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The Sunset District

The Sunset District is a sprawling, mostly residential neighborhood located directly south of Golden Gate Park. The largest district in San Francisco, and one of the last areas of the City to be originally developed, many of the homes and buildings in this neighborhood were built between the 1920s and the 1950s, with the vast majority of construction taking place during the 1930s and '40s. Like its neighbor the Richmond District, which flanks Golden Gate Park from the north, the Sunset District has been divided into several sections: "Inner Sunset," "Central Sunset" and "Outer Sunset" (the areas that comprise the northern half of the district), and "Inner Parkside," "Central Parkside" and "Outer Parkside" (the southern half of the district). An area southwest of the Inner Sunset and northeast of the Inner Parkside forms yet another sub-district known as "Golden Gate Heights." Also like the Richmond, the Sunset District is close to the Pacific Ocean (indeed, the ocean serves as the western border for both the Outer Sunset and Outer Parkside neighborhoods); for this reason, the area tends to be blanketed foggy during the morning and early afternoon hours, especially during the summer.

Outer Sunset

The Outer Parkside is bordered by 37th Avenue/Sunset Boulevard to the east, the Great Highway to the west, Lincoln Way to the north, and Ortega Street to the south. Primarily residential, it is also the location of Sunset Village, an enclave of older houses in the northwest corner of the neighborhood that once served visitors to nearby Ocean Beach. Though many of these buildings have since been razed in favor of more modern structures, some surviving homes date back to the post-1906 earthquake construction period (with one such home reportedly built from old trolley cars). Like its neighbor to the south, the Outer Parkside, the Outer Sunset is close to the often chilly Pacific Ocean coastline. A rich marine layer often shrouds the area throughout the traditional summer months, but gives way by afternoon through most of the year. The trade-off to overcast skies, of course, are lovely views of the ocean and an often unimpeded view of the sunset every night.