Dogpatch, San Francisco, California
Encyclopedia
Location
Dogpatch is located on the eastern side of the city, adjacent to the waterfront of San Francisco BaySan Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay is a shallow, productive estuary through which water draining from approximately forty percent of California, flowing in the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers from the Sierra Nevada mountains, enters the Pacific Ocean...
, and to the east of, and below, Potrero Hill
Potrero Hill, San Francisco, California
Potrero Hill is a hilly neighborhood in San Francisco, California.-Location:Potrero Hill is located on the eastern side of the city, east of the Mission District and south of SOMA and the newly designated district . It is roughly bordered by 16th Street to the north, Potrero Avenue and U.S...
. Its boundaries are Mariposa Street to the north, I-280
Interstate 280 (California)
Interstate 280 is a 57-mile long north–south Interstate Highway in the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It connects San Jose and San Francisco, running along just to the west of the cities of San Francisco Peninsula for most of its route.I-280 from its northern end at King...
to the west, Cesar Chavez to the south, and the waterfront to the east. It contains housing, some remaining heavy industry, more recent light industry, and a new but growing arts district
Arts district
An arts district is a demarcated urban area, usually on the periphery of a city centre, intended to create a 'critical mass' of places of cultural consumption - such as art galleries, dance clubs, theatres, art cinemas, music venues, and public squares for performances. Such an area is usually...
. In 2002 it became an officially designated historic district
Historic district
A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries, historic districts receive legal protection from development....
of the city of San Francisco.
History
Because it survived the 1906 earthquake and fire1906 San Francisco earthquake
The San Francisco earthquake of 1906 was a major earthquake that struck San Francisco, California, and the coast of Northern California at 5:12 a.m. on Wednesday, April 18, 1906. The most widely accepted estimate for the magnitude of the earthquake is a moment magnitude of 7.9; however, other...
relatively undamaged, and until recently had not been redeveloped
Redevelopment
Redevelopment is any new construction on a site that has pre-existing uses.-Description:Variations on redevelopment include:* Urban infill on vacant parcels that have no existing activity but were previously developed, especially on Brownfield land, such as the redevelopment of an industrial site...
, Dogpatch has some of the oldest houses in San Francisco, dating from the 1860s. Between the 1860s and 1880s, the marsh
Marsh
In geography, a marsh, or morass, is a type of wetland that is subject to frequent or continuous flood. Typically the water is shallow and features grasses, rushes, reeds, typhas, sedges, other herbaceous plants, and moss....
es at the edge of the bay were filled, and the area was connected to the main part of the city by means of bridges across what was then Mission Bay (which has since been filled in). Located nearby was the (now-defunct) working-class neighborhood of Irish Hill
Irish Hill (San Francisco)
Irish Hill was a neighborhood in San Francisco near the intersection of 22nd Street and Illinois Avenue. It consisted of a population of about 800 people living in boarding houses, mostly working class Irish and their families, who worked in the nearby industrial area known as the Dogpatch...
. This permitted development of industry and housing. Waterfront-oriented industry, including shipbuilding, drydocks and ship outfitting and repairs, warehouse
Warehouse
A warehouse is a commercial building for storage of goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial areas of cities and towns. They usually have loading docks to load and unload...
s, steel mill
Steel mill
A steel mill or steelworks is an industrial plant for the manufacture of steel.Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon. It is produced in a two-stage process. First, iron ore is reduced or smelted with coke and limestone in a blast furnace, producing molten iron which is either cast into pig iron or...
s, and similar industries flourished until after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, when they began to decline.
Dogpatch endured several decades of decline, which lasted until the 1990s, when economic pressures led to modest gentrification
Gentrification
Gentrification and urban gentrification refer to the changes that result when wealthier people acquire or rent property in low income and working class communities. Urban gentrification is associated with movement. Consequent to gentrification, the average income increases and average family size...
of the existing housing stock, and new construction including loft
Loft
A loft can be an upper story or attic in a building, directly under the roof. Alternatively, a loft apartment refers to large adaptable open space, often converted for residential use from some other use, often light industrial...
-style condominiums, many of which were designated as "live-work" units for artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
s, graphic designer
Graphic designer
A graphic designer is a professional within the graphic design and graphic arts industry who assembles together images, typography or motion graphics to create a piece of design. A graphic designer creates the graphics primarily for published, printed or electronic media, such as brochures and...
s, and similar occupations. The conversion of existing industrial space to live-work units or other housing has been controversial.
Attractions and characteristics
The main commercial artery of Dogpatch is Third StreetThird Street (San Francisco)
Third Street, formerly Kentucky Street in the Dogpatch and Railroad Avenue in the Bayview, is a north-south street running through the Downtown, Mission Bay, Potrero Point, Dogpatch, and the Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhood in San Francisco, California which turns into Kearny Street north of...
, which contains retail and service businesses and is served by the T-line Third Street light rail
Light rail
Light rail or light rail transit is a form of urban rail public transportation that generally has a lower capacity and lower speed than heavy rail and metro systems, but higher capacity and higher speed than traditional street-running tram systems...
line operated by the San Francisco Municipal Railway
San Francisco Municipal Railway
The San Francisco Municipal Railway is the public transit system for the city and county of San Francisco, California. In 2006, it served with an operating budget of about $700 million...
. The Third Street corridor connects Dogpatch to San Francisco's downtown, via new development zones including Mission Bay
Mission Bay, San Francisco, California
Mission Bay is a neighborhood in San Francisco, California.-Location:Mission Bay is roughly bounded by Townsend Street on the north, Third Street and San Francisco Bay on the east, Mariposa Street on the south, and 7th Street and Interstate 280 on the west.-History:It was created in 1998 by the...
and the UCSF
University of California, San Francisco
The University of California, San Francisco is one of the world's leading centers of health sciences research, patient care, and education. UCSF's medical, pharmacy, dentistry, nursing, and graduate schools are among the top health science professional schools in the world...
research campus.
Notable sites in the neighborhood include Irving M. Scott School, the oldest public school building in San Francisco, built 1895; the historic shipyards at Pier 70; a boxing gym, where many local amateurs train; a number of restaurants; the headquarters of the San Francisco Chapter of Hells Angels
Hells Angels
The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club is a worldwide one-percenter motorcycle gang and organized crime syndicate whose members typically ride Harley-Davidson motorcycles. In the United States and Canada, the Hells Angels are incorporated as the Hells Angels Motorcycle Corporation. Their primary motto...
; and numerous historical residences.