Walking San Francisco

A barn turned acclaimed restaurant, Piccino anchors Dogpatch’s burgeoning culinary scene.

PARKING: It’s fairly easy to find, but keep an eye out for street cleaning and 2-hour-time-limit zones. If you’re willing to head farther away from 18th St., you can find unlimited parking.

Potrero Hill has long been a secret among locals, beloved for its sunny weather, great views, charming restaurants and bookstore, and small-town feel. What was once the grazing area for cows and goats from Mission Dolores (potrero means “pasture” in Spanish) is now a place where neighbors greet each other at the coffee shop, water bowls are left outside stores for local pooches, and parking is plentiful.

To the east, Dogpatch was always the more industrial neighbor to Potrero, a former shipyard and manufacturing area that boasted an eclectic mix of warehouses, single family homes, and a smattering of restaurants and bars. Long a mecca for waves of immigrants seeking work in the waterfront industries, Dogpatch was traditionally a solidly working-class community with the bars and affordable housing to prove it. But the secret is out on both these enclaves, and today they are two of the hottest neighborhoods for new restaurants, art initiatives, and a boom of housing redevelopment. Walk them now and then visit again in five years to see what’s changed.

This walk will take us up and down the steep hills of Potrero with great views of the downtown skyline, past community gardens, the city’s real crookedest street, charming commercial districts, and down into historic Dogpatch where hip restaurants and an artistic nod to its shipbuilding past awaits.

You can turn this into a shorter loop just through Potrero Hill, or you can continue on through Dogpatch and end at a funky waterfront restaurant that’s a far cry from the slicker spots along the Embarcadero.

Walk Description

Begin at the corner of 18th Street and Texas Street, where a whole host of sweet mom-and-pop stores await perusal. There’s usually a line out the door at

Plow, a brunch spot sought after for its crispy fried potatoes and amazing egg dishes. Crossing Texas and heading west on 18th Street, you’ll come to

Farley’s, where they’ve been offering “community in a cup” at this location since 1988. A true neighborhood hub, Farley’s hosts live music, local art, and the shady parklet outside invites long conversations over coffee.

The next two blocks of 18th firmly cement the small-town vibe with flower shops, bistros, a smattering of delicious restaurants, and a fantastic corner bookstore,

Christopher’s Books, where the staff always have excellent suggestions. And with their signature tangy sourdough crust,

Goat Hill Pizza has been anchoring the corner of Connecticut Street since 1975.

Turn right on Connecticut Street to head downhill two blocks. At the corner of 17th Street, the

Connecticut Yankee is a little slice of Boston on the hill. Outdoor picnic tables, friendly staff, and excellent burgers make this a local favorite. The building has been there since 1907, and this one-time bootleg and speakeasy operation has been an institution ever since.

Turn left on 17th Street and you’ll soon be passing Jackson Park, a block-long square of grass and play space that is frequently home to softball games and lunchtime sunbathers. Head left on De Haro Street and follow your nose toward the malty smell of

Anchor Steam Brewery, one of America’s first craft breweries. (Anchor used to use foggy San Francisco air to cool the beer mash on their rooftops, creating a halo of steam—hence the name.) The brewery is open for excellent public tours, but you need to reserve well in advance. If that ship has sailed, you can drown your sorrows at

Anchor Public Taps, a taproom that serves up small-batch pints and offers food trucks in the outside courtyard.

Continue up De Haro, and where 19th meets it, head up the pedestrian stairway through the garden to your right. Follow 19th to San Bruno and turn left. Near the top of the street, you’ll find the

Potrero Hill Community Garden. The plots are maintained by residents (there are more than 50 individual plots, as well as some beehives) and you are welcome to stroll around and enjoy this slice of sublime green space overlooking the Mission and Twin Peaks (with peekaboo views of the Golden Gate Bridge).

Just past the garden, follow the sidewalk stairs leading up to McKinley Square Park instead of continuing on the sidewalk. Follow the cement path that skirts the grassy dog park and you’ll reach the top of the “real” crookedest street in San Francisco:

Vermont Street. While not nearly as well maintained (or well known) as Lombard Street (see Walk 11, Russian Hill), Vermont was deemed more crooked on an episode of the Travel Channel’s Travel 911. An annual Bring Your Own Big Wheel race down the street is held every Easter Sunday, which is a colorful (and mildly dangerous) affair. After sneaking a peek, head back toward 20th Street on Vermont and turn right.

Pause at the corner of 20th and Kansas and try to imagine Steve McQueen careening past in a 1968 Ford Mustang. This is one of the intersections shown in the iconic car-chase scenes of Bullitt. Turn right on Rhode Island.

Chiotras Grocery is a friendly deli-market with a great beer and wine selection and a small outside deck at the back where you can enjoy your nosh.

Turn left on curved Southern Heights to reach the brown-shingled

Potrero Hill Neighborhood House, affectionately called The Nabe, originally conceived to provide resources to the Russian immigrants who landed in this part of Potrero Hill beginning in 1905. Potrero Hill has always been more Russian than Russian Hill, and The Nabe used to offer classes in English, sewing, and cooking and served as a cultural hub. Renowned architect Julia Morgan designed the building, which was originally a two-story structure. The top floor had to be moved to accommodate the creation of Southern Heights, so it was simply lopped off and moved to the side. Today The Nabe continues to offer a whole range of social and community services.

Pass in front of The Nabe to continue along Southern Heights. When you see a small cement stairway to your left, look across the lower street to the

First Russian Christian Molokan Church, another testament to the Russian presence on the hill. Molokans (“milk drinkers” in Russian) were originally dairy farmers who protested, among other things, the Russian Orthodox proscription against drinking milk on holy days. This is one of the oldest Molokan churches in the United States and still has a small congregation.

Continue along Southern Heights and turn left on Wisconsin Street to head downhill. The Queen Anne Victorian at

706 Wisconsin is where Beat icon Lawrence Ferlinghetti lived from 1957 to 2004. The founder of City Lights bookstore (see Walk 7, North Beach), Ferlinghetti was also San Francisco’s first poet laureate.

Turn right on 20th Street, and you’ll soon pass the Potrero Hill Library, with one of the best views around. Continue down 20th Street, where local cafés, groceries, and corner stores add color to commerce.

When you reach the corner of 20th and Texas, you have a choice: turn left and walk two blocks to return to the start of our journey, or continue into the adjacent Dogpatch neighborhood by turning right on Texas Street to head downhill. The buildings on the hill facing you on the descent are the low-income housing projects where O. J. Simpson and actor Danny Glover grew up.

As Texas turns into 22nd, you’ll pass next to the CalTrain Station that whisks passengers downtown and to the South Bay and enter the Dogpatch Historic District. There is much disagreement about where the name Dogpatch comes from. The area was originally populated with waves of immigrants—Scotch, Irish, and Dutch, and then Russian and Eastern European—who came to ply their trade in the shipyards and ironworks. The place-names of these microneighborhoods originally reflected a diversity of nationalities and occupations: Irish Hill, which was gradually eroded to almost nothing to provide landfill to raise Mission Bay; Dutchman’s Flat; and Butcher Town, where butchers supposedly left scraps for stray dogs. With Dogpatch being one of the last areas in the city with room for development, concerned residents banded together and applied for historic status in 2003. Because the neighborhood is built on earthquake-defying serpentine rock, many of its original buildings remain intact, and the historic designation led to their preservation. This one-time residential outpost for shipbuilders, rope workers, and canners is now a hotbed of sleek restaurants and bars, but it retains an authentic grit.

Turning left on Minnesota Street, head up to see a cluster of

Pelton Cottages (905–913 Minnesota St.), which date from 1887 and helped Dogpatch earn its historic designation. The homes are named for local architect John Pelton Jr., who published free architectural plans in the San Francisco Evening Bulletin to meet a demand among working-class families for housing that was affordable yet attractive. Because most architects at the time wouldn’t deign to draw up plans for such low-end homes, Pelton’s Cheap Dwellings series was a revolutionary concept that both boosted newspaper sales and resulted in the construction of these forebears of today’s trendy tiny houses. Surely Pelton would never have dreamed that these cottages are now worth close to $2 million apiece!

Dogpatch residents built cottages such as this from plans that were published in the local newspaper in the 1880s.

Returning to 20th, the large yellow building that houses acclaimed Italian-California restaurant

Piccino was once a coal-and-feed barn with an attached carriage repair. Speaking of carriage repair, peer through the tinted glass at

Woods Division Carpentry Shop to see where and how cable cars go to be restored and repaired. Working off 1870s blueprints and using original techniques (albeit with better tools), master carpenters take great care with the National Landmark cars, which can take up to a year to overhaul.

Continue along 22nd and turn left on Tennessee Street, although we wouldn’t blame you if you made a brief pause for a handmade chocolate confection at

Recchiutti at theLab. Tennessee narrows down into Angel Alley, so named for the

Hells Angels Clubhouse, on your left at the end of the block. Having opened in 1955, this is the second-oldest chapter of the infamous motorcycle club; it gained further infamy following the disaster that ensued when they were providing security (along with the San Jose chapter) for the Altamont Speedway Concert in 1969. While they had worked many concerts before for the Grateful Dead, things got out of hand quickly at Altamont, resulting in the stabbing of one concertgoer by an Angel. Many point to this event as being the beginning of the end for the Summer of Love.

Turn left onto the pedestrian pathway. Here you will find placards detailing the history of the Tubbs Cordage Co., the west coast’s largest rope supplier. Rope production requires a lot of space to twist and assemble the fibers, and there was once a 1,500-foot indoor “rope walk” that used to cut across this area toward Third Street. This explains why some of the buildings are at such odd angles. Tubbs was also responsible for providing the safety net that saved 19 men during the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge. Toward the end of the walkway, you can try your hand at a few knots.

Turn left on Third Street to glimpse the new face of Dogpatch, where undeniable change has tried to honor its working-class roots. The huge blocks-long American Industrial Center began as the American Can Company in 1915, with a plant stretching from 20th Street to 23rd Street. At one point it was the largest tin-can company in the United States. Now it’s home to a smorgasbord of retailers breathing new life into this postindustrial corridor, including the

Museum of Craft and Design.

Mr. and Mrs. Miscellaneous, a pastry-chef duo churns out sweetly inventive ice cream flavors like candied grapefruit and Earl Grey tea alongside more-traditional flavors. Across the street diagonally, the

Dogpatch Saloon has been a watering hole since 1912. While the clientele has changed considerably, they keep an honorary seat open for the grizzled onetime owner, “Tugboat Annie,” a woman revered for her sailor’s mouth and stiff pours.

Crossing 22nd, venerated

Serpentine, so named for the bluish-green rock that forms the bedrock of Dogpatch, was one of the first restaurants to see the potential for Third Street. Continuing along Third Street there are too many great spots to name, and it has a European feel, with each small market offering a specialty good such as cheese, chocolate, bicycles, croissants, fresh-brewed beer, and other artisan goods.

Head all the way down Third Street to Mariposa and turn right. Cross Illinois and make your way through the parking lot to

The Ramp, a low-key waterfront barbecue joint with picnic tables, an outdoor bar, and live salsa music on the weekends. On sunny days, it’s jam-packed with locals seeking out the unpretentious vibe and famed Bloody Marys. To return to our start, head back to 18th Street and head up the hill back to Texas Street.