| Richmond District (san Francisco) |
Article Index for Richmond |
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Information AboutRichmond District (san Francisco) |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT RICHMOND DISTRICT, SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA | |
| neighborhoods in san francisco | |
| russian communities in the united states | |
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The Richmond District is a neighborhood in the northwest corner of San Francisco, California . Lying directly north of Golden Gate Park , "the Richmond" is bounded roughly by Fulton Street to the south, Arguello Street and Laurel Heights to the east, The Presidio and Lincoln Park to the north, and Ocean Beach and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Park Presidio Boulevard, a major thoroughfare, divides the Richmond into the western "Outer Richmond" and the eastern portion, called the "Inner Richmond." Geary Boulevard is a major east-west thoroughfare that runs through the Richmond and to downtown. Originally an expanse of rolling sand dunes, the Richmond District was developed initially in the late 19th century. After the 1906 Earthquake , development increased with the need to provide replacement housing. In the 1950s and most especially after the re-structuring of US Immigration Law in 1965 , Chinese Americans began to replace the ethnic Jewish and Irish Americans who had dominated the district before World War II. The area became known as the "New Chinatown," particularly along Clement Street between Arguello and Park Presidio, which is a bustling commercial strip of restaurants and shops. The Richmond District also features a prominent Russian community with many stores catering to the Russian community along Geary Boulevard and a high concentration of Eastern European immigrants. Adolph Sutro was one of the first large-scale developers of the neighborhood. He is responsible for building the Sutro Baths , along with his mansion on the western end of the district, near Ocean Beach . The Richmond district was home to Anton Szandor LaVey , founder and leader of the Church Of Satan from 1966 until his death in 1997. His home on California Street, an imposing Victorian known as the " Black House ," was demolished in 2001. THE AVENUES The Richmond District and the neighboring Sunset District (on the south side of Golden Gate Park) are often collectively known as The Avenues, because the majority of both neighborhoods are spanned by numbered north-south avenues. The first numbered Avenue is 2nd, starting one block west of Arguello Boulevard (which takes the place of 1st Avenue), and increasing incrementally to as high as 48th Avenue near Ocean Beach (the last road before the beach being named Great Highway instead of 49th Avenue). The only exception is that there is no 13th Avenue; instead, it is known as Funston Avenue (named for Frederick Funston , a Spanish-American War general who was sent to the city to direct its recovery from the 1906 earthquake). Most of the east-west streets in the Richmond and Sunset Districts are named after Spanish explorers in ascending alphabetical order in a southward direction. In the Richmond District, these streets are: Anza, Balboa and Cabrillo. In the Sunset District, these streets are: Hugo, Irving, Judah, Kirkham, Lawton, Moraga, Noriega, Ortega, Pacheco, Quintara, Rivera, Santiago, Taraval, Ulloa, Vicente, Wawona, and Yorba (Fulton Street, on the north side of Golden Gate Park, and Lincoln Way on the south, taking the place of the streets which would otherwise have begun with "D" and "G" respectively, with "E" and "F"" being pre-empted by Golden Gate Park and "X" and "Z" being omitted). EXTERNAL LINKS |
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