Oceanview, San Francisco facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Oceanview
Neighborhood
Oceanview Location in San Francisco County
Country	United States
State	California
City and county	San Francisco
Area
• Total	0.308 sq mi (0.80 km2)
Population
• Total	7,010
• Density	22,760/sq mi (8,788/km2)
Time zone	UTC-8 (Pacific)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-7 (PDT)
ZIP code	94112
Area codes	415/628

Oceanview is a neighborhood in the southern portion of San Francisco, California. It was first established as a community in the 1910s and originally centered on the intersection of Sagamore Street and San Jose Avenue. Today, the neighborhood is bordered by Orizaba Avenue to the west, Lakeview Avenue to the north, and Interstate 280 to the south and east.

Ingleside and the Ocean Avenue campus of City College lay north of Oceanview; Cayuga Terrace is to the east; Daly City, California, and the Outer Mission are south; and Merced Heights is to the west.

Oceanview Playground and Minnie and Lovie Ward Recreation Center are located in the middle of the neighborhood, a two-square-block area between Plymouth Avenue, Capitol Avenue, Lobos Street, and Montana Street. The Ocean View Branch Library of the San Francisco Public Library is located at 345 Randolph St. Ocean View is served by Muni Metro Routes M, 29 and 54.

History

An M Ocean View train on Broad Street

Oceanview, also referred to as "Lakeview" by some natives of the community, has a rich history. Oceanview was originally an Italian-Irish-German neighborhood in the mid- to late nineteenth century; the location acted as a station for train service between San Francisco and San Jose, owned by San Francisco and San Jose Railroad, bought by Southern Pacific in 1868. Post World War II the Ocean View was one of the few places in San Francisco where African-American families could buy property. During redevelopment in the Western Addition/Fillmore in the 1960s and 70s, more African-American families moved to the neighborhood from the Western Addition and Bayview neighborhoods. Until the mid-1990s, African Americans accounted for over 50 percent of the neighborhood's residents. In the early 2000s, lower real estate prices relative to the rest of the city brought in a new influx of Asians, Latinos, and Caucasians, making Oceanview one of the most culturally diverse neighborhoods in San Francisco.

At one point in time there was a lake on Geneva Ave, down the slope from the eastern side of Oceanview. Lake view refers not to Lake Merced, but the former Lake Geneva. The creek coursed through this canyon and by Glen Park and then through what is now Bosworth Street until it reached the bottom, over which Mission Street viaduct is built. The other source is about where Cayuga Avenue and Regent Street intersect. Its channel was what is now Cayuga Avenue and joined the other branch under the Mission Street viaduct. The creek widened between Niagara and Geneva Avenues to form what was known as Lake Geneva.

Demographics

Partly due to fairly recent waves of gentrification in the past decade, Oceanview is more ethnically and economically diverse than San Francisco as a whole. Asians now hold majority status in the once predominantly-African American enclave. Although no longer a majority in the neighborhood as in the 1960s-1990s, many blocks abutting the Broad-Randolph Street corridor remain 50% or more African-American in residency. As of the early 2010s, the block off of Orizaba Avenue and Garfield Street is 54% black, the highest concentration of Oceanview. As of the 2010 Census, Oceanview is 44.68% Asian, 22.99% African American, 20.36% Caucasian and 14.1% Latino.

Gentrification and revitalization

During the 1990s and 2000s, San Francisco experienced the most acute case of Black flight of any major city in the nation as thousands upon thousands of middle class and lower-income black families moved out of the city due to a rising cost of living as well as the disproportionately high crime rates, sub-standard public housing and poor performing schools that existed in black-majority areas across San Francisco such as Oceanview.

By the early 2000s, serious incidences of violent crime had decreased significantly in Oceanview. The efforts of a neighborhood group of community activists called Neighbors In Action and the local police force had effectively curbed the street crime associated with gang activity that had blighted the area for decades. Most notably, long-time Oceanview resident Minnie Ward helped spearhead the changes in Oceanview by working hard in community activism with her husband to reverse Oceanview's then increasing ghettoization in the early 1990s.

Both Minnie,(d: 2005) and husband Lovie (d: 2003) were honored when the Oceanview Park recreation center was rebuilt and renamed the Minnie and Lovie Ward Recreational Center. The renaming commemorated the couple's contributions to cleaning up the Oceanview neighborhood. A new library opened on 345 Randolph Street in June 2000, replacing an older and markedly smaller reading room type library that was located at 111 Broad Street. At 117 Broad, Engine Co. No.33, an architecturally restored 1890s Victorian firehouse offers riding tours on an antique fire engine throughout San Francisco.

Few new businesses have opened along the residential neighborhoods once downtrodden Broad-Randolph commercial strip. However, in March 2012 Donald Andrews, a third generation Oceanview resident in his 20s, opened Broad Street's first new business in almost ten years. An independent streetwear clothing boutique called Dream Team.

Despite Oceanview's gentrification and revitalization, in recent years the neighborhood has suffered occasional gang related violence. As of December 2012, concerned Oceanview residents and the Inner City Youth Center on Broad Street called for the reopening of the police substation on 103 Broad Street due to an increase in homicides and gun violence in Oceanview. The Taraval Police Station refused to reopen the police substation unless the entire facility was encased in bulletproof glass. Broad Street continues to have some of the highest violent crime rates in the city. As of March 2017, there were four shootings and three homicides within a six month period around the intersection of Broad and Plymouth Streets.

As of 2013, many homebuyers are choosing to purchase homes in Oceanview. This is due to housing stock selling at a much lower price point than most San Francisco neighborhoods. Housing prices continue to rise annually in Oceanview. From 2012 to 2013, the median sales price of houses in Oceanview increased 6.3% and the number of sales increased by 66.7%. The average square foot price of a house in Oceanview was $484 which was a 12.8% increase from the same time frame.