The Inner Richmond is a practical and comfortable neighborhood with a citywide reputation for fantastic restaurants. It's often called "New Chinatown" because it's almost as full of Chinese groceries and restaurants and Cantonese chatter as Grant Avenue, but most tourists overlook it, as did early S.F. residents, who wrote off the entire Richmond as a "Great Sand Waste" between the City and the sea.
The Richmond did almost became a miniature Colma, housing the municipal and Chinese cemeteries. But after World War I and the Bolshevik Revolution, Irish and White Russian immigrants and Middle Eastern Jews bought homes in the area. Two waves of immigration after World War II brought Japanese residents and added to the sizable Chinese population.
Since then, the Inner Richmond has become a bustling multicultural soup with cute stucco houses, grand mansions, easy access to the Presidio, a plethora of inexpensive eateries and a good variety of shops. The Richmond lacks the hype of the Mission, and the fog does roll in a little earlier in the afternoon, but on its main dining and shopping drag, Clement Street, you'll find great Burmese, Thai, Chinese, Vietnamese and Korean restaurants, Chinese bakeries that sell siu mai (steamed meat dumplings), BBQ pork buns and other dim sum for under a dollar and produce markets that offer bitter melon, several kinds of choy (greens) or 10 lemons for a dollar. Browse the stacks at one of the city's best bookstores, suck down some Hong Kong-style pearl tea (complete with marble-size tapioca balls) or sit down for a French bistro meal, and you'll come to appreciate the modest neighborhood that has sprouted from the sand dunes.
Mountain Lake Park: There are almost as many ducks as there are people at this little neighborhood park, situated right underneath the Park Presidio ramp that heads straight to the Golden Gate Bridge. You'd think the roar of traffic would deter people -- like chess players, for instance -- from visiting, but the park attracts them, as well as throngs of joggers and dog walkers.
Golden Gate Park: Photo courtest of Brocken Inaglory. You can drive into the park on 8th or 10th avenues or at Arguello, but when you're as close as the Richmond, why not just walk? Stow Lake, the museums and the Japanese Tea Garden are all an easy, pleasant amble from the Richmond.
The Presidio: The Presidio, now a national park, was the longest-lasting continuously used military post in the United States, and it boasts military buildings dating from 1848 in a variety of styles, from Spanish Colonial to Georgian. It's also home to many native California plant species, and some rare birds and animals. Joggers and dog walkers can follow portions of the marked Bay Area Ridge trail or discover secret tracks through the cypress and eucalyptus trees. The Presidio is accessible by car from Arguello or Lombard streets, Marina Boulevard or 25th Avenue, or you can get through on foot or by bike at 14th or 15th avenues.
Hartford Properties is a proud member of the National Association of REALTORS®, Equal Housing Opportunity. All information deemed reliable but not guaranteed.