The Noe Valley Story - Once Upon a Time

THE NOE VALLEY STORY—VICTORIAN CHARM FLOURISHES IN THE 21ST CENTURY

Imagine for a moment that you, your spouse and your toddler have been deposited atop San Francisco’s Twin Peaks, right near the geographical center of the 7 mile square that is the City.  To the north, you’ve got a clear view of the Golden Gate Bridge and as you shift your gaze to the east, you’re treated to a spectacular view of the downtown skyline. But just below you, stretched out on a neat grid, are row after row of beautifully maintained Victorian houses. The bridge and downtown are too far off, but these neat rows of houses are just down the hill. And if your eyes aren’t playing tricks, a lot of the people on 24th Street are, like you, pushing strollers, too. Already you’re feeling at home. So, down the hill you go, into Noe Valley.   

Only a mile or two from the high rise bustle of San Francisco’s financial district, Noe is one of the City’s most popular neighborhoods and home for many upscale urban professionals and young affluent families. As you make your way down Douglass Street, past the playground at 26th Street, you realize your eyesight is still pretty good. Yes,  indeed, there are a lot of moms with strollers, chatting in the warm sun while their young ones scramble around the playground and its brightly colored equipment. 

As San Francisco remains one of the world’s most desirable cities, successful people are drawn to Noe Valley because of its proximity to downtown and also for its hills, which not only seem to remove it from downtown but which also protect the area from much of the fog that blankets more exposed areas of the city. And with the highest concentration of Victorian architecture in San Francisco, Noe Valley becomes the ideal place to live in the eyes of many. Hmm, you think to yourself, for no matter which street you walk down, every other house, it seems, looks like a perfectly preserved reminder of an earlier time.

Where in this day and age will you see a house ornamented with rabbits in relief, brilliant white standing out against blue trim? Where will you find the brightly colored gingerbread decorative touches on homes anywhere today?  And to see them block after  block after block, each one an individual testament to craftsmanship from a century ago and to the care lavished on them today? As your gaze shifts from one house to the next, it begins to dawn that Noe Valley is unlike any other locale, not only in San Francisco, but quite probably unique in any city in America. And you’d be right if you surmised that a unique set of events shaped the neighborhood you’re strolling through today. 

From Grazing Land and Vegetable Gardens

Noe Valley’s roots extend back to the mid-1840s when the last mayor of Yerba Buena (San Francisco’s former name), Jose de Jesus Noe, received a tract of land from the Mexican government. He named it Rancho San Miguel and used it for grazing his goats until 1852 when he sold it to John M. Horner, a Mormon who had come to the Bay Area in 1846. Horner developed the valley, laying out its street grid, which survives to this day (though the names he selected have all been changed except the two he named for his wife, Elizabeth, and for where he was born, Jersey). 

By the 1880s, the neighborhood was a thriving working class community with row upon row of small single-family two story row houses going up in the Victorian style of the time.

But for some good geological fortune an untold millions of years ago, they might not be the sought-after gems they are today. The short version of that story is the fact that Noe Valley actually consists of two separate valleys that drain the soil and keep it stable. The hills of the locale stand on firm bedrock. The valley was thus spared the devastation that destroyed San Francisco in the earthquake and fires of 1906.  As a result, many Victorians survived. 

Back when they were built, Noe was populated by San Francisco’s working class. The houses desired now by software company higher ups were once the homes of Irish, German, Scandinavian, Russian and Italian immigrants who worked in the City’s industrial districts to the east. Between World War I and II, the goat farms and vegetable gardens had all but disappeared, though it remained essentially a blue-collar neighborhood. 

By the 1960s, working class families were leaving, following the decline of San Francisco’s manufacturing sector. Over the hill from the Haight-Ashbury came hippies, having opened new chapters in their lives after the Summer of Love, now holding jobs and drawn to the attractive real estate prices. Following them came gentrification and the upper middle class families who now predominate in the neighborhood.

Some element of Noe’s pastoral roots must remain, because as you stroll through the neighborhood, there is a peacefulness that is almost palpable. Talk to people and they’ll tell you how safe they feel in the neighborhood, how they will walk home from a late dinner on 24th Street without a second thought. It’s a friendly place, they’ll tell you, surrounded by hills on three sides, within the City but isolated from it at the same time.  Block meetings are common. A new family moves in and everyone on the block will gather at someone’s house and invite them over to welcome them and get familiar. People are more likely to look out for those they know, they figure.

Noe Today

The valley contains about 20,000 residents living in an area nestled up against Twin Peaks to the west , the Castro district [link] to the north, Glen Park to the south and the Mission district and Bernal Heights [link] to the east  The main commercial corridor is a five block stretch of 24th Street, which bisects the valley. Church Street at the eastern end of the neighborhood contains the other concentration of shops and restaurants. [link]

As you push your stroller along, what you mainly find is peaceful streets and some really, really nice looking houses. And, oh yes, evidence is all around you of how they get that way. Because it’s nearly impossible to find a street in Noe Valley where there isn’t a house undergoing renovations to one degree or another. Things are in a continual state of renewal and the neighborhood is thriving. 

Demographically, Noe Valley departs from the overall makeup of San Francisco. Nearly 80% of its residents are Caucasian compared to just under 50% for the city as a whole. If you happen to be on 24th Street on a weekend, you’ll see strollers everywhere. The neighborhood abounds with little kids accompanied by their young parents, urban professional types with good jobs who combine their love of San Francisco’s cosmopolitan style with a quiet, safe neighborhood to raise a family.   

In a city of gentrified neighborhoods, Noe Valley is one of the more gentrified. There are upscale shops, restaurants [link] and boutiques aplenty catering to the tastes of urban sophisticates nearing or in the prime of their working lives (over half are in the 30-49 age bracket). Many hold executive, managerial or administrative positions in their firms.

Noe Valley Real Estate

As you walk through the valley, it becomes apparent why the neighborhood becomes irresistible to prospective homebuyers. Numerous fine examples of Queen Anne style building from the late 1800s remain, though renovated throughout with modern amenities. While many later styles are present too, it is the character of these polychrome, richly ornamented, individualized buildings that give the Noe Valley its special character.

The grid laid out by John Horner provided ample width for streets even today and it’s not hard to find parking once you are a block or two from the commercial areas. The open areas of Twin Peaks, Douglass Park and other green areas provide plenty of places for picnics, playgrounds for kids and space for the family dog

Everything taken into account, house values are higher than average for San Francisco but residents find that the quality of living to be well worth the investment.

Shopping

One walk down the shopping corridors of 24th Street and Church Street convinces you that you can find everything from top of the line fashions and home furnishings to pet accessories and dog food. A few chain stores and branch offices of big banks intermingle with locally owned hardware stores, medical clinics, bookshops and a store which recycles children’s clothing, a practical idea if ever there was one. It’s not all liberal, Left Coast mentality, however. As you gaze through the front windows of Twin Peaks Realty, faded pictures of Republican Presidential icons Eisenhower and Reagan smile back at you, and the crudely hand lettered rants against the liberalism of “Looney Valley” announce that even the most contrarian views have their place in Noe Valley.

Restaurants

Noe Valley is packed with excellent eateries. Coffee shops, bakeries, delis, bistros and restaurants of every culinary persuasion can be found. They’re sprinkled throughout the neighborhood but you find them mainly among the shops on 24th or Church Streets. They range from the ultra hip (Deep Sushi) to the ultra quaint (the Lovejoy Tea Room, a converted antique shop where little old ladies serve tea and crumpets on charmingly mismatched cups and saucers).  For restaurant listings click here.

Nightlife

Though Noe retains its quiet, family-oriented atmosphere, several trendy bars thrive in the neighborhood. When you walk down 24th Street after dark, the coffee shops are closed, but the restaurants are open and crowded. You pass several popular  watering holes—Bliss Bar with a DJ spinning dance tunes; The Dubliner, a more gentrified Irish pub; Valley Tavern, a relaxed, divvy sports bar; or, over on Church Street, the aptly named locals spot, Noe’s Bar. One of San Francisco’s most active nightlife areas, the Castro, is just blocks to the north. Then, equally nearby, is Mission Street with its many restaurants, bars and clubs.  

Community activities and events

Completing your tour of Noe Valley, you conclude that you’ve been walking through a unique community. And as you come upon the tall wooden spire atop the Noe Valley Ministry on Sanchez Street, the activity inside and out seems to indicate that here is the neighborhood’s nerve center. There are the ubiquitous moms and kids outside with dogs in tow. Inside, the nursery school is in full cry and the notice boards are plastered with announcements of activities—concerts, yoga classes, dance classes, you name it. Numerous rooms are busy throughout the week with Tai Chi classes, Scottish dancing, AA meetings and much else. Inside the chapel, there are exhibitions of paintings by local artists. And how many churches have you ever been inside that provide space for the local neighborhood newspaper? Yes, The Noe Valley Voice has its office right there in the building. The Voice is devoted to the happenings in the neighborhood. It’s like a small town paper (but with more advertising) and residents rely on it to keep up to date about local goings on. Refreshing, you think--a neighborhood church that makes itself truly relevant to the lives of the entire community.
 
Other civic-minded groups like Friends of Noe Valley work to maintain and increase the vibrancy, beauty and safety of the neighborhood. The yearly Harvest Festival is unique among city street fairs. It has many contests, activities and live entertainment featuring local musicians and talent and permits no corporate booths. 

Everything considered, Noe Valley remains a unique neighborhood in a unique city and will continue to be a desirable place to live for many years to come.