Corona Heights is a neighborhood 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 U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, just north of

Market Street Market Street may refer to: *Market Street, Cambridge, England *Market Street, Fremantle, Western Australia, Australia * Market Street, George Town, Penang, Malaysia *Market Street, Manchester, England *Market Street, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia ...

and Eureka Valley. Corona Heights is often considered part of the

Castro Castro is a Romance language word that originally derived from Latin ''castrum'', a pre-Roman military camp or fortification (cf: Greek: ''kastron''; Proto-Celtic:''*Kassrik;'' br, kaer, *kastro). The English-language equivalent is '' chester''. ...

and Upper Market areas.

Location

The Corona Heights neighborhood stretches between

Buena Vista Park Buena Vista Park is a park in the Haight-Ashbury and Buena Vista Heights neighborhoods of San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, fina ...

and Eureka Valley. The streets within Corona Heights were literally cut out of the large hill that once encompassed all of Buena Vista Park and extended all the way down to Market Street.

History

In 1899, excavation began on the hill to make way for the Gray Brothers Quarry and brick factory. The quarry had removed tons of rock and produced tens of thousands of bricks, creating a blasted landscape. George and Harry Gray (the Gray brothers) owned a total of three quarries in San Francisco. Besides The Corona Heights Quarry, One was located on Telegraph Hill, and the third at Thirtieth and Castro (now called Billy Goat Hill) located above

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 ...

. They had a bad reputation that was well deserved. Of the bricks that were produced at the factory, many of them were used in the

Cable Car Cable car most commonly refers to the following cable transportation systems: * Aerial lift, such as aerial tramways and gondola lifts, in which the vehicle is suspended in the air from a cable ** Aerial tramway ** Chairlift ** Gondola lift *** Bi ...

beds. Subsequently, it was determined that these bricks were substandard and had to be replaced. The community became enraged with the Gray brothers when adults and children were injured by falling rocks and homes were damaged by flying debris. Although the Gray brothers faced lawsuit after lawsuit, they kept quarrying. In 1909, Carolyn Bush, their cashier and George Gray's secretary, was shot and killed by an unpaid worker who lost his temper. A few years later in 1915 George, by then a millionaire, was at the Thirtieth and Castro quarry. He was confronted by Joseph Lococo, a 26-year-old former worker whom Gray refused to pay back wages of $17.50. George was murdered by Lococo at the quarry. The quarrying and the company ended at that time.

After the quarry

Because of the quarry, streets had been cut out of the rock for transport vehicle access and from the general quarrying done to the area. This made the location prime real estate for people who began to build their homes on the streets cut into the hill. Many of the neighborhood homes have views (due to the elevation on the hill), close proximity to underground transportation (

MUNI Muni may refer to: Municipal * A common US abbreviation for municipal, municipal services, and the like *Municipal bond *Municipal Bridge, the former name of the George Rogers Clark Memorial Bridge in Louisville, Kentucky *"Muni", slang for a mu ...

), and are situated just a few blocks from

The Castro The Castro District, commonly referred to as the Castro, is a neighborhood in Eureka Valley in San Francisco. The Castro was one of the first gay neighborhoods in the United States. Having transformed from a working-class neighborhood throug ...

, local restaurants, and neighborhood hangouts. At the top of the hill, where the quarry used to stand, there is now the Corona Heights Park: a large, open space with panoramic views of the city and the bay. Corona Heights Park also features a fenced-in, maintained

dog park A dog park is a park for dogs to exercise and play off-leash in a controlled environment under the supervision of their owners. Description Dog parks have varying features, although they typically offer a 4' to 6' fence, separate double-gated ...

Attractions and characteristics

Corona Heights Park Corona Heights Park is a park in the Castro and Corona Heights neighborhoods of San Francisco, California, United States. It is situated immediately to the south of Buena Vista Park. Corona Heights is bounded in part by Flint Street on the e ...

, a large, open space, city park, with panoramic views of the city and the bay *

Randall Museum The Randall Museum is a museum in central San Francisco, California, owned and operated by the San Francisco Recreation & Parks Department with the support of the Randall Friends. The museum focuses on science, nature and the arts. On exhibit are ...

, focuses on the arts, crafts, sciences, and natural history * The Castro District Corona Heights features prominently in Fritz Leiber's famous horror novel "Our Lady of Darkness" (1977).

Gallery

References

External links

Castro SF.org: The Complete Local Guide

Corona Heights.com: "San Francisco's Best Kept Secret."
{{Neighborhoods of San Francisco Neighborhoods in San Francisco Western Addition, San Francisco