Noe Valley, San Francisco

Noe Valley is a neighborhood in the central part of San Francisco, California. Its borders are generally considered to be roughly 21st Street to the North, 30th Street to the South, Dolores Street to the East, and Grandview Street to the West. These borders are somewhat flexible, particularly among real estate agents. The Castro neighborhood is directly to Noe Valley's North and The Mission is to its east.

Like many other San Francisco neighborhoods, Noe Valley started out as a working-class neighborhood for employees in San Francisco's once-thriving blue-collar economy and their families. Also like other San Francisco neighborhoods, Noe Valley has since undergone successive waves of gentrification and is now considered an upscale, yuppie area. It is home to many urban professionals, particularly young couples with young children, and it is not unusual for a well-maintained house in Noe Valley to sell for two million dollars or more .

Public transportation to Noe Valley is provided by the Muni 24, 35, and 48 bus lines, and by the J Church Muni Metro line.

History

The neighborhood is named after José de Jesús Noé, the last Mexican alcalde (mayor) of Yerba Buena (present day San Francisco).

Noe Valley was primarily built up at the end of the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th century, especially in the years just after the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake. As a result, the neighborhood contains many examples of the "classic" Victorian and Edwardian residential architecture for which San Francisco is famous. Noe Valley being a working-class neighborhood, houses were built in rows, with some of the efficient, low-cost row houses being more ornate than others, depending on the owner's taste and finances. Today, Noe Valley has the highest concentration of row houses in San Francisco, with streets having three to four and sometimes as many as a dozen on the same side of the same street. Few rows remain untouched.

Many Noe Valley streets were laid out and named by John Meirs Horner, who named Elizabeth Street after his wife and Jersey Street after the state where he was born. Most of Noe Valley is still called Horner's Addition for tax purposes by the city assessor's office.

Geography

The topographic layout is actually two main valleys. One flows from the Clipper/22nd/Grandview area down 24th/Jersey to Church, and the other flows from the 27th/Diamond/30th area down Day to Church where it meets the first valley; the conjoined valleys then both exit the Noe Valley district. This makes the hilly area relatively dry, and the soil stable regarding earthquake liquefaction. Most houses up the hills sit directly on bed rock as can be seen at Douglass Park (bare red rock). Traffic flow is limited - one main North access through Castro Street to Eureka Valley, one main West access up Clipper Street toward the former Twin Peaks toll plaza and West of the city, several East access to Mission through 24th, Cesar Chavez and other numbered streets, and the main North-South Church access used by the Muni Light Rail J-Church. There are no traffic lights except along Dolores Street, at the 24th/Castro intersection, and one at 23rd and Church.

The neighborhood is primarily residential, although there is a bustling commercial strip along 24th Street, between Church Street and Castro Street.

Demographics

In November 2000, the Noe Valley Voice reported the following statistics for the neighborhood, citing a 1999 poll of registered voters by David Binder Research, a prominent local polling agency .

• European American: 80%
• Age 30-49: 53%
• Female: 51%
• Sexually straight: 71%
• Rent housing (vs. own): 52%
• College graduate: 78%
• Democrat: 72%
• Republican: 11%
• Religious affiliation: 63%
• Not religious: 38%

External links

• Noe Valley Neighborhood Guide
• Noe Valley Voice newspaper
• Noe-Valley.com - neighborhood resource