San Francisco Neighborhoods · Golden Gate Heights
Golden Gate Heights
Fog zoneA hushed, hilltop maze of winding streets and artful stairways crowned by some of the city's most sweeping ocean-to-bay views.
- Hilltop park panoramas
- Famous tiled staircases
- Quiet residential streets
- Steps from the Inner Sunset
On the map
Open Golden Gate Heights on the map →The story
Once part of the windswept Outside Lands dunes west of downtown, the hills here were graded and laced with stairways around 1927 and built out as a residential district through the 1910s to 1950s. The neighborhood wraps around a chain of rocky peaks, including Grand View Park atop 'Turtle Hill,' which looks out over the Pacific, Golden Gate Park, the Marin Headlands and the Financial District. In 2003, residents Jessie Audette and Alice Yee Xavier launched a community project to beautify the 16th Avenue stairway; artists Aileen Barr and Colette Crutcher designed 163 mosaic panels, and the now-famous Tiled Steps opened on August 27, 2005. The nearby Hidden Garden Steps on 16th Avenue followed as a second community mosaic stairway.
Things most people don’t know
The 16th Avenue Tiled Steps
163 mosaic panels climb sea-to-stars to the base of Grandview Park; opened in 2005.
Grand View Park
Atop 'Turtle Hill,' it offers panoramas of the ocean, Golden Gate Park and the bay.
A second mosaic stairway
The Hidden Garden Steps add another community-built tiled climb nearby.
Built on the old dunes
Streets were graded and stairways built around 1927 on the former Outside Lands sand hills.
Eating and drinking near Golden Gate Heights
Golden Gate Heights is primarily residential — these sit in the Inner Sunset.
Bars
- The Little Shamrock · 807 Lincoln Way
- Tartine Inner Sunset · 1226 9th Ave
Getting around and getting care
Transit. N-Judah Muni Metro a walk downhill along Irving/Judah; buses 6, 7, 43, 44 and 66 serve the surrounding slopes.
Nearest hospital. UCSF Medical Center at Parnassus, 505 Parnassus Ave (about 1 mi)
Thinking about Golden Gate Heights?
Send me an address and I will come back with its sun, wind and fog, what is under it, and what has closed on the block.