By changing certain place names, San Francisco could enhance its romantic charm, spark visitors’ desire to explore, and honor local heroes and communities. Doing this would partly involve subdividing districts that conflate distinct sub-neighborhoods. Fortunately, the city’s rich history, culture, and topography allow it to split neighborhoods finely without seeming artificial.
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#46 Italian Independence: Split “Russian Hill” into Russian Hill and Italian Hill
#47 Distinguished Districts: The Old 49 Neighborhoods
#48 Apt Appellations: Replace prosaic names with evocative, historic, and/or alliterative names
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#46 Italian Independence: Split “Russian Hill” into Russian Hill and Italian Hill
Italian Hill (green) and Russian Hill (blue)
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I would suggest that “Russian Hill” be split into two distinctly named hills, since it has distinct crests of virtually equal height that are 2000 feet apart (yes, the two hills do connect, but hardly more than Russian Hill connects with Nob Hill). Distinguishing them would enrich the city’s geographic character and honor an old local community.
I would reserve the name “Russian” for the southern hill, where the namesake Russian cemetery was located, and rename the northern hill “Italian Hill” to honor the historic Italian-American community that lived and worked on its northern and eastern slopes (including the DiMaggios at 2043-47 Taylor). The northern hill also merits the name “Italian” for the various Italian-named streets and sites gracing its slopes and surroundings: Lombard Street, Columbus Avenue, Galileo Academy, Ghirardelli Chocolate, Michelangelo Playground, Scoma Way, and Francisco Street (for Francis of Assisi).
Union St, which crests slightly lower than Filbert St to the north or Green St to the south, would be an appropriate boundary between the two hills on their western slope. From the corner of Union & Hyde, their boundary could run northeast to the corner of Lombard & Taylor. Thus from the latter corner, walking south would take one up Russian Hill, whereas walking west would take one up Italian Hill.
Additional re-christening ideas in keeping with the “Italian Hill” rebranding:
- Francisco Park > Giardino Francesco
- Lawn at Francisco Park > Campo d’Assisi
- Montclair Terrace (off Lombard) > Terraza Bergamo (for the Lombard hill town)
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#47 Distinguished Districts: The Old 49 Neighborhoods
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I couldn’t help but notice 😉 that the city happens to have 49 or so distinct neighborhoods in its old quadrant (i.e., the Presidio [1776] plus all the neighborhoods east of the city’s old western boundary [Divisadero/Castro], and north of the city’s the old southern boundary [Precita Creek, now channeled under Precita Avenue and Cesar Chávez Street]).
The city officially divides this area into 42 neighborhoods, not 49. Yet one of those 42, SoMa, is really a super-neighborhood. Many maps partition SoMa, including my proposed reclassified-neighborhoods map, which divides most of its territory into Sitlintac (navy blue), Yerba Buena (sky blue), and China Basin (fuchsia). Moreover, several unlisted neighborhoods in the oldest part of town merit a place on the list for their distinct character and historical significance: Barbary Coast (formerly centered on Pacific, but now limited to the red-light district along Broadway plus City Lights Books and Jack Kerouac Alley), Jackson Square (the adjacent, spiffed up old quarter extending down to Washington), and Italian Hill (defined in the previous section). Similarly, the city’s contiguous concentration of theaters west and southwest of Union Square presents a strong case for adding a Theater District, which would promote a key cultural industry while still leaving plenty of room for a substantial Tenderloin. Finally, the nameless area around Market & Van Ness would be better served by a separate designation like Central Crossing than by being incongruously lumped in with the public administration district (Civic Center). Both the Theater District and Central Crossing would inherit bits of the former SoMa.
By granting neighborhood status to the aforementioned districts (while denying it to tiny ethnic-restaurant concentrations like Little Saigon and Belden Place), one can fine-tune the number of old city neighborhoods to 49:
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If one rejected the partitioning proposed above, one could come up with a different reasonable set of self-consistent criteria to produce an “old 49 neighborhoods” set. For example, the “existing classification” map below uses only officially designated neighborhoods, reaching 49 by including 7 of the oldest neighborhoods west of Divisadero/Castro (Presidio Heights, NOPA, Haight Ashbury, Cole Valley, Ashbury Heights, Buena Vista, and Corona Heights):
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Both the reclassified-neighborhoods map and the existing-classification map envision a way of turning the “Old 49 Neighborhoods” into a multi-day walking tour. The reclassified-neighborhoods map proposes names intended to enrich the city’s romantic character and intrigue visitors (Barbary Coast, Craft District, Design District, Theater District, etc.) while remaining true to its geography and history.
Both maps eliminate ambiguity by barring any overlap between neighborhoods. For example, the reclassified-neighborhoods map defines the block of Geary between Taylor and Mason as being exclusively within the “Theater District”, not as forming part of the Theater District and the Tenderloin and Lower Nob Hill and Union Square.
Also, both maps eliminate ambiguous designations like “Western Addition” and “SoMa” that could be used to refer either to large districts or to smaller neighborhoods within those districts.
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#48 Apt Appellations: Replace prosaic names with evocative, historic, and/or alliterative names
[Credit to sfstreets.noahveltman.com for the origins of current street names.]
Financial District > Banker’s District: “Financial” is too dry and abstract.
South of Market > Central Crossing, Sitlintac, Yerba Buena, China Basin: “SoMa” is unimaginative and lumps together too many distinct neighborhoods. The reclassified-neighborhoods map splits it into four, including a “Sitlintac” neighborhood to honor the native Yelamu people’s winter settlement at what is now the southwestern end of SoMa.
Dogpatch > Craft District: “Dogpatch”?
Duboce Triangle > Trolley Triangle: Crossroads of the city’s streetcar system.
Polk Gulch > The Gulch: The gulch running between Pacific Heights and the cable car hills actually bottoms out at Van Ness, not Polk. Incorporating Van Ness into this neighborhood to would not only make sense geographically, but would also allow the Union Street and Pacific Heights neighborhoods to exclude the incongruous Auto Row.
Western Addition > Fillmore District: The name “Western Addition” is sometimes used for referring to a large district west of City Hall that encompasses several neighborhoods besides Fillmore (namely, Lower Pacific Heights, Cathedral Hill, Japantown, Alamo Square, Hayes Valley, and Lower Haight). Like the city’s own neighborhoods map, the proposed “reclassified Neighborhoods” map incorporates all of these as distinct neighborhoods.
Central St > Love St: In honor of SF’s famous Summer of Love, rename Central Avenue “Love Street” ❤️❤️❤️. Tourists will be drawn to take their picture at the corner of Love & Haight, conveniently located at the eastern gateway to the Haight Ashbury business district. Rename the “Haight Ashbury Painted Ladies” the “Love Street Painted Ladies” or the “Love & Haight Painted Ladies”. This renaming would also make possible a “Fell & Love” skyway stop:
Masonic Ave > Gentle People Blvd: This would honor the stirring Summer of Love anthem, “San Francisco“. “Gentle people” is the song’s core lyric praising the folks gathered that summer in neighborhoods through which Masonic Avenue passes. The name “Masonic” referred to a local Masonic cemetery which is now long gone.
Jackson St > Wander-No-More St: This would honor the city’s original anthem, “San Francisco (Open Your Golden Gate)”, in which the songwriter happily pledges on returning to his native SF that he shall “wander no more”. I nominate Jackson Street — among the city’s most fascinating — for renaming “Wander-No-More Street”. It is currently named after Andrew Jackson, the slave owner, slave trader, and signer of the Indian Removal Act.
Green St / Union St > Above-the-Blue St: This would honor the city’s second anthem, “I Left My Heart in San Francisco”, where the songwriter’s beloved awaits “above the blue and windy sea”. Green Street and Union Street are each good candidates for this name, as each overlooks blue waters along its lofty passage over the city’s northern hills. Renaming Green Street would deservedly strip the honors from a man who admitted to embezzlement and family abandonment. On the other hand, renaming Union Street would helpfully eliminate any potential confusion with Union Square. Union Street might be the better candidate if it got the proposed cable car extension, due to the song’s famous reference to cable cars.
Jefferson St > Tidewatching St; Aquatic Park Bleachers > Tidewatching Theater: “Tidewatching” is meant to honor Otis Redding’s song “Dock of the Bay”, in which he sings about “watching the tide roll away”. The Fisherman’s Wharf section of Jefferson St seems like the best candidate for this one, since it’s the only potentially renamable street on which visitors can reach the docks. It hits the docks between Taylor and Jones, then leads straight to the Aquatic Park Bleachers, a virtual theater for tidewatching. Thomas Jefferson played no direct role in the city’s history.
Buchanan St > Korematsu St: Rename Buchanan Street – which passes through the heart of Japantown – in honor of the heroic Japanese-American civil rights activist Fred Korematsu. John C. Buchanan “was a member of Fremont’s Battalion, and…owner of many town lots” (Wikipedia).
Pierce St > Milk St: Pierce Street begins at Duboce Park, where Harvey Milk was active as a civic leader. It is named for Franklin Pierce, a US President who held back the abolitionist movement and worked to enforce the Fugitive Slave Act.
Gough St > Starr King St: Thomas Starr King was a renowned abolitionist preacher and orator who rallied Californians to support the Union cause in the Civil War. He was ahead of his time in supporting humanitarian causes, interfaith understanding, and the preservation of Yosemite. Charles H. Gough, for his part, was a member of a street naming committee who named this street for himself.
- Starr King St > Universalist Way: Rename Thomas Starr King’s existing, one-block street for the church on that block where he preached.
Curvy block of Vermont St > Veermont Slope: The crooked block that requires you to repeatedly veer left and right to drive down it.
Bayview Hill > Rainbow Ridge: Idea 33 proposes adding a rainbow or rainbow-colored sign atop Bayview Hill to mark visitors’ arrival to the city. If this could be done, I’d suggest changing the hill’s name from “Bayview Hill” to “Rainbow Ridge” (how many SF hills *don’t* have a view of the Bay?).
Tank Hill > Belgrave Bump: This is a small hill at the top of, and accessible from, Belgrave St. Belgrave means “pretty grove”, which aptly describes the top of this hill.
Clarendon Heights > Radio Ridge: Use “Radio Ridge” for the hill directly under Sutro Tower (which isn’t Mt. Sutro), and “Clarendon Heights” for the neighborhood. The Tower broadcasts radio and TV, which both use radio waves.
Cannon Hill > Maybeck Hill: This hill’s current name comes from a cannon that once guarded it. Rename it in honor of Bernard Maybeck, architect of several famous homes near this hill’s summit (3233 Pacific, 3200 Washington, and 3500 Jackson), and of the beloved Palace of Fine Arts which it overlooks.
Fort Point > Castillo de San Joaquín (fort), Strauss Point (point): “Fort Point” is awkward, since one can’t tell if it’s supposed to be the name of the fort, the name of the point, or both. Cut the confusion by renaming the point for Joseph Strauss (chief engineer of the Golden Gate Bridge) and bringing back the fort’s historic name “Castillo de San Joaquín”. As with most California place names, the Spanish has more historic and romantic resonance than the English (who would not choose “Presidio” over “Garrison”?). Even in English, “castle” has far more tourist appeal than “fort”.
Spreckels Lake > Spreckels Model Yacht Lake: This is the only model yacht lake I know of anywhere in Northern California. The city ought to advertise this distinctive attraction inside the name.
Richmond District > Park Cliffs (beach to 25th) and Park Presidio (25th to Arguello): The name “Richmond” covers too big an area and leads to confusion with the nearby city of the same name. What’s more, it fails to relate to its location. For better clarity and specificity, I would suggest using “Park Cliffs” for the district between Golden Gate Park and the city’s northwest cliffs, and “Park Presidio” for the district between Golden Gate Park and the Presidio, subdividing the two districts into four neighborhoods as follows:
- Park Cliffs West: Great Highway to 34th
- Park Cliffs East: 34th to 25th
- Park Presidio West: 25th to Park Presidio
- Park Presidio East: Park Presidio to Arguello.
Upper Great Hwy > Great Hwy; Great Hwy > La Playa: I’m too lazy to add “Upper” when referring to what is technically the “Upper Great Highway” rather than just the “Great Highway”. And I assume there are others like me. So I think having two roads named “Great Highway” will just cause confusion. Better to save that name for the road that is actually “great” (i.e., wide)—the beachside road. Use “La Playa” for the narrow road next to it.
- La Playa > 49th Ave: Then, change what is now “La Playa” to “49th Avenue”. After all, why miss a chance to hit the city’s magic number? No one will believe deep down that the city didn’t deliberately map the avenues to produce that number. But most will gladly suspend disbelief to enjoy the romantic myths that the city has 49 avenues, 49 hills, 49 miles of railway, etc.