3rd St, SOMA

EDIT: Everything below was written in October 2010 and still stands, with the following two paragraphs written in February 2011...

I spent a week living at the Financial District Hilton and had to drive there via 3rd Street several times. The stretch of this street from King all the way to Market, particularly the last couple of blocks (it runs one-way), is potentially the WORST traffic I have seen in any city driving. It definitely rivals the Holland Tunnel exiting New York City on a Friday afternoon, or the D.C.-area Beltway right after a snowstorm.

The problem essentially lies in the lights. The timing is absurd and completely haphazard, somewhat dictated by the needs of pedestrians and subsequently so out of synch with one another that you could easily sit through the same light four times before getting to drive through it and moving onto the next one. Given that blocks are short and streets cannot be blocked by cars, there is very little leeway for movement during green lights, and the result is a debacle similar to the popular puzzle game "traffic jam" - but the real-life version! Don't be surprised if two miles here takes you twenty minutes to drive.

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3rd Street gets a bad rap for starting out in the Bayview/Hunter's Point slums, but it gets better much quickly. With proximity to AT&T Park and Downtown SF, it has plenty to offer, including a stretch of restaurants, shops and the SF MoMA.

This is not the best walking street, but traffic flow here is pretty smooth and there is a very nice Archstone apartment complex (just about the only housing on the north side of the street). Best of all , it is home to several $10 flat rate parking lots that take the stress out of driving into the city.

When you are on 3rd Street in SoMa, you feel as if you could be on any street in any major metropolitan city in the North America. There is no sign that you are in SF. No signature Victorians, so bay, no curving street or hills. In fact 3rd street has that big city feel that you might get in place like New York.

3rd Street at this point is about the arts. Along the street, you will find the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, the Museum of Modern Art (abbreviated MoMA) and the Museum of the African Diaspora. The MoMA is known for its ground breaking exhibitions that help continue to define and redefine art. If you want to have your notions about art challenged, just take a step inside. The YBCA is similar in that it too tries to blow your mind by challenging things like our notions of consumerism and progress. If you are in a bit of a rut, YBCA can really shake you up and get you going again. The Museum of the Africa Diaspora will shake you up in a different way. It is a museum devoted to art created when Africans were taken from Africa and brought to this country. Like the nearby Museum of Jewish history it will really bring the effects of history to life for you. All three are well worth the visit.

If these thoughts have shaken you from the appetites of your stomach, then 3rd street also has some great places where you can grab a bite to eat while you discuss what you’ve seen. I would recommend Pazzia, a moderately priced Italian food place with a nice clean atmosphere. If you are in a hurry or want to grab something to go and have your dejeuner sur le herb, then you can grab some Indian food at Chaats and take it to go. It is about as inexpensive as Indian food gets and delicious. On the other hand, if the exhibits have made you feel like you need a stiff drink in cozy familiar atmosphere, try Dave’s right by Market. Classic bar atmosphere.

This is also a good place to recommend for anyone who really wants to splurge on their accommodations during their visit to SF. I hear the St. Regis is a fantastic hotel.

As to living in the area? Right by the Yerba Buena there is a great east coast style apartment building that must rise to at least twenty stories even though we are in earthquake country. It is one of those modern buildings with interesting variations in the architecture and lots of magnificent views out over the baseball stadium and towards Oakland. I suppose if you just sold your dot.com and are set for life, this might be affordable to you. To other 99% of us, I suspect that anything in this area, even the more modest apartments over the stores across the street, will be completely out of reach. I am also not sure that if I did have that kind of money, that I would choose this particular spot. Lot’s of things to do, but not enough good old peace and quiet.

3rd Street starts in the Bayview district and extends all the way to Market Street. Most of the housing is in the Bayview district, which is one of the most impoverished neighborhoods in San Francisco. It is a neighborhood that needs to be improved, there are a lot of drug/ liquor stores and crime rates are high. There are however, improvements being made to better the community in this region. There are industrial buildings lining this street and it also leads to an old naval shipyard. One of greatest aspects of 3rd street is AT&T Park on 3rd&King, home to the San Francisco Giants. This street has multiple buses so transportation is not a problem. This street leads to Market, where there are thousands of shops and hundreds of hotels. This street is a great place to visit, but it isn't a great place to live.

There is no question that the 3rd Street corredor is a neighborhood in transition. However one of the "anchor" attractions that bridges the old and new third street corredor is the San Fransisco Museum of Modern Art. A truly majestic structure that features art from 1900-1990. The exhibits are well planned out and this type of art is even very interesting to children. Take a moment to stop by and enjoy.

3rd Street is one of San Francisco’s biggest and longest streets. It begins right in the heart of downtown San Francisco and ends in the Bayview / Hunter’s Point district of southern San Francisco. The street is so long that there is such a big variety of what the street is like!

The part of 3rd Street downtown consists of many hotels and business offices. It is home to many popular hotel destinations such as The W Hotel. 3rd Street runs next to Yerba Buena center which features ice skating and other facilities. There are a couple of restaurants and bars around this area and the night life is great.

As 3rd Street approaches the south end of San Francisco and enters the Bayview / Hunter’s Point district, the street kind of “transforms” as some may say. Many people consider southern 3rd Street the heart of the ghetto of San Francisco. What you constitute to be “ghetto” is up to you. But whenever I go down to the area to pick up / drop off my friends, there are always people loitering outside stores and posting up on street corners. There are always blinged out cars blasting music and racing down the street. Police is adamant in south 3rd Street.

I wouldn’t recommend living on 3rd Street whether on the North or South end because it is very busy on the north end, and on the south end, I wouldn’t consider the neighborhood very good although the houses are well sized.