I thought I would kick off Day 6 of 33 with a summary of one of San Francisco's "coolest" neighborhoods - Haight Ashbury. You may have heard of it from the 1960's but this place still rocks in 2018!
San Francisco’s Haight neighborhood is divided into the “Lower” Haight and the “Upper” Haight. The neighborhood boundaries of the Lower Haight include Baker Street and Buena Vista Park to the west, Fell Street to the north, Divisadero Street to the east, Waller Street to the south. The neighborhood boundaries of the Upper Haight are Golden Gate Park and Stanyan Street to the west, Fulton Street to the north, Baker Street and Buena Vista Park to the east and Frederick Street, Cole Valley and Ashbury Heights to the south.
The San Francisco Association of Realtors has changed the name from Haight-Ashbury to Haight-Fillmore district, which is bounded by Steiner Street to the west; Webster Street to the east; Fell Street to the north; and Waller Street to the south. The Association considers the neighborhood to be a subset of the Hayes Valley. A mixture of restaurants, small nightclubs, cafes, drinking establishments, residences, galleries, and hair salons characterizes the Lower Haight. Neighborhood institutions include John Muir Elementary School, San Francisco Zen Center, The United States Mint, Duboce and Koshland parks, and the abandoned UC Berkeley Extension.
Lower Haight differs from Upper Haight by having a more diverse population and a smaller number of retail businesses. The Victorian and Edwardian houses tend to be less ornately painted and maintained in the Lower Haight than in the Upper Haight. The area is served by several San Francisco Municipal Railway (MUNI) bus lines and it is a few blocks away from all of the MUNI Metro lines. The geography of the Lower Haight provides an advantageous bicycle route from the Mission District towards Golden Gate Park and surrounding neighborhoods.
The Upper Haight (Haight Ashbury) has become a highly visited, well known tourist destination in San Francisco. The neighborhood is also a thriving center of restaurants, bars, clothing boutiques, booksellers, smoke shops, and record stores. Some of the tourist attractions include the Red Victorian Hotel, the 'Painted Ladies' Victorian houses, and nearby Golden Gate Park. Neighborhood support facilities and public transportation are located along Haight Street and Masonic Avenue. Commercial (retail and office) properties along Haight Street generally include freestanding, multi-tenant, or single-tenant commercial properties with scattered multi-story, mixed-use structures.
Haight Street in general has metered parking. Public transportation in the Upper Haight neighborhood includes (1) Muni buses 7, 71 and 71L, which run from Haight Street to Market Street (2) Muni bus 37 runs from Twin Peaks to the Haight, and (3) Muni bus 33 runs along Stanyan into the Upper Haight.