District 9: Central East

A stranger to San Francisco may wander upon SoMa and see just a maze of warehouses, while never discovering the hidden gems deep inside this gritty, but highly desired neighborhood. Many of SoMa’s ghostly warehouses that remind us of San Francisco’s industrial past have been converted into luxury lofts and tiny start-up offices. Because of SoMa’s mixed-use zoning, one can walk a two-block stretch and find several residences, offices, trendy restaurants and lounges, as well as some of the city’s best nightclubs. Some of San Francisco’s most talked about restaurants, art galleries, and bars are located in the heart of SoMa, while AT&T Park is just down the street for baseball fans to squeeze in a Giants game, sometimes even from their rooftop. Public transit is easy in SoMa with multiple bus lines, King Street’s Muni light rails, and Caltrain where commuting residents can easily make their way into Silicon Valley. While SoMa is a lively district, residents can enjoy peace and quiet at South Park and Yerba Buena Gardens. Due to a major boom in real estate development, cranes and construction sites can be spotted all over SoMa, raising dozens of buildings that will define the future San Francisco skyline.

The San Francisco Giants call it home, as do some of the city’s tallest residential high-rises. South Beach is a new, trendy, and upscale neighborhood located on San Francisco’s waterfront, just blocks away from the Financial District. Residential high-rises and luxury condos, like Rincon and Millennium Towers, offer stunning 360-degree views of San Francisco and the Bay, while cranes reach new highs with rising new developments, including Lumina and Salesforce Tower. With South Beach’s popular clubs and buzzed-about restaurants, Saturday night entertainment options are anything but limited; though SoMa, Downtown, and Dogpatch are all nearby if cabin, er, South Beach fever ever strikes.

Named “Nuevo Potrero” by Spanish missionaries in the late 1700s, Potrero Hill has come a long way since the days cattle grazed the hilltop’s grass. Warehouses remind San Franciscans of the city’s industrial past and add a gritty appeal to this neighborhood that is home to Anchor Steam Brewery and California College of the Arts. Fog is typically not an issue in Potrero, as it lifts and warms up before most parts of the city. Further defying our city’s beloved stereotypes, finding street parking is, oddly, not really an issue in Potrero Hill. Incredible views of the distant skyline add an overwhelming sense of calmness to this peaceful and tight-knit community. With the 280 and 101 pulsing through this otherwise quiet neighborhood, residents find all parts of the Bay Area and Silicon Valley within reach, and downtown San Francisco just a few minutes away.

Declared a historic district in 2003, Dogpatch is home to some of San Francisco’s oldest Victorian homes, as the neighborhood was relatively unscathed by the 1906 earthquake. Rapid development and growth in neighboring Mission Bay brought attention to this once looked-over neighborhood in the late 2000s and early 2010s. Now on San Francisco’s radar, Dogpatch is a foodie destination, especially for those looking for farm-to-table or other experimental options. Similar to the neighboring Bayview district, Dogpatch’s dilapidated warehouses have been transformed from waterfront ruins into live-in artist studios, co-working spaces, and delicious coffeeshops. As new real estate developments and renowned restaurants continue to move into this neighborhood, Dogpatch is an exciting up-and-coming neighborhood that will surely make its mark on San Francisco. Established in 1998 as a redevelopment project, Mission Bay has undergone a rapid transformation, constantly reinventing itself as a hip and attractive neighborhood by taking cues from SoMa and South Beach. High-end luxury condos and lofts like The Beacon, one of the largest mixed use condo buildings in San Francisco, have brought new residents and jobs to this perpetually developing neighborhood. The new UCSF research campus on 3rd and 16th Streets has stimulated rapid growth, and the San Francisco Giants have proposed plans to develop Mission Rock, a mixed use commercial and residential development that will replace the parking lot on Pier 48 with a waterfront park, condos, offices, restaurants, and retail shops. The Third Street Light Rail provides transportation to and from Mission Bay, and nearby Caltrain can is the commuter gateway to Silicon Valley.

Bernal Heights is a gentrifying neighborhood in San Francisco which neighbors The Mission, Noe Valley, Potrero, Portola and Bayview. This once quiet neighborhood is quickly changing, and was ranked as one of the nation’s most desired neighborhoods in 2014. Though, that shouldn’t come as a surprise since Bernal Heights offers most of San Francisco’s most desired amenities: Victorians, trendy bars and cafés, organic grocers, galleries, eclectic boutiques and bookstores, beautiful views, warm weather, and dogs galore! This friendly and super-casual neighborhood invites you to explore its stylishly calm streets and to—quite literally—stop and smell the roses at Alemany Farmers’ Market every Saturdays. With easy access to the 280 and 101 freeways and Mission BART Station, Bernal Heights is an attractive choice to many San Francisco renters and homebuyers.