Streetwise: Home Sweet Home Across the Western Neighborhoods
by Frank Dunnigan
February 2025
Frank Dunnigan, WNP member and columnist. - The expansion of MUNI service to the west side marked a tremendous increase in housing construction throughout the area. Streetcar service through the Twin Peaks Tunnel was inaugurated in 1918 and service on the K-L-M lines instituted between 1918 and 1925. At a time when many jobs were located in the downtown sector, reliable and affordable transportation provided a tremendous boost to the expansion of housing in the western neighborhoods.
View west from Lawton near 12th Avenue, September 22, 1926 - Photo by Horace Chaffee; SF Department of Public Works / Courtesy of a Private Collector.Parts of Golden Gate Heights in the Inner Sunset were seeing increased construction by 1925, including this area at 12th Avenue and Lawton Street.
Miramar and Wildwood, circa 1925 - Courtesy of a Private Collector.Westwood Park, adjacent to Ocean Avenue, was a fast-growing planned community by the 1920s. Note the unique street lamps.
75 San Fernando Way, circa 1925 - Courtesy of a Private Collector.New construction in St. Francis Wood is shown here in 1925. One of the earliest examples of a “residence park,” the area combined easy access to the downtown business district with the amenities of suburban living.
30th Avenue and Judah, April 22, 1925 - Marilyn Blaisdell Collection / Courtesy of a Private Collector.The area near 30th Avenue and Judah Street in the mid-Sunset was being filled with construction of mostly single-family homes in 1925.
View south on 48th Avenue near Kirkham, June 5, 1925 - Photo by Horace Chaffee; SF Department of Public Works / Courtesy of a Private Collector.This scene at 48th Avenue and Kirkham in the Outer Sunset still shows many open lots and a variety of completed homes in 1925. Note the gas street lamp at left.
View north on 48th Avenue towards Pacheco, January 2, 1925 - Photo by Horace Chaffee; SF Department of Public Works / Courtesy of a Private Collector.This scene at 48th Avenue near Pacheco, just a few blocks south of the previous image, shows even more open space available for future housing.
View east on El Camino Del Mar and 30th Avenue, circa 1925 - Courtesy of a Private Collector.Large Sea Cliff homes with extensive landscaping were beginning to fill this corner of the Richmond District neighborhood by 1925.
View north on Funston from Balboa, circa 1925 - Courtesy of a Private Collector.Parts of the Inner Richmond were already well-developed with homes that were built circa 1910—well before the onset of World War I.
View north on 19th Avenue near Randolph, March 24, 1926 - Photo by Horace Chaffee; SF Department of Public Works / Courtesy of a Private Collector.This photo shows the tracks of the M-Oceanview line shortly after opening in the fall of 1925. Still a lightly developed area at the time, the rail link prompted the addition of thousands more homes and businesses.
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