Buena Vista

This is one of those San Francisco neighborhoods built on a slope so steep that many residents of one street have never bothered to check out what’s on the street above them. But the sheer, uphill quality of the place actually works to its benefit: here is a peaceful, quiet neighborhood with tidy historic homes, a nice park, and views all around. The lack of tourists and even curious city dwellers has earned this district the honor of being “San Francisco’s Best Kept Secret,” as the neighborhood association calls it. But how has Corona Heights managed to keep such a low profile?

The first answer is part of the place’s name: “heights” here means several hundred feet above sea level, with the summit of the hill in Corona Heights Park at more than 500 feet. Considering that the area rises sharply from Market Street on the south and Castro from the east, it is no wonder that, while people can see the neighborhood from these busy venues, few outsiders scale its sidewalks or even drive up its pitched roads. That’s good news for those who live here, as little traffic interrupts the calm that prevails in spite of being smack dab between the busy Haight-Ashbury District and the bustling Castro.

The second reason for this neighborhood’s relative obscurity is the fact that home prices are high, as in $1 million-plus. Because elevation in San Francisco generally equates to higher real-estate prices, the area is considered out of the range of average home-buyers and renters. As with the steep streets, the steep prices suit those fortunate enough to live here.

But Corona Heights was not always such a pleasant place. It had a rocky past—literally—and to this day suffers from problems associated with one of its prime assets, Corona Heights Park. In the late 19th century, this area, referred to variously as Rocky Hill, Rock Hill, and the Fist, was the scene of a rubble-strewn quarry and brick-works kiln operated by George and Harry Gray, two brothers of dubious business standards who were frequently in court for ill treatment of their laborers and to face liability suits from damage caused by flying rocks as they blasted into the hill. Their operations ceased in the 1920s, although the streets that by then snaked around the promontory remained, soon to be exploited by developers as choice home sites with spectacular views.

The best of these homes are, predictably, those situated highest up, generally along Roosevelt Way and Lower Terrace today, although a number of beautiful Victorian cottages and Stick homes are found on Ord and Douglass streets as well as along Corbett Avenue. Elsewhere, the flat facades and unadorned fronts of many buildings—single family units and apartment buildings alike—are built right up against the sidewalk, hinting at short lots and little garden space behind (though most have views of at least the park, if not a drop-dead panorama of some portion of San Francisco). Vulcan Stairway is one of the city’s many sets of steps providing pedestrian connections between parallel streets (in this case, Levant and Ord). One of several in this hilly part of town, it is treasured for its beautiful landscaping and canopy of mature trees.

Of the 8,000 people living in Corona Heights, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, almost 80 percent are white, with about 10 percent Asian and the remaining 10 percent a mix of African American or people of two races. The residents tend to be upper middle class (median annual household income is about $90,000), although only about 45 percent own their homes; the rest rent.

One of the peculiarities of Corona Heights is its lack of a true commercial district. A small grocery or market can be found here and there (particularly along 17th Street), but there is hardly a coffee shop or laundromat to be found otherwise. Most residents drive or walk to the Castro or the Haight (or beyond) for retail needs. The neighborhood is located adjacent to California Pacific Medical Center's Davies Campus, with its good emergency care and specialists in infectious diseases and gastro-intestinal issues. The area's two main attractions—Corona Heights Park and the Randall Museum—are located adjacent to each other more or less dead center in the middle of the neighborhood.

The park is among the city’s designated “natural areas,” providing habitat for a range of native and non-native plants and animals–poppies, of course, but also johnny jump-ups and a range of grasses, most of them introduced. There are also lizards, garter snakes, and raccoons, as well as birds such as the scrub jay and western goldfinch along with butterflies, some (like the Mission Blue) endangered while others (including the anise swallowtail) thrive on the invasive sweet anise introduced to the city a hundred years ago. Among the park’s features are a sheer wall of rock near 15th Street (called a slip’n’side for its shiny, glossy appearance), an enclosed dog run around which a whole community of dogs and their guardians has formed, and the summit of the hill itself, whose rocky outcroppings give the appearance of a crown from below—hence the park’s name (“corona” is Spanish for crown). Although the hilltop is visible from many points in the city, few people know how to get to it, making the park an undiscovered gem to the few who know of its main entrance off Roosevelt Way (there are other, unmarked entries off 15th Street and States Street). It is along the wild, overgrown side off 15th Street that homeless people have established encampments, sometimes quite large and often bringing unwelcome activities and their aftermath (drug use, noise and sanitation violations, and habitat destruction). Periodically, the city brings in teams of police and, one year, goats to clear out the encampments (the goats ate all the “cover” vegetation and made hiding tents amid the overgrowth difficult). For the time being, the homeless issue has subsided.

The Randall Museum, named for Josephine D. Randall, San Francisco’s first superintendent of recreation who waged a long campaign to have it built, opened in 1951 at 199 Museum Way (just below the park on the south side). Over the years, it has become a community resource, focusing on the culture and environment of the Bay Area, offering arts and sciences classes, a California native animals room, and workshops for children and teens, along with their families. The Golden Gate Model Railroad Club has its headquarters here, and maintains for public viewing a large layout of trains in various California terrains. At the Outdoor Learning Environment are gardens (including one for native plants) and an observation deck, with wide-ranging views of San Francisco, the Bay and East Bay hills, and, when the air is clear, the peaks of the South Bay.

The No. 37 bus is pretty much it for public transportation around the serpentine streets of this neighborhood, entering on the south side and then making a circuitous amble along Corbett Avenue through Twin Peaks, then re-entering on its northern side and traveling along Roosevelt Way before ending in the Haight. Though parking can be difficult (and even hazardous on some of the steep inclines), it is generally not too difficult (with the exception of streets bordering the crowded Castro district, especially on weekends). Over much of the area, residential parking permit “S” is in effect, enabling those who live here to park for longer than the posted hourly limits.

Schools on Corona Heights are limited to a single public K-5, McKinley Elementary on Castro and 14th. It was rated 6 out of 10 by GreatSchools.

Crime in the neighborhood is light, according to figures from the San Francisco Police Department, and it falls in the quality-of-life (noise nuisance or vandalism) and property category (occasional robberies or car thefts), with a rare assault occurring in any three-month period. There have been no homicides reported in the last three years.

Real estate prices in Corona Heights tend to be high, as mentioned earlier, though there has been some softness in prices lately after a mid-recession rebound earlier in 2010, according to Zephyr Real Estate. The area has a number of single-family homes in the $1.2 to $2 million range (depending on amenities and views), although there are also a number of condos, including one studio that listed recently for $279,000 (though most are one- or two-bedroom units that range from $450,000 to $800,000). Rentals are also on the high side, with a one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment going for about $1,500, a two-bedroom cottage with yard asking $3,000, and a three-bedroom house listing at $3,900 a month.

The question of whether these high prices and geographic isolation make Corona Heights a somewhat exclusive and “aloof” neighborhood aside, the area is slowly becoming one of San Francisco’s most desirable. It may not be long before Corona Heights takes its place among other “hill” districts as a place of high stature in more ways than just elevation.