San Francisco Neighborhoods · Hunters Point
Hunters Point
also The PointTransition zoneA sun-warmed hill jutting into the bay on the city's southeastern edge — a proud, historically Black community where a former naval shipyard now holds one of the largest artist colonies in the country.
- Sunniest corner of SF
- Sweeping bay views
- Shipyard artist studios
- Major waterfront redevelopment
On the map
Open Hunters Point on the map →The story
The Hunters Point drydocks date to the 1860s and were billed as one of the world's great shipyards by the early 1900s. The U.S. Navy took over the site in 1940, and during World War II the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard employed roughly 18,500 people, drawing a large Black workforce in the wartime Great Migration that put down lasting roots here. After the Navy established a Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory in 1946, decades of military and industrial use left soil and groundwater badly contaminated; the yard closed in 1974 and was named a federal Superfund site in 1989. Today the old shipyard hosts the Hunters Point Shipyard Artists — one of the nation's largest artist communities, with hundreds of studios — while the surrounding land undergoes a long, contested environmental cleanup and a multi-thousand-home redevelopment.
Things most people don’t know
World-class drydocks
The Hunters Point drydocks opened in the 1860s and were promoted as one of the greatest shipyards on earth by the early 1900s.
WWII shipyard
The Navy acquired the yard in 1940; at its WWII peak the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard employed about 18,500 workers.
Huge artist colony
The Hunters Point Shipyard Artists run hundreds of working studios at 451 Galvez Ave and hold free Open Studios each spring and fall.
Shipyard redevelopment
The former Navy land is being rebuilt as The San Francisco Shipyard, a master-planned community slated for thousands of new homes plus parks and commercial space.
New waterfront parks
The India Basin Waterfront Park project is knitting together more than 60 acres of shoreline, connecting Heron's Head Park and its EcoCenter to future Northside Park.
Eating and drinking near Hunters Point
Hunters Point is primarily residential — these sit in Bayview.
Restaurants
- Old Skool Cafe · 1429 Mendell St
- Smoke Soul Kitchen · 4618 3rd St
- All Good Pizza · 1605 Jerrold Ave
Bars
- Laughing Monk Brewing · 1439 Egbert Ave
Getting around and getting care
Transit. The 15 Bayview Hunters Point Express and 19 Polk buses serve Hunters Point directly. The T-Third Muni Metro line runs nearby up Third Street, with the 29 Sunset, 44 O'Shaughnessy and 54 Felton buses crossing the area.
Nearest hospital. Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center, 1001 Potrero Ave (about 4 mi)
Thinking about Hunters Point?
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.