Polk Street is a street in San Francisco, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, that travels northward from Market Street

Market Street (San Francisco)

Market Street is an important thoroughfare in San Francisco, California. It begins at The Embarcadero in front of the Ferry Building at the northeastern edge of the city and runs southwest through downtown, passing the Civic Center and the Castro District, to the intersection with Corbett Avenue in...

 to Beach Street and is one of the main thoroughfares of the Polk Gulch neighborhood traversing through the Tenderloin, Nob Hill, and Russian Hill neighborhoods. The street takes its name from former U.S. President James K. Polk

James K. Polk

James Knox Polk was the 11th President of the United States . Polk was born in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. He later lived in and represented Tennessee. A Democrat, Polk served as the 17th Speaker of the House of Representatives and the 12th Governor of Tennessee...

. The street remains a busy business district with many restaurants, cafes, home decorating and hardware stores.

As the original center of the city's LGBT

LGBT

LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...

 community, it has remained one of the core centers along with The Castro and the South of Market (SOMA); Polk Street was the location of the first official San Francisco Gay Pride Parade in 1972. In the 1950s through the 1970s Halloween on Polk Street

Halloween in the Castro

The Halloween celebration held in The Castro district of San Francisco began in the 1940s as a neighborhood costume contest. By the late 1970s, it had shifted from a children's event to a gay celebration that continued to grow into a massive annual street party until 2006 when a shooting wounded...

 became a major attraction for tourists and locals. In the 1990s and 2000s the neighborhood started to gentrify

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...

. It remains prominent for its nightlife although prostitutes

Prostitution

Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...

 and their pimp

Pimp

A pimp is an agent for prostitutes who collects part of their earnings. The pimp may receive this money in return for advertising services, physical protection, or for providing a location where she may engage clients...

s are still a common sight on the street.

The street also has bike lanes, which were approved in 2002, and has both slowed down the traffic and greatly increased a neighborhood feel.

Polk Gulch

Polk Gulch is the neighborhood around a section of Polk Street, and its immediate vicinity, that runs through the Nob Hill and Russian Hill neighborhoods from approximately Geary Street

Geary Boulevard

Geary Boulevard is a major east-west thoroughfare in San Francisco, California, beginning downtown at Market Street near Market Street's intersection with Montgomery Street, and running westbound through downtown, the Civic Center area, the Western Addition, and running for most of its length...

 to Union Street

Union Street (San Francisco)

Union Street is an east-west street in San Francisco that starts out at Montgomery Street, and runs through Russian Hill and Cow Hollow shopping district and ends in the Presidio in San Francisco....

. The name, somewhat humorous, arises because the street runs over an old stream at the bottom of a gently-sloped valley. The neighborhood is sometimes referred to as Lower Nob Hill or the Tendernob

Tendernob

The Tendernob is an area in San Francisco, California between the affluent Nob Hill area to the north and the less affluent Tenderloin to the south...

.

Polk Gulch was San Francisco's main gay neighborhood before 1970, when many gay

Gay

Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....

s began to move to The Castro (formerly Eureka Valley) and SOMA because many large Victorian house

Victorian house

In the United Kingdom, and former British colonies, a Victorian house generally means any house built during the reign of Queen Victoria...

s were available for low rent or could be purchased with low down payments. Several gay, lesbian, and transgender bars and clubs remain in the area.