Diamond Heights is a neighborhood in central

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " 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 fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

, roughly bordered by Diamond Heights Boulevard and

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 ma ...

to the north and east and

Glen Canyon Park Glen Canyon Park is a city park in San Francisco, California. It occupies about along a deep canyon adjacent to the Glen Park, Diamond Heights, and Miraloma Park neighborhoods. O'Shaughnessy Hollow is a rugged, undeveloped tract of parklan ...

to the south and west. It is built on three hills: Red Rock Heights on the northwest, Gold Mine Hill in center, and Fairmount Heights (including Billy Goat Hill) on the southeast.

History

House at 70 Gold Mine Drive, February 2010

Diamond Heights was the first project of the

San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association SPUR is a nonprofit public policy organization focused on regional planning, housing, transportation, sustainability and resilience, economic justice, good government, and food and agriculture in the San Francisco Bay Area. Its full name is the S ...

, intended to use its

redevelopment Redevelopment is any new construction on a site that has pre-existing uses. It represents a process of land development uses to revitalize the physical, economic and social fabric of urban space. Description Variations on redevelopment include: ...

powers for land on the hills in the center of the city to be developed with, rather than against, the

topography Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the land forms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary sc ...

. Few existing residents needed to be relocated for the redevelopment program, which included housing for a range of incomes, churches, schools, parks, and a commercial center. This type of redevelopment came under the Community Redevelopment Law, passed in 1951, a codified version of the California Redevelopment Act that had passed in 1941. Redevelopment in California ended on February 1, 2012, after the State Supreme Court ruled the Legislature could end the program on December 29, 2011. The Water Department appropriated more than $500,000 for a water system for the redevelopment. The Board of Supervisors and Diamond Heights Property Owners' Association debated the "Diamond Heights Redevelopment Project Area B-1" plan. In 1955, alternative proposals to the supervisors' plan were presented in an effort to protect the property rights of existing property owners, and to give them preference to exchange their property for other sites. The Board rejected the motion to add these alternative plans to the legislation. The final plan was approved on October 24, 1955. Some houses survived the redevelopment. A wood-frame house with separate garage stands at 70 Gold Mine Drive, just downhill from Diamond Heights Boulevard. According to the San Francisco Office of the Assessor, this house was built in 1895.

Attractions and characteristics

Notable features of Diamond Heights include Diamond Heights Shopping Center on Diamond Heights Boulevard between Duncan Street and Gold Mine Drive and the San Francisco Police Department's police academy on Amber Drive between Turquoise Way and Duncan Street. St. Nicholas Orthodox Christian Church is at the top of Diamond Heights Boulevard, at the corner of Duncan Street.

George Christopher George Christopher (born George Christopheles; December 8, 1907 – September 14, 2000) was a Greek-American politician who served as the 34th mayor of San Francisco from 1956 to 1964. He is the most recent Republican to be elected mayor of San ...

Playground is located behind the shopping center, and Walter Haas Playground is at the intersection of Diamond Heights Boulevard and Addison Street. Ruth Asawa School of the Arts high school and the San Francisco Juvenile Probation Department's Juvenile Justice Center are both just northwest of Diamond Heights, at the intersection of Portola and Woodside. Public transportation in Diamond Heights is provided by Muni's 35 Eureka, 48 Quintara, and 52 Excelsior lines. All connect to the

Muni Metro Muni Metro is a light rail system serving San Francisco, California, United States. Operated by the San Francisco Municipal Railway (Muni), a part of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA), Muni Metro served an average of 15 ...

system; the 35 goes to

Castro Street Station Castro station is a Muni Metro station at the intersection of Market Street, Castro Street, and 17th Street in The Castro district of San Francisco, California. Station layout and history The station consists of two side platforms next to the ...

, the 48 goes to West Portal Station, and the 52 goes to Forest Hill Station. Additionally, the 35 and 52 connect to the

Bay Area Rapid Transit Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) is a rapid transit system serving the San Francisco Bay Area in California. BART serves 50 stations along six routes on of rapid transit lines, including a spur line in eastern Contra Costa County which u ...

system at the

Glen Park Station Glen Park station is an underground Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) station located in the Glen Park neighborhood of San Francisco, California adjacent to San Jose Avenue and Interstate 280. The station has a single island platform. San Jose/G ...

References

External links

San Francisco Planning and Urban ResearchDiamond Heights mid-century modern housing tract developed by architect Claude Oakland for Eichler Homes
{{Coord, 37.7457639, N, 122.4416379, W, display=title Neighborhoods in San Francisco