© McCormack's Guides
Zip Code: 94122, 94116
On the
Pacific. One of the largest neighborhoods of San Francisco. Will appear on some
maps as Taraval. Sunset district borders but stands aloof from Golden Gate
Park, the zoo and the Pacific. They attract visitors and tourists; the Sunset
generally doesn’t. www.mccormacks.com
Middle
class with upmarket prices.
Crime low
to middling. Homes generally well-maintained. Streets clean. Graffiti rare.
Click for regional or detailed map
Population
about 70,000 but some people place Forest Hills, St. Francis Wood and Parkside
in the Sunset and put the population close to 100,000. The Sunset is defined
alternately as a district including neighborhoods and as a neighborhood.
Glorious
sunsets, balmy winters, mild summers — when the fog lifts. In the summer,
it often doesn’t; many days cold, damp and dim. If you are buying or renting in
the Sunset, think about the weather. Many love it, many hate it.
Commute
good. By MUNI, about 30 to 45 minutes to downtown San Francisco. Shorter if you
drive. BART station at Daly City. www.mccormacks.com
A
neighborhood traditionally favored by immigrants and first-generation Americans
on their way up and, usually, out (to the suburbs). Considered a good address,
and with home values rising, attracting more professionals.
The
district started to develop in the early 1900s, when streetcar lines were
extended and the downtown ran out of building space. In the 1930s and 1940s,
contractor Henry Doelger built thousands of homes on the sand dunes of the
Sunset and set the architectural look of the district.
At that
time, builders were wrestling with a new problem: what to do with the car. The
horse, noble but stinky, had been shunted into the stable, separate from the
house. The horseless carriage, now being mass produced, could be brought into
the house, but where.
Doelger
stuck it under the living room. The typical Sunset home is a two-story affair:
garage on the ground floor, flanked by stairs to the second floor where you enter into the living room (directly over the garage.) The living room will often have a picture window to the street.
The kitchen is located beside or to the rear of the living room and off the hallway, two bedrooms and one bathroom.
In many
homes, a third bedroom and a second bathroom have been added. The garage will often contain a small bathroom and bedroom.
Lots 25 feet wide. No
front yard or just a patch of grass. Small rear yard. Utility lines overhead.www.mccormacks.com
Pinched
views of the Pacific but a few homes will have views. The Sunset starts in very low hills and gradually descends to the Pacific, where the shore flattens. Here and there a few hills rise, creating vistas but for the most part the terrain descends too gently for view lots. Even at the shore, which has some five-story buildings, the views are limited to the upper stories.
If you are driving or walking along the east-west streets, the ocean, unblocked by housing, can often be seen sparkling in the distance.
Stucco relieved by decorative balconies, tile
and other knickknacks. Many homes are large enough for extended families or
in-law units, a selling plus.
Doelger
priced his homes at $5,000 each, which in the Depression was a lot of money but
not an overwhelming amount, and as much as anything this defined the social
character of the Sunset. It was built for people ascending into the middle
class.
The Sunset
is sometimes criticized for being bland — the White Cliffs of Doelger —
but had it added views, rooms and more yard space, it would have priced itself
beyond its intended market. Doelger's homes, many remodeled, now sell for well
over $600,000.
First came
the Irish, Italians and the Germans, immigrants or their children. As the
initial wave grew old and the kids moved to the suburbs, many of the homes came
on the market, to be purchased by Chinese immigrants or their children moving
out of Chinatown. But the Sunset still retains quite a mix.
Ten or 20
or 30 years from now ... who knows ... the Sunset will probably catch the
Hispanic middle class moving out of the Mission District. www.mccormacks.com
Fearing
their children would lose their religion in public schools, the Irish and
Italians in San Francisco and elsewhere built their own schools. Four Catholic
elementary schools, two high schools were built in or near the Sunset. They
serve as a sort of alternate school system and accept many non-Catholics.
On
pleasant evenings, people jog or stroll to the ocean. Miles of beach. Besides
playgrounds and Golden Gate Park, there’s a community center, a seniors center,
social clubs, and Stern Grove, which offers popular Sunday concerts. Also the
city zoo, municipal golf course and several libraries. Restaurants, coffee
bars, and shops many and diverse: Irish pubs, Chinese diners, kosher markets.
Most are concentrated on a few streets, among them Judah, Noriega, Taraval and
Portal.
Increasingly,
a good neighborhood for dining out. Stonestown Galleria, which includes a Macys and
Nordstrom, is located just south of the Sunset. Many people shop at large
discount malls in Daly City and Colma, a short drive down Highway 1.
See the
shore for apartments and drive around Judah Street for homes built around the
turn of the century.
Inner
Sunset, which extends almost to the giant University of California Medical Center, a
teaching-research institute, is sometimes broken out as a separate
neighborhood. Hilly. Older, larger homes, more in tune with the Victorians of the nearby Haight. Located
near Golden Gate Park. www.mccormacks.com
Many
students and UC personnel live in the Sunset and Richmond districts. The
students attend the University of California, the University of San Francisco,
San Francisco State University and San Francisco City College, all located
within a drive or bus ride of one to four miles.
• Great
Highway, the shore road. When the winds blow and the ocean flexes its muscles,
sand sometimes blows up from the beach and onto the highway. City dumps it back
or removes it.
• In 2006
police officer Bryan Tuvera was shot to death by an escaped convict. Another
cop returned fire, killed suspect.
