Alamo Square - By Bill Picture

The historic Alamo Square area is probably best known for its high concentration of Victorian homes, among them, the much-photographed “Painted Ladies,” six almost identical, side-by-side Queen Anne-style residences on Steiner Street .

There’s also the Westerfield House on the corner of Fulton and Scott Streets, an impressive example of Victorian-era extravagance, with its palatial tower overlooking Alamo Square Park , which, by the way, got its name from the sprawling poplar trees (“alamo” in Spanish) that dot the thirteen acre patch of green at the top of the Hayes Street hill.

But the truth is, Alamo Square , which originally served as a resting place for Spanish settlers traveling between Mission Dolores and the Presidio, is a neighborhood in transition.  From the 1890s, when wealthy merchants first began constructing showcase-quality homes in the area, until the late 1950s, Alamo Square was considered very well-to-do.

But that began to change in the 1960s, when large portions of the adjacent Fillmore neighborhood, a predominantly working class neighborhood, were leveled by city planners in the name of redevelopment and many of its residents moved into apartment buildings just off Alamo Square Park .  Shortly after, when housing projects were erected nearby (they’ve since been replaced with more attractive low-to-mid-income housing), many of Alamo Square ’s original residents sold their homes and left.

The streets immediately bordering the park and the postcard-perfect properties along them continued to be a must-see for camera-toting tourists, but surrounding blocks suffered to varying degrees.  Rents went down as a result and more and more bargain-seeking young people and artists began calling the Alamo Square area “home.”

But in the mid-1990s, the dot-com boom once again reshaped the neighborhood.  Well-paid young professionals, many of whom were attracted to Alamo Square ’s central location (The Castro, The Haight and Civic Center are all less than a mile away), cheaper prices and cool, urban edge began arriving in droves.  Property values went sky-high,  as did rents, and many lower income renters were displaced.

The dot-com bubble has, of course, since burst, but the gentrification process hasn’t lost its momentum.  Rundown Victorian and Edwardian properties continue getting facelifts and hip bars, restaurants and cafes now outnumber liquor stores, sharing, for now at least, coveted space on the area’s five-block stretch of Divisadero Street with the few black-owned barber shops and Korean-owned nail salons that have managed to hold on.

The area now offers plenty of options for eating and playing.   Grab a gourmet, all-vegan-and-organic bite at Herbivore, or eat Ethiopian food with your fingers in the unlikely Victorian-era saloon-style setting of Club Waziema.  There’s also Thai, Himalayan, down-home Southern, sushi, burgers, pizza and old-fashioned barbecue tp be found within walking distance.

Madrone Lounge on the southern edge serves up inventive cocktails and tasty nibbles, while rotating DJs, live musicians and artists provide the hip, downtown vibes.  To the north, smokers can be found huddled outside the entrance to Fly on an given night, anxious to get back to the cocktails and friends awaiting them inside the popular watering hole.  And 848 Community Space regularly plays host to performances by up-and-coming choreographers and dancers, comedians and performance artists.

“It’s definitely changed quite a bit but it’s still a gentrifying neighborhood,” explains Jim Laufenberg, a real estate broker for Coldwell Banker, "which means it’s not for everyone.”

Properties values in the neighborhood continue to rise as more and more homebuyers and business owners, recognizing the area’s potential, invest in its still-uncertain future.  Home prices now range from $360,000 for a modest, one-bedroom tenancy-in-common to $1.3 million for a two-unit apartment building to $1.5 million for a four-bedroom home. 

These prices may seem high to some, though they’re considered relatively affordable by San Francisco standards.  But Laufenberg says price isn’t the only thing this up-and-coming neighborhood has going for it.

“I think the positives outweigh the negatives,” he says.  “There’s great architecture, there are great downtown views to be had, you’ve got the park right there, great, modestly priced restaurants, Divisadero Street is really starting to happen.  I’d recommend Alamo Square to someone younger, someone more active, who wants to live in a neighborhood but who also wants that city feel.”

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