Re: Sunset District May Not Be What You Think

07/16/05 - posted by Frank Dunnigan

To people who grew up there, it's the Parkside, all right. The name has nothing to do with Golden Gate Park, but rather with the park-like setting of what is now Sigmund Stern Grove, Pine Lake Park, and Larsen Park at the southern end of the area.

The opening screen of this site refers to the 1905 founding of the Parkside District with the first significant bits of residential construction. This growth expanded in 1918 when streetcars began running through the new Twin Peaks Tunnel and out Taraval Street. This was 10 years prior to the opening of the Sunset (or Duboce) Tunnel, and the LATER growth that began along Judah and eventually blanketed the remaining sand dunes.

For many years, there was a sign on the 20th Avenue side of the Parkside theater, sponsored by 7-Up, admonishing passers-by to "Shop the Parkside"--referring to the adjacent retail area along Taraval.

The Catholic Church probably played up this distinction by referring to St. Cecilia's Parish (at 17th and Vicente, but originally on Taraval) as serving the Parkside District, while St. Anne's (on Judah Street) has been popularly known for years as "St. Anne of the Sunset".

Even the U.S. Post Office supports a distinction here--the area north of Ortega is 94122 and served by Sunset Station, while the area south of Ortega is 94116 and served by Parkside Station.

If I'm not mistaken, Ortega is also a political boundary (State Senate/Assembly, U.S. Congressional districts???) that divides one political entity from another.

Just like the folks in the Outer Mission like to be known as THE EXCELSIOR, so do Parkside residents differentiate themselves from the Sunset.