Duboce Triangle, San Francisco, California

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Tree-lined sidewalk access to parking, Victorians, and more modern buildings on Sanchez Street near 14th Street in Duboce Triangle.

The Duboce Triangle neighborhood is located near the center of San Francisco, just below the hilly slopes of Buena Vista between the neighborhoods of the Castro/Eureka Valley, the Mission District, and the Lower Haight.

There is some disagreement as to what streets form the boundaries of Duboce Triangle:

According to the Duboce Triangle Neighborhood Association, the neighborhood is bounded by Market, Castro and Waller Street and therefore includes Duboce Park and some blocks to its north.

According to the San Francisco Association of Realtors, it is "District 5J", a simple triangle limited by Castro, Market and Duboce. (The SFAR considers blocks to the north of Duboce Park to be part of Hayes Valley, although they are more popularly considered part of the Lower Haight.)

In either case, it is well served by Muni Metro, historic streetcars and buses. Sheltered from the fog by Buena Vista and Twin Peaks to the West and Alamo Square to the North, the area is one of the sunnier districts in San Francisco.

Duboce Park and several smaller "pocket" parks provide attractive public green spaces, but the Duboce Triangle is most notable for its lushly landscaped sidewalks and well-maintained Victorian flats and apartment buildings. These are the direct result of San Francisco's rejection of the wholesale demolition of Victorians and their replacement with slab-like public housing that marred the Western Addition in the 1960s. The city used the federal government's slum clearance dollars to renovate the mostly-19th century housing stock instead, and also to plant street trees, bury utility wires underground, and to widen sidewalks and narrow streets. With its now-mature trees and rejuvenated homes, the Duboce Triangle's distinctly residential and yet urbane feel is more remarkable given its proximity to busy Market Street, the city's main thoroughfare.

The official Duboce Triangle Neighborhood Association map excludes the point of the triangle at Market and Waller. This area is sometimes known as Mint Hill, after the United States Mint, an imposing building on a steep rocky cliff overlooking the intersection of Market and Duboce streets. However, most of the homes in this area are similar in character of the rest of Duboce Triangle.