Potrero Hill, San Francisco, California

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Potrero Hill is a neighborhood in San Francisco, California, located on the east side of the city, east of the Mission District and south of the South of Market area. It is roughly bordered by 16th Street to the north, Potrero Avenue or U.S. Route 101 to the west and Cesar Chavez Street to the south. There are many docks located on the eastern edge of the neighborhood, which are mainly built atop landfill.

Notable features of Potrero Hill include the Anchor Steam Brewery located on Mariposa Street, between Carolina and DeHaro Streets and owned by the washing machine heir Fritz Maytag, and a section of Vermont Street between 20th Street and 22nd Street that has many switchbacks, similar to Lombard Street, and the public housing projects on the southern and eastern sides of the hill, which contribute to a moderately higher crime rate than other areas of the city. The powder blue water tower, located near 22nd Street and Wisconsin Street, was torn down in Mid-2006 (as part of a seismic upgrade and due to the fact that it was no longer needed).

'Potrero' is Spanish for 'pasture' - the name derives from a 1835 land grant to Don Francisco de Haro to graze cattle in the 'potrero nuevo' ("new pasture").

1 Notable residents
2 Transportation
3 Further reading
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Notable residents

O.J. Simpson - Former star football player who played for Galileo High School, San Francisco City College, University of Southern California, and the Buffalo Bills. OJ grew up on Potrero Hill.
Wayne Thiebaud - Famous, skillful and prolific painter lived on and painted Potrero Hill for years
Robert Bechtle - Photorealist painter used the hill for both a home and subject matter for his art.
Peter Orlovsky - Poet Allen Ginsberg's partner. Lived at 5 Turner Terrace, one of several Potrero Hill public housing projects, in the 1950s. Ginsberg probably worked on Howl, a poem that changed the world's expectations of poetry, in that apartment.
Lawrence Ferlinghetti - Poet and co-founder of City Lights, America's first all-paperback bookstore. Lawrence bought the house at 706 Wisconsin St. for $9,995 in 1957.

[edit] Transportation

Two freeways run through Potrero Hill, U.S. Route 101 on the western side, Interstate 280 on the eastern side.

Public transportation is provided by Muni along several bus lines, including lines 10, 15, 19, 22, 48, and 53. In early-2007, the Third Street Light Rail Project will be completed and bus service by the 15 Third line on Third Street will be replaced by a Muni Metro line. Additionally, there is a Caltrain station located at 22nd Street, near Pennsylvania Avenue.

[edit] Further reading

San Francisco's Potrero Hill by Peter Linenthal, Abigail Johnston, and the Potrero Hill Archives Project, was published by Arcadia Publishing Co. in their Images of America series in 2005. Its 128 pages are full of photos and neighborhood history. It includes early Native American Ohlone history, Mission Dolores, early industry, both world wars, the 1960s, and recent developments. Many photos come from family collections.