San Francisco Relocation Guide - Antevia

eastern corner of this area (where Mission Creek meets the bay) is known as South
Beach, a separate neighborhood, and the border below Townsend Street begins Mission
Bay. The north-eastern corner (where Market Street meets the bay) is often considered
part of the Financial District.
South of Market was originally a warehouse district, with longer blocks than other parts
of the city. Today, in addition to warehouses, there are a great many bars and nightclubs,
restaurants, and residential lofts in the area. Since the 1950s, South of Market has been a
center for the leather subculture of the gay community. At the end of each September the
Folsom Street Fair is held on Folsom Street between 7th and 12th Streets. The smaller
and less commercialized but also leather subculture-oriented Up Your Alley Fair
(commonly referred to as the Dore Alley Fair) is also held in the neighborhood, in late
July on Folsom between 9th and 10th Streets and in Dore Alley between Folsom and
Howard. During the late 1990s, South of Market was known for being a local center of
the dot-com boom, due to its central location and relatively cheap housing and office
space.
Especially near the waterfront, Yerba Buena Gardens and Financial District, South of
Market is rapidly gentrifying, with a large number of new residential high-rises and
hotels.
Because of its historic blue-collar nature, South of Market is also an area of settlement for
new immigrants. Entire communities made their homes in the district--from Irish
Americans and Italian Americans to Greek Americans. Presently the largest migrant
group living in South of Market are Filipino Americans.
The conference center, Moscone Center, occupies 3 blocks and hosts many major trade
shows. Moscone South opened its doors in December 1981. Moscone North opened in
May 1992, and most recently Moscone West in June 2003.
With the opening of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in 1995, the Yerba Buena
Center region of the South of Market has become a hub for museums. Other museums in
the area include the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, the Museum of the African
Diaspora, the Cartoon Art Museum, the children's Zeum, and the temporary home of the
California Academy of Sciences. The planned sites for the Contemporary Jewish
Museum and the Mexican Museum are also in the Yerba Buena area. The Center for the
Arts, along with Yerba Buena Gardens and the Sony Metreon, is built on top of Moscone
North. Across Howard Street, built on top of Moscone South, is a children's park
featuring a large play area, an ice skating rink, a bowling alley, a restaurant, the Zeum,
and the restored merry-go-round from Playland At the Beach. The children's park and
Zeum are joined to Yerba Buena Gardens by a foot bridge over Howard Street.
A major transformation of the neighborhood is planned with the Transbay Terminal
Replacement Project, which if funded, is planned to be open by 2013. In addition, many
residential projects are set to transform the overall San Francisco skyline, with highrises
up to 55 stories like One Rincon Hill(see sfcityscape.com). According to an article on