Most tourists visiting San Francisco and its many sightseeing attractions know of Union Square, the city’s Mecca for retail shoppers. But ask them where Union Street is, and they would likely guess that it is one of the four streets that make Union Square, square. But Union Street is a shopping destination itself, and nowhere near Union Square. Union Street’s seven block shopping district, which runs between Franklin and Steiner Streets, is considered something of a promenade, and affectionately referred to by locals and local merchants, as simply The Street.
Unlike Union Square, Union Street is first and foremost, a neighborhood, which means it is surrounded by apartments, but they are the low-key, low-rise variety that defines San Francisco architecture of Edwardian and Victorian style. And there is further evidence that this is a neighborhood when you take note of the dry-cleaner, hardware, plumbing, and shoe repair shops sprinkled about.
This neighborhood, Cow Hollow, is one of forty major, distinct neighborhoods in the city of San Francisco, which is remarkable given that San Francisco is only forty-nine square miles. Cow Hollow, part of the Marina-Presidio district, used to be just that, a cow hollow, with its grazing land for dairy cows. But after development encroached on the bucolic setting, the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake drove a lot of older families out of the area, and with the younger crowd that moved in, the shops shifted to accommodate them. Now the 120 member Union Street Association boasts dozens of trendy shops and specialty shops with many boutiques of women’s fashions, as well as hip restaurants and bars.
The Pacific Heights neighborhood rises immediately to the south of Union Street. To the north between The Street and the San Francisco Bay, is the Marina neighborhood. If you continued east on Union Street, you’d run into the Presidio, and if you took Union Street over Russian Hill, past the cable car line that comes up over the hill from Fisherman’s Wharf and two blocks parallel to Lombard Street’s crooked section , you’d find yourself coming down the other side into Chinatown and North Beach. While some tourists do find their way here, it’s retains an authentic, local flair which is currently abuzz with holiday shopping energy, and the pleasures and excitement of shopping, eating and drinking with an authentic San Francisco vibe.
