Cesar Chavez Street (formerly Army Street) is an east–west street in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

. The street was renamed in 1995 in honor of American labor leader and Latino American

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life ...

activist,

Cesar Chavez Cesar Chavez (born Cesario Estrada Chavez ; ; March 31, 1927 – April 23, 1993) was an American labor leader and civil rights activist. Along with Dolores Huerta, he co-founded the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA), which later mer ...

. It was widened in the middle of the 20th century to serve as a thoroughfare between the 101 and 280 freeways to the unbuilt Mission Freeway. It starts at Pier 80 in the Bayview neighborhood and ends at Douglass Street in the

Noe Valley Noe Valley ( ; originally spelt Noé) is a neighborhood in the central part of San Francisco, California. It is named for Don José de Jesús Noé, noted 19th-century Californio statesman and ranchero, who owned much of the area and served as m ...

. The intersection of Chavez and Mission is the heart of the micro-neighborhood locally known as " La Lengua." The chase scene from the 1968 Steve McQueen film '' Bullitt'' started on what was then Army Street.

Background

Originally the street ran alongside the

Precita Creek Precita Creek is a small creek in the Bernal Heights and Mission District neighborhoods of San Francisco, California. Its course is mirrored by the current Precita Avenue, which ran along the creek when it was laid out sometime during the early 185 ...

, parallel to Navy Street. Around 1900 the creek was channeled underground, and Army Street was paved over the former creek. In the 1930s it was widened and meant to be a thoroughfare for automobiles. It is seen as the dividing line between the

Mission District The Mission District ( Spanish: ''Distrito de la Misión''), commonly known as The Mission ( Spanish: ''La Misión''), is a neighborhood in San Francisco, California. One of the oldest neighborhoods in San Francisco, the Mission District's name i ...

on the north, and Bernal Heights on the south. At one point it was a two-lane street with its own streetcar line, but had been widened to six lanes by 1950. It is considered an important east-west arterial, "... west of Third Street, he streetis designated a major arterial and a Citywide Bicycle Route and carries 12,000 vehicles per day. It is a four-lane street that provides access to the west and connects to the central waterfront,

India Basin India Basin is neighborhood in the southeastern part of San Francisco, California, considered to be part of the larger Bayview–Hunters Point neighborhood. History The history of India Basin is a curious combination of industry and open space, b ...

, and Hunters Point Shipyard areas to the east. East of Third Street, it provides access to Pier 80." The widening of Army Street was made as part of the development of the never constructed Southern Crossing from San Francisco to the

East Bay The East Bay is the eastern region of the San Francisco Bay Area and includes cities along the eastern shores of the San Francisco Bay and San Pablo Bay. The region has grown to include inland communities in Alameda and Contra Costa countie ...

. The name of the street was changed to honor the city's Latino community, but the change was controversial at the time. Recognizing the negative effects created by the widening of the street, in 2011 the city started an effort to make the street more pedestrian friendly. The ''Cesar Chavez Streetscape Project'' implemented measures to "improve pedestrian and bicyclist safety, enhance greening, promote ecology function, and make the street work better ..."

References

External links

* {{Streets in San Francisco Streets in San Francisco

Background

See also

References

External links