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South Park, San Francisco

Coordinates: 37°46′53″N 122°23′38″W / 37.78139°N 122.39389°W / 37.78139; -122.39389
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
South Park
Three and four story buildings surround the tree-filled South Park.
Map
TypeUrban park (San Francisco)
LocationSan Francisco
Coordinates37°46′53″N 122°23′38″W / 37.78139°N 122.39389°W / 37.78139; -122.39389
Area0.85 acres (0.34 ha)
Created1852
OpenAll year
StatusOpen

South Park is a small urban park and eponymous neighborhood in the larger South of Market neighborhood of San Francisco, California, consisting of 0.85 acres (0.34 ha) of public ground. The neighborhood centers on the small, oval-shaped park and South Park Street, which encircles the park. South Park is bounded by Second, Third, Bryant, and Brannan streets.[1]

The two halves of the South Park Street re-join at both ends of the park and continue for short, straight stretches before terminating at Second Street on one end and Third Street on the other. This creates a curved line of buildings, which gives the street and park an unusual enclosed, urban character. Local businesses, restaurants and many apartment buildings dot the street.

In January 2016, the park was closed temporarily in order to undergo a $2.8 million renovation, which will include comprehensive infrastructural and cosmetic upgrades.[2][3]

History

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The South Park block was assembled in 1852 by English entrepreneur George Gordon.[4]

The park was originally constructed in 1855 as the center of an exclusive residential community. It was modeled after a square in London, England, as a housing development of seventeen mansions plus townhouses[5] (a total of 58 residences) on a 550-foot oval around a private grassy park.[4] It featured the first paved streets and sidewalks in San Francisco. A windmill in the center of the park pumped water for the houses.[4]

On January 2, 1895, during the settlement movement era, the South Park Settlement at Number 15 South Park was established by the San Francisco Settlement Association.[6] From the late 19th to the early 20th century, South Park was also the center of one of San Francisco's largest Japanese American communities. Sandwiched between the waterfront and the South Pacific Railroad terminus, the area featured Japanese owned and operated hostels, hotels, baths, and shops. Many of the structures remain: the Madrid Hotel occupies what once was the Eimoto Hotel at 22 South Park.[7]

The neighborhood began to lose exclusivity after the construction of Second Street, which made the area accessible to less affluent residents.[4] Rich residents moved to the newer Nob Hill neighborhood in the late 19th century,[5] and the city took over the park in 1897.[4] It suffered further decline after the San Francisco earthquake of 1906, when most of the homes around the Rincon Hill neighborhood were destroyed. The oval park, however, has remained unchanged and is still a central meeting place in the neighborhood.[1] After the quake, the neighborhood was rebuilt as warehouses, light manufacturing, nightclubs, and hotels. Immigrants from various countries came to the neighborhood, as well as longshoremen, drug addicts, and vagrants. The neighborhood began to attract artists and young professionals beginning in the 1970s.[4]

The area flourished during the dot-com boom of the late 1990s, due to flexible office space at initially low rent. It was sometimes described as "ground zero" of the dot com revolution,[8] with many start-up Internet companies based in the area. By late 2001, however, many of these companies had closed their doors. Yet, as of 2006, in an era for the Internet that some have dubbed Web 2.0, South Park has once again become home to many small Web-related companies.[9]

Recently,[when?] some neighbors in South Park have expressed opposition to a proposal to put an above-ground stop on the Central Subway at the southwestern end of South Park Street, on Third Street. Finally the routing of the line has been decided by the Municipal Transportation Agency, and will be along Fourth Street, one block farther west.[citation needed]

South Park businesses

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Current

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(as of January 2016)

Architecture, engineering and design

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  • Aidlin Darling Design[10][11]
  • Arcanum Architecture[12]
  • Blue Clover Devices[13]
  • CMG Landscape Architecture[14]
  • Fennie + Mehl Architects[15]
  • Levy Design Partners[16]
  • Mark Horton / Architecture[17]
  • Pfau Long Architecture[11][18]
  • Sand Studios[19]
  • Strandberg Engineering[20]
  • Valerio Dewalt Train Associates[21]
  • WRNS Studio[22]
  • Zack | de Vito Architecture + Construction[11][23]
  • zero ten design[24]

Arts and culture

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Food and beverage

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Media and web

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Technology

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  • 1BOG, One Block Off the Grid, clean-tech solar [29]
  • AxleHire, integrated logistics provider
  • Dropbox, web-based file hosting service [3][30][31]
  • Fantasy Interactive, full service digital agency
  • Foxcove, IT Services Firm
  • Flowcast, fintech company
  • Grid Net, WiMAX based power meters
  • TravelBank, travel expense management
  • Tune, mobile marketing firm
  • iOffer, Social marketplace
  • Olark, live chat provider
  • Okta, Internet identity and access management provider
  • Presence, Digital Product (web, mobile, XR) development and strategy
  • Prowl, music discovery
  • Sauce Labs
  • Slideshare.net, a slide hosting service
  • Splunk, software company
  • Strava, Athlete GPS tracking and analysis
  • Rubicon Project, advertising automation
  • Wcities

Venture capital

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Former

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Neighbors

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South Park is located between the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge (Interstate 80) and Oracle Park, the city's baseball stadium. Many of the nearby streets are one-way, and many carry traffic to and from the bridge, the stadium, and Interstate 280, which terminates slightly to the south of the neighborhood.

Oracle Park (formerly Pacific Bell Park, then SBC Park, then AT&T Park), where the San Francisco Giants major league baseball team plays, is two blocks south and east of South Park.

References

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  1. ^ a b San Francisco Neighborhood Parks Council article South Park History
  2. ^ "South Park Improvement Project". San Francisco Recreation & Park Department. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
  3. ^ a b "S.F.'s run-down high-tech hub South Park to get fixed up". SFGate.com. 23 January 2015. Retrieved 21 January 2016.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Jeanne Alexander (10 May 2012). "South Park Revisited History". SF Parks Alliance. San Francisco Neighborhood Parks Council.
  5. ^ a b "Search for housing bargains turns up few nuggets in San Francisco". Chicago Tribune. 2001-02-15.
  6. ^ Woods, Robert Archey; Kennedy, Albert Joseph (1911). Handbook of Settlements (Public domain ed.). Charities Publication Committee. pp. 20–21. Retrieved 1 May 2022. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  7. ^ Images of America: San Francisco's Japantown. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing. 2005. p. 128. ISBN 073853059X.
  8. ^ a b "All About Yves". Metropolis Magazine. 2006-05-19. Archived from the original on February 8, 2009.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Dan Fost (16 April 2006). "Web 2.0 has a local address: South Park, the neighborhood that fostered the dot-com boom, is back". San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on 17 April 2006.
  10. ^ "Aidlin Darling Design - Contact". Aidlin Darling Design. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
  11. ^ a b c "ARCHITECT Visits: South Park, San Francisco". ARCHITECT. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
  12. ^ "Arcanum Architecture - Contact". Arcanum Architecture. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
  13. ^ "Blue Clover Devices - Contact". Blue Clover Devices. Retrieved 6 June 2017.
  14. ^ "CMG Landscape Architecture - Contact". CMG Landscape Architecture. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
  15. ^ "Fennie + Mehl - About". Fennie + Mehl Architects. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
  16. ^ "Levy Design Partners - About". Levy Design Partners. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
  17. ^ "Mark Horton / Architecture - Contact". Mark Horton / Architecture. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
  18. ^ "Pfau Long Architecture - Contact". Pfau Long Architecture. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
  19. ^ "Sand Studios - Contact". Sand Studios. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
  20. ^ "Strandberg Engineering - Contact". Strandberg Engineering. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
  21. ^ "Valerio Dewalt Train - Our Offices". Valerio Dewalt Train Associates. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
  22. ^ "WRNS Studio - Contact". WRNS Studio. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
  23. ^ "Zack / de Vito Architecture - Contact". Zack / de Vito Architecture. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
  24. ^ "zero ten design - Contact". zero ten design. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
  25. ^ "Caffe Centro". Caffe Centro. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
  26. ^ "HRD". HRD. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
  27. ^ "Small Foods - Our Location". Small Foods. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
  28. ^ "South Park Cafe (official site)". Archived from the original on 2001-11-30. Retrieved 2017-08-05.
  29. ^ "One Block Off the Grid".
  30. ^ "Dropbox bags second building for SoMa campus". San Francisco Business Times. Retrieved 21 January 2016.
  31. ^ "Exclusive: Dropbox looks to shed China Basin HQ space". San Francisco Business Times. Retrieved 21 January 2016.
  32. ^ "Trendspotting: Google Ventures Opens Office in SF's South Park". 18 January 2014.
  33. ^ "KPCB". KPCB. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
  34. ^ Jayson Mathews (2001-02-21). "The Sound of Online Advertising". Internetnews.com.
  35. ^ "Welcome to the Dipity Triangle". Dipity. Retrieved 29 August 2012.
  36. ^ Pilar Viladas (2004-03-14). "Curve Your Enthusiasm". New York Times.
  37. ^ Charles Babcock (May 2, 2005). "Born Again:Silicon Valley, the site of busted dot-com dreams, is bustling once more as entrepreneurs focus on business' I.T. infrastructures". InformationWeek.
  38. ^ Dan Fost (2007-03-11). "Where Neo-Nomads' Ideas Percolate:New 'bedouins' transform a laptop, cell phone and coffeehouse into their office". San Francisco Chronicle.
  39. ^ Pete Cashmore (2006-10-25). "Odeo Gets Acquired by Obvious Corp". Mashable.
  40. ^ James Temple (2003-02-23). "UCSF lease adds medical facilities near Mission Bay". San Francisco Business Journal.
  41. ^ Chris Cadelago (2008-08-24). "Wikimedia pegs future on education, not profit". San Francisco Chronicle.
  42. ^ "Wikimedia finds a new home!". Wikimedia Foundation. 2009-10-27.
[edit]
  • San Francisco Chronicle article As Wikipedia moves to S.F., founder discusses planned changes published November 30, 2007 says "Wikipedia [...] has found office space in the city's South Park neighborhood."
  • The San Francisco Block Book (1901) p. 332 showing "100 Vara Block 359" (South Park)
  • more recent Block Book page from the County Recorder-Assessor's Office showing Block 3775 (formerly 100 Vara Block 359, i.e., South Park)
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