San Francisco Neighborhoods · Oceanview
Oceanview
also Part of OMIPersistent Fog zoneA quiet, diverse, working-class residential corner in San Francisco's far southwest, anchored by City College and the Ocean Avenue corridor as the historic heart of the OMI district.
- Part of historic OMI
- Quiet residential streets
- Near City College
- Transit to downtown via Ocean Ave
On the map
Open Oceanview on the map →The story
Ocean View grew up around a stop on the San Francisco and San Jose Railroad, which began service in 1860, and was successfully subdivided in 1883 into a self-contained village with its own school, post office, and churches along Broad Street. The nearby Ingleside Racetrack opened in 1895 off the old Ocean Road, drawing roadhouses and gambling before an 1899 anti-betting ordinance shut the track down. After World War II, Ocean View became one of the few places in San Francisco where African-American families could buy homes, and during Western Addition redevelopment in the 1960s and 1970s many more families moved in. Residents coined the name 'OMI' — Ocean View, Merced Heights, Ingleside — in the 1960s to lobby together for city services, and the area became one of the city's earliest racially integrated communities.
Things most people don’t know
An early integrated community
Post-WWII Ocean View was one of the few SF neighborhoods where Black families could buy property, making the OMI one of the city's earliest racially integrated areas.
City College's Ocean Campus
City College of San Francisco opened in 1935 and built its 56-acre Ocean Campus just north of the neighborhood at 50 Frida Kahlo Way.
A racetrack frozen in the street grid
Just west in Ingleside Terraces, Urbano Drive forms an oval traced on the loop of the 1895 Ingleside Racetrack, paved over when the residence park opened in 1912.
A 19th-century village core
Ocean View functioned as its own village, with St. Michael's Church established on Broad Street in 1899 and a Congregational church there since 1895.
Streetcars named for the area
The M Ocean View streetcar line, built in 1927, and the K Ingleside both still run, terminating at Balboa Park Station.
Eating and drinking near Oceanview
Oceanview is primarily residential — these sit in Ingleside, Ocean Avenue.
Restaurants
- Beep's Burgers · 1051 Ocean Ave
- Megan's Table · 1422 Ocean Ave
Bars
- Ocean Ale House · 1314 Ocean Ave
Getting around and getting care
Transit. Muni Metro K-Ingleside runs in the median of Ocean Avenue; the M-Ocean View line runs nearby; both terminate at Balboa Park Station with BART. Buses include the 29-Sunset, 54-Felton, 8-Bayshore, and 49 Van Ness/Mission.
Nearest hospital. AHMC Seton Medical Center, 1900 Sullivan Ave, Daly City (about 2 mi)
Thinking about Oceanview?
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.