Like it or not, and a year later than expected, on the evening of August 10 the San Francisco Association of Realtors will roll out a new neighborhood and district map for San Francisco. And while we don’t yet have our hands on an electronic version of the map, a summary of the changes by way of Green Key Real Estate:
Boundary Changes
∙ 5a (Glen Park) expands to include portions of 4s (Sunnyside), 4h (Miraloma Park) and 5c (Noe Valley).
∙ Dividing line between 5c (Noe Valley) and 9c (Inner Mission) moves from Guerrero to San Jose between 24th St to 26th St.
∙ 5e (Parnassus/Ashbury Heights) changes to include a portion of 5b (Haight Ashbury) which is commonly known as Cole Valley, and is renamed Cole Valley/Parnassus Heights, accordingly.
∙ 5f (Buena Vista Park) expands to include Ashbury Heights, and is renamed Buena Vista/Ashbury Heights, accordingly.
∙ Dividing line between 6b (Hayes Valley) and 8f (Van Ness/Civic Center) moves from Gough to Franklin. Dividing line between 6c (Lower Pacific Heights) and 8f (Van Ness/Civic Center) moves from Gough to Franklin between Sutter and California.
∙ Dividing line between 7b (Pacific Heights) and 7d (Cow Hollow) jogs south for one block at the west end and changes so that both sides of Green are in 7d (Cow Hollow) between Lyon and Divisadero. The boundary between Divisadero and Van Ness remains the same, keeping both sides of Green in 7b (Pacific Heights).
∙ Dividing line between District 8a (Downtown) and 8j (Tenderloin) moves from Geary to O’Farrell.
∙ 9a (Bernal Heights) expands to include portions of 9c (Inner Mission) south of Cesar Chavez between San Jose and Mission.
∙ 9h (South Beach) expands into portions of 9f (SOMA) and 9d (Mission Bay).
Renamed Districts
∙ 1d (Lake) is renamed Lake Street (the word “Street” is added).
∙ 5e (Parnassus/Ashbury Heights) is renamed Cole Valley/Parnassus Heights.
∙ 5f (Buena Vista Park) is renamed Buena Vista/Ashbury Heights.
∙ 8b (Financial District) is renamed Financial District/Barbary Coast.
∙ 9j (Central Waterfront) is renamed Central Waterfront/Dogpatch.
Newly Added Districts, Carved Out of Existing Districts
∙ 9G (Yerba Buena), carved out of portions of 9f (SOMA).
∙ 10M (Candlestick Point), carved out of portions of 10K (Bayview Heights).
∙ 10N (Little Hollywood), carved out of portions of 10K (Bayview Heights).
A Rose By Any Other Name (But Not Necessarily A Neighborhood) [SocketSite]
San Francisco Real Estate Districts: Maps And Neighborhoods [SocketSite]
Significant Changes Coming Soon to SFAR MLS Map [greenkeyrealestate.com]

36 thoughts on “San Francisco’s New Neighborhoods And Boundaries Come August 10”
  1. Meanwhile the dog park to be built at Bryant and Beale by Caltrans starting in November is likely to be named the Rincon Hill Dog Park because South Beach stops at Bryant Street.

  2. Funny here that in every case they are “stretching” nicer hoods and shrinking the crapier hoods, do they think this will really bump up values on the border of the loin or van ness

  3. Classic. The neighborhoods with a good reputation “expand” while others contract.

  4. does anyone know what will be the new dividing line between expanded Glen Park(5a) and Noe Valley (5c)?

  5. not only does this expand the nicer neighborhoods, it will also expand the “nicer-nabe-adjacent” neighborhoods too!
    on a somewhat serious note, others on SS have screamed (correctly) from the rooftops that SF has undergone change/gentrification over the years.
    Changing the names of these neighborhoods won’t improve them… but some of them have improved by themselves nonetheless. not sure why we have to change their names… that’s just Realtorspin I guess.
    For instance: we never felt the need to change Noe Valley’s name, yet it is very different from the nabe that it was in the 1980’s.

  6. Sure, this is all marketing crap. Anyone who buys a house based on a realtor’s map is an idiot.
    But that said, as exSFer points out, some of these outlying areas have improved themselves, changing the name is more of acknowledgement of that than trying to force change on it.
    Nothing stays the same forever people.. The world keeps chugging along and evolving whether you like it or not.

  7. So after residents of these districts ripped them a new one last year, this time they’re hiding the new map behind a login page.
    If I remember correctly, among other hilarity there was the financial district being renamed the barbary coast, south park being moved into a new “financial district south”, and mission bay annexing a good chunk of SOMA.
    Anyone care to post the new map? Just slap it up on posterous.com or something.

  8. I agree with R that it is marketing that’s driving this along with a desire to try and reflect areas that have “improved.” However, while basing a decision to buy based on the map may not be wise, when you are doing MLS searches or searches using other online services (Clean Offer, e.g.), you can search by district so if you do only a district search, your search will be different than if you did it by zip code or some other search parameter.

  9. I’ve always dreamt of living in Pacific Heights, and, if this trend of expanding the borders of desirable neighborhoods continues, one day I will.

  10. This is definitely self-serving, but how are the realtors able to arbitrarily change the borders and names of neighborhoods? Shouldn’t this be up to a government agency such as the city planning office, etc.? just curious….

  11. Little hollywood! thats the best, realtors are going to be able to push bayview to a completely new level

  12. So what’s the story behind the change in boundaries between Pacific Heights and Cow Hollow? Sounds like the Pacific Heights region was reduced around Green St, which means not every case is stretching the better neighborhood, although maybe there’s disagreement on whether PH is better than CH. The residents associations in PH and CH are also amusing, given they have completely different maps from the realtor maps and overlap each other substantially.

  13. Just one more example of how realtors will resort to anything, absolutely anything..to create illusions to sell property to make MONEY.

  14. why should a government agency have arbitrary control over neighborhood names? real estate agents are much more in touch with the actual neighborhoods.

  15. I was wondering about the Cow Hollow boundary change as well. The CHRA is probably more “influential” (and exclusive) than the PHRA, but that part of Green was already included under their aegis, so I have no idea. I always thought is was sort of humorous that the CHRA border stops at Pierce, which seems totally arbitrary, yet extends to Pacific, which is clearly in Pacific Heights.

  16. This is something that should have been done by the city a long time ago. Then again, who knows what the city is doing nowadays? Figuring out life without the Gave?
    Kudos to the SFAR for taking the lead. Less so for adjusting the map whenever they want to “up” a borderline area…
    Who needs city planners? The SFAR knows how to defend the interests of homeowners!

  17. why should a government agency have arbitrary control over neighborhood names? real estate agents are much more in touch with the actual neighborhoods.
    Posted by: yao at July 20, 2010 12:01 PM

    Funny that they hide the map as a way to demonstrate how in touch they are. You’d think this might be an opportunity for them to plant a flag of credibility in their methodology, but their priorities and instincts apparently lie elsewhere.

  18. EH: Read the post. They haven’t officially announced this yet, so the map is not public. Once they announce it (08/10 as per the post), I’m sure the map will become public.

  19. Little Hollywood isn’t a realtor creation. It’s been called that for quite some time. That’s what its park is called, too.

  20. My bad, I must have misread “on the evening of August 10 the San Francisco Association of Realtors will roll out a new neighborhood and district map for San Francisco.”
    I assumed ‘roll out’ was akin to ‘announce’.

  21. Who cares what real estate agents think about neighborhood names anyway? They shouldn’t any more (or any less) say than any other resident. On the other hand, a name change to “Lower San Francisco” might work wonders for Oakland:).

  22. Who cares what real estate agents think about neighborhood names anyway?
    lots of people do, probably most people who follow real estate.

  23. I propose that they rename all of San Francisco “Frisco”.
    it’s easier to say and rolls off the tongue
    That’s what a lot of non-San-Franciscans call SF anyway.
    (ducks head)
    also, I’d like to rename all of SoMa as “south of the slot” as it was known back in the day.
    it was a name good enough for my grandparents, not sure why it isn’t good enough for us too.

  24. Don’t know why the editor saw fit to delete my comment, but its common for Bayview and Sunnydale residents to call San Francisco “Frisco”.

  25. “On the other hand, a name change to “Lower San Francisco” might work wonders for Oakland:).”
    I think they’re already planning to call themselves “San Francisco Heights.”

  26. I think they’re already planning to call themselves “San Francisco Heights.”
    Maybe the flats of Oakland can be “Lower San Francisco Heights.”

  27. Ok. Let me give it a try:
    New name for Bayview/HP: “Thanks for all your work in WW II- Now go back to where you came from Village”.
    Western Addition/Lower Pacific heights: “Robert Moses Heights”
    Pacific Heights: “Bootstraps”
    Marina: “Snap,Crackle,Pop”
    Ridiculus, but just as valid as any notion that a real estate agents might have. In fact they should be explicity banned from any naming activites as punishment for all the terrible inefficiencies and distortions they inject into the housing market.

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