San Francisco Neighborhoods · India Basin
India Basin
Transition zoneA working bayshore reborn as parkland, where 19th-century shipwrights once launched scow schooners and a brand-new 64-acre waterfront park now opens the Bay to the Bayview.
- Brand-new India Basin Waterfront Park
- Rich shipbuilding heritage
- Bay Trail access and Heron's Head birdwatching
- Emerging new bayfront housing
On the map
Open India Basin on the map →The story
India Basin began as a shallow tidal cove on the Hunters Point shoreline and became a hub of 19th-century boatbuilding, where shipwrights launched scow schooners that hauled cargo around San Francisco Bay. Carpenter and shipwright John Dirks built the c. 1875 Shipwright's Cottage at 900 Innes Avenue, and boatbuilding families ran the adjacent yard for decades. The cove's industry surged during the World War II shipyard era at neighboring Hunters Point, then entered a long postwar decline that left the shoreline largely industrial. Today the city's new India Basin Waterfront Park is transforming the basin back into public space along the water.
Things most people don’t know
A new 64-acre shoreline park
India Basin Waterfront Park is being built across the basin's shoreline; its 900 Innes section opened in October 2024, with the larger shoreline portion under construction through the late 2020s.
Shipwright's Cottage
The c. 1875 cottage at 900 Innes Avenue, a San Francisco Designated Landmark since 2008, once housed boatbuilders who crafted scow schooners and now anchors the new park.
Heron's Head Park
Just north along the shore, this reclaimed salt marsh is one of the city's best birdwatching spots and home to the off-grid, LEED Platinum EcoCenter.
Built on a boatbuilding cove
The basin was a center of San Francisco Bay scow-schooner construction; the historic schooner Alma, built nearby in 1891, survives at the Maritime National Historical Park.
Eating and drinking near India Basin
India Basin is primarily residential — these sit in the Bayview.
Restaurants
- Gumbo Social · 5176 3rd St
- Old Skool Cafe · 1429 Mendell St
Bars
- Laughing Monk Brewing · 1439 Egbert Ave
Getting around and getting care
Transit. The 19-Polk bus runs into India Basin along Innes Avenue toward Hunters Point. The T-Third Muni Metro line stops at the Hudson/Innes platform on Third Street, with the 44-O'Shaughnessy and 54-Felton buses connecting there; the 23-Monterey serves the wider Bayview.
Nearest hospital. Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center, 1001 Potrero Ave (about 3 mi)
Thinking about India Basin?
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.