Alamo Square, San Francisco, California

Alamo Square is a residential neighborhood and park in San Francisco, California. Both are located in the Western Addition, a part of the city's fifth Supervisorial district, and are served by several Muni bus lines including the 5, 21, 22, and 24.

Alamo Square Park consists of six city blocks at the top of a hill overlooking much of San Francisco, with a number of large and architecturally distinctive mansions along the perimeter. It is bordered by Hayes Street to the south, Fulton Street to the north, Scott Street to the west, and Steiner Street to the east. The park includes a playground and a tennis court, and is frequented by neighbors, tourists, and dog owners. A row of Victorian houses facing the park on Steiner Street, known as the painted ladies, are often shown in the foreground of panoramic pictures of the city's downtown area. On a clear day, the Transamerica Pyramid building and the tops of the Golden Gate Bridge and Bay Bridge can be seen from the park’s center. San Francisco’s City Hall can be seen directly down Fulton Street.

The part of the Western Addition surrounding the park is often referred to as the Alamo Square neighborhood. Its boundaries are not well-defined, but are generally considered to be Webster Street on the east, Golden Gate Avenue on the north, Divisadero Street on the west, and Oak Street on the south. It is characterized by Victorian architecture that was left largely untouched by the urban renewal projects in other parts of the Western Addition. The Alamo Square area contains the second largest concentration of large homes (over 10,000 square feet) in San Francisco, after the Pacific Heights neighborhood. The demographics of the neighborhood are characteristic of other urban neighborhoods that have undergone gentrification: many young people and upper-middle-class homeowners, in addition to a diverse older population. Divisadero Street, which divides Alamo Square from North Panhandle, is home to a number of small businesses including a growing collection of hip and popular restaurants and bars. Efforts on the part of Alamo Square and North Panhandle residents and merchants have led to restrictions on chain stores on the corridor. Relics of a less-prosperous recent history also remain on Divisadero, including a number of vacant storefronts (notably the Harding Theater, closed for many years but valued by its neighbors for its potential) and one of the city's few clusters of gas stations.

A number of movies, television shows and commercials have been filmed in or around Alamo Square [http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=San+Francisco+%27Alamo+Square%27+site%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.filminamerica.com%2FMovies%2F&btnG=Searchmany ] . The opening sequence of the American sitcom "Full House" (1987–1995) features a romp in Alamo Square Park with the famous row of Victorians in the background.

Neighborhood groups include the Alamo Square Neighborhood Association and the Haight-Divisadero Neighborhood Merchants Association.

ee also

*Parks of San Francisco
*49-Mile Scenic Drive

External links

* [http://www.sfgov.org/site/uploadedfiles/bdsupvrs/District_Information/district05map.pdf Map of district 5] of the county, which Alamo Square is a part of (PDF file)
* [http://www.alamosq.org Alamo Square Neighborhood Association]
* [http://www.sfnpc.org/alamosquarehistory History of Alamo Square, from Neighborhood Parks Council]