visitors is the almost-hidden China Beach.  It is cold and windswept most of the year like a lot of San Francisco's coastline, but it is public.

One of my other favorite neighborhoods in the Richmond District doesn't even have a name, It's just Balboa Street, between 35th. and 39th. Avenues.  Anchored by the Balboa Theater, which is one of the few movie palaces of the 1920s that has retained its original Art-Deco design.  In addition to that, there are two hip cafes, a great local bar, and several restaurants offering varying cuisines.  Not to mention the best burritos outside of the Mission District.

The Tenderloin neighborhood is considered by some, well, Skid Row for the most part.  Yet it is one of my favorite parts of the city.  Within its boundaries you will find art museums and art galleries, eclectic restaurants, and even neighborhoods within the neighborhood.  Because it is one of the poorest neighborhoods in the city, it is the most affordable to new immigrants settling in San Francisco.  As it is often the first area they have called home, over the years different cultures have carved little pieces of it and made it their own.

Little Saigon Neighborhood In The Tenderloin.

In the 1980s Southeast Asians displaced by the Vietnam War, found an affordable area on the west side of the Tenderloin to settle.  Larkin Street, on the west side of the Tenderloin, has now been nicknamed "Little Saigon" as you will find many businesses and restaurants catering to the Vietnamese community.  Every January Tet, the Vietnamese Lunar New Year, is celebrated on a blocked-off Larkin Street. 

Bordering the east side of the Tenderloin is Jones Street.  Along this corridor are many Indian and Pakistani restaurants, which are supported by and cater to immigrants from that region. So many in fact, that the neighborhood is now affectionately referred to as the TANDOOR-loin

Tucked between Junípero Serra Blvd, and 19th. Ave. is the quaint Lakeside Village along Ocean Ave.  It is little more than a block long, and is bisected by the M Oceanview streetcar, but seems to have one of everything:  A bank, a cafe, a florist, etc.

Most people have heard of the Haight-Ashbury section of San Francisco, but only the locals know it as "Upper Haight."  Walk east on Haight Street to Fillmore Street, and you will find a neighborhood almost as eclectic and unique as the more famous Haight-Ashbury half a mile to the west.