The Changing Physical Landscape of the Sunset District:
The Late 1800s through the Mid-1900s
Entry Author: Lorri
Ungaretti
San Francisco's "Sunset District"
is bordered on the north by Lincoln Way, on the west by the
Great Highway, on the south by Sloat Boulevard, and on the
east by a vague boundary going south from Arguello, Golden
Gate Heights, the hill above Kezar Stadium, Golden Gate Heights,
and 15th Avenue. It includes neighborhoods such as Edgewood-Belmont,
the Inner Sunset, and Parkside.
The district underwent major change in a short time. In early
1900s most of it was windswept sand dunes. By the mid-1900s,
almost all had been developed.
The Sunset District around 1900
(Greg Gaar photo)
Please click here
for larger view
Like all of California, the area was a Mexican possession
until the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in February of 1848
ceded it to the United States. Called "The Outside Lands,"
the area was U.S. government land at the time of the Gold
Rush. With few roads and no public transportation, the area
was considered inaccessible and uninhabitable. Nevertheless,
the City and Country of San Francisco, which was growing rapidly,
desired the land and petitioned for it in the 1850s. After
years of court battles the U.S. Government declared the area
part of San Francisco in 1866. Speculators quickly began purchasing
land.
The origin of the "Sunset" name is not entirely
clear. Some historians claim that Aurelius Buckingham, a developer
who owned property in the Sunset, coined the term in 1886.
Others say that the area got its name from the California
Midwinter Fair, which was held in Golden Gate Park in 1894
and was also known as "The Sunset City."
Another story, by local researcher Angus MacFarlane, credits
a neighborhood
organization, which, in August 1895, met at 9th Avenue and
H Street and
chose the name, "Sunset District Improvement Club,"
in recognition of the
magnificent sunset the group had just witnessed outside the
hall.
Major Street Name Changes
Sunset streets running east to west were originally named
for the letters of the alphabet, starting in the Richmond
District with A (later Anza) Street and ending with the Sunset's
X (later changed to Yorba-for Y) Street. The city changed
the street names in late 1909, choosing names that kept the
alphabetical order of the streets, e.g. Pacheco, Quintara,
Rivera, etc. Two exceptions were Fulton (previously D) Street
and Lincoln Way (previously H Street).
Two other street names were changed in the twentieth century:
First Avenue was changed to Arguello Boulevard, and Thirteenth
Avenue was changed to Funston.
Carl Larsen
The Larsen Chicken Ranch on 16th-17th Avenues between M
and N Streets
Taken approximately 1898. (Greg Gaar photo)
Please click here
for larger view
One of the earliest settlers in the Sunset was Carl Larsen,
who came to San Francisco from Denmark in 1869. He owned a
downtown business, the Tivoli Café, on Eddy Street.
In 1888, he began buying large amounts of land in the dunes
of the Sunset. Larsen's Chicken Ranch ran from 16th to 17th
Avenues, from M Street to N Street. Each morning, a horse-drawn
carriage took eggs from the Larsen Chicken Ranch to the Tivoli
Café, probably along the only through road in the Sunset,
the Central Ocean Road.
Carl Larsen never married and he was generous to his adopted
city. In 1924, he donated land at the eastern edge of the
Sunset, land now known as Golden Gate Heights Park and Larsen's
Peak. In 1926, Larsen donated two full blocks from 19th to
20th Avenues, between Ulloa and Wawona. Many Sunset children
grew up with memories of playing at Larsen Park, best remembered
for the military airplane that children could climb over endlessly
and for Larsen Pool (now Charlie Sava pool, named after a
beloved swimming instructor and coach of Olympic swimmer Anne
Curtis).
Sigmund Stern Grove and Pine Lake Park
George Greene came to San Francisco from Maine in 1847 and
quickly homesteaded land, starting at Nineteenth Avenue and
Sloat Boulevard and going west almost to the beach. He planted
and built on land that few people at that time had seen or
wished to own. However, the land slowly became desirable and,
in 1887, the Greene family was forced by a lawsuit to give
up most of the land. The Greenes were allowed to keep only
the blocks between Wawona and Sloat, from Nineteenth to about
Twenty-fifth Avenues.
In 1892, George Green Jr. built the Trocadero Inn, a Victorian-style
roadhouse he ran for more than 20 years. (See "A Few
Historical Buildings" below.)
In 1931, Rosalie Stern, widow of civic leader Sigmund Stern,
was looking for a park to purchase and donate to the city
in honor of her deceased husband, civic leader Sigmund Stern.
Her friend, Golden Gate Park Superintendent John McLaren,
recommended the land at Nineteenth and Sloat. The Greenes
sold their property, including the Trocadero, to Stern.
Sigmund Stern Grove opened to the public on June 4, 1932.
At the time, a San Francisco newspaper reporter wrote, "Thousands
of San Franciscans do not even suspect the existence of the
lovely redwood and eucalyptus that once was part of the old
Trocadero ranch. It is way over by Sloat Boulevard, a beautiful
amphitheater of hillside, trees, and greensward."
Over the following five years, the city purchased land west
of the original grove, including Pine Lake (also known as
"Mud Lake"), enlarging Sigmund Stern Grove. Each
year since 1938, the grove has hosted free summer music concerts.
Stern Grove still hosts free music concerts on Sundays during
the summer
(Lorri Ungaretti photo)
Please click here
for larger view
Carville-by-the-Sea
Carville was a community of homes made up of discarded
horse-drawn streetcars
(Sf History Center, SF Public Library photo)
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for larger view
At the end of the 19th century, the city began replacing
horse-drawn cars with electric streetcars. Dumped out near
the beach in the Sunset, many cars were sold to individuals
who paid $10 if the car had no seats and $20 if it did. People
set up these cars along the sand at the Great Highway and
turned them into homes. Some stacked two or three cars on
top of one another for a multi-story home; others placed cars
in a u-shape to create a courtyard protected from the wind.
The area became known as "Carville-by-the-Sea"
or simply "Carville." By 1901, 50 families lived
in this unusual community that included a two-story church
and a café. By the 1930s and 1940s, as development
increased and property became more valuable, these cars disappeared.
Today, two surviving houses are known to be built around streetcars.
Others may exist as well.
Earthquake Shacks
After the earthquake and fire of 1906, approximately
two-thirds of the population of San Francisco was left homeless.
In a remarkable project financed primarily by donations to
a relief fund, 5,610 tiny cottages were built to house the
homeless. These cottages, now called "earthquake shacks,"
were placed in rows in parks around the city. Rent ranged
from $1 to $2 per month.
An earthquake shack encampment in the Richmond District
(John Freeman photo)
Please click here
for larger view
By the end of 1906, the city began encouraging people to
find vacant lots and remove the shacks from public land. In
fact, the city agreed to refund all rents paid by people who
had their shacks removed by a certain date. Some people moved
their shacks to the Sunset, where plenty of lots were available.
Because the shacks were so small (typically 14 by 18 feet),
many people cobbled together three or four shacks to make
a home. In 1982, Sunset renter Jane Cryan discovered that
she was living in a house composed of three earthquake shacks.
She conducted extensive research and founded the Society for
the Preservation and Appreciation of San Francisco Refugee
Shacks (no longer in existence). In 1984, she convinced San
Francisco to name the house at 1224 - 24th Avenue a city landmark.
This house on 24th Avenue is made up of several 1906 earthquake
shack.
(Lorri Ungaretti photo)
Please click here
for larger view
Another group of four earthquake shacks was discovered in
the Sunset District a few years ago on Kirkham Street near
47th Avenue. The Western
Neighborhoods Project is working to preserve these shacks
and make them available for public viewing.
A Few Historical Buildings
Currently four Sunset buildings are city Historic
Landmarks:
- 1348 - 10th Avenue. This firehouse, built in 1898, became
city landmark #29 in 1970.
- 1651 - 19th Avenue. The original Shriner's Hospital, built
in 1922-23, became city landmark #221 in 1998.
- 1227 - 24th Avenue. A small home made up of several earthquake
shacks built in 1906 became landmark #171 in 1984.
- The Sunset Branch Library at 18th and Irving was named
a landmark in June 2004.
People are working to preserve The Conservatory of Music
at 2101 Ortega Street. Originally opened in 1929 as The Infant
Shelter-an orphanage-this building has housed the SF Conservatory
of Music since 1956. The music school is moving downtown,
and the building's future is uncertain.
One of the most famous Victorian buildings in the Sunset
is the Trocadero. It was built in 1892 by George M. Greene
(see Sigmund Stern Grove, above). He ran it as a roadhouse
until Prohibition when he said "I did not want a bootlegger
situation there." In the 1930s, architect Bernard Maybeck
(best known for the Palace of Fine Arts) oversaw the restoration
of the Trocadero. The building still stands and is rented
out to the public for parties.
The Trocadero Inn
(Greg Gaar photo)
Please click here
for larger view
Transportation
Building in the Sunset began primarily in the eastern section,
which was more accessible from the city center, and the outer
Sunset, which people could reach from the south (and also
provided "beachfront homes.") The Central Ocean
Toll Road appears on early maps. It cut through the Sunset,
starting south of Sloat at about 36th Avenue and zigzagging
north through the Sunset between 17th and 18th Avenues from
R Street to K Street, then east toward downtown. It ran behind
Larsen's Chicken Ranch and most likely was the route taken
to bring eggs to the Tivoli Café.
As streets were cut through, more people moved to the Sunset.
However, public transportation played the biggest role in
the landscape change. In 1883, Leland Stanford began running
a steam train along H Street (now Lincoln Way) from Stanyan
Street to the beach. In 1898, the line changed to electric
train cars and then later to streetcars. The Twin Peaks Tunnel
opened in 1917 and the L car brought service to the Parkside
area of the Sunset in 1919. The L originally went only as
far as Fifteenth Avenue, but by the 1920s, it traveled almost
to the beach along Taraval Street. The Sunset Tunnel, connecting
Cole Valley to Duboce Street, opened in 1928, with Mayor "Sunny
Jim" Rolph driving the first N Judah streetcar. With
this line, more people could live in the Sunset and get to
downtown jobs.
The L Taraval line ran through the sand dunes in the 1940s
(Jack Tillmany photo)
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for larger view
Developers
Many developers and architects built houses in the Sunset
in the 1920s and 1930s. Some built entire blocks of houses,
while others designed random homes for individuals or built
a few homes on different blocks. Some remembered names are
Louis Epp, Ray Galli, and Oliver
Rousseau.
Rousseau was a trained architect who got his start in the
Sunset, building better-than-average homes, primarily in the
central Sunset in the 1500 blocks between 34th and 41st Avenues.
He also built a few homes scattered in areas like the Parkside.
His houses often featured "extras," such as sunken
living rooms, hand-painted designs on kitchen walls, and outside
turrets. He and his brother went on to form the Rousseau Brothers
and became known for fine houses built in other San Francisco
neighborhoods and later in Richmond, Hayward, and Sacramento.
The best-known developer of houses in the Sunset District
was Henry Doelger. Doelger grew up in the Inner Sunset at
the corner of 7th Avenue and Hugo Street. He and his brother
Frank, formed the Doelger Brothers and began building homes
in the 1920s. However, it was after Frank's untimely death
in 1932 that Henry became a prolific builder.
The Doelgers built their first homes, about 25 of them, on
39th Avenue in 1926, their first year in business. However,
Henry Doelger is best known for the houses he built in a large
concentrated area, approximately from 27th to 39th Avenues
between Kirkham and Ortega Streets. This area was sometimes
called "Doelger City." People accustomed to the
details of Victorian and Edwardian buildings scoffed at the
"cookie-cutter" way these houses were built, but
the houses were well built and have stood the test of time.
At one point, Henry Doelger completed two houses a day.
Most of these houses have a similar floor plan-two bedrooms
and one bathroom, with living quarters upstairs from a street-level
garage. (Doelger is sometimes credited with inventing this
floor plan, but it existed before he began building as a solution
to building on a small lot.) The Doelger homes made home ownership
possible to families who in the past could only dream of owning
their homes.
Henry Doelger homes had a basic floor plan but differed
slightly on the outside
(Lorri Ungaretti photo)
Please click here
for larger view
Not all of Henry Doelger's Sunset homes were the "low-end"
buildings for families. He built more expensive, larger homes
in Golden Gate Heights including his own house at 1995 - 15th
Avenue, and a house for William Saroyan's family at 1821 -
15th Avenue.
Conclusion
By the 1960s, almost all the land in the Sunset was covered
with homes, churches, schools, businesses, and a few parks.
In the 1970s, development eliminated the last major sand dune
when St. Ignatius College Preparatory was built at 2001 -
37th Avenue.
In the late 1800s, at most only a few hundred people lived
in the Sunset. By 1930, about 35,000 residents were in the
area and by 1940 48,000 people called it home. Now, approximately
100,000 people live in the Sunset. This area changed quickly
- in just 50 years from "uninhabitable" sand dunes
to completely developed small neighborhoods.
© Lorri Ungaretti 2004
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Like all of California, the area was a Mexican possession
until the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in February of 1848
ceded it to the United States