Noe Valley

Noe Valley (pronounced NOH-ee) is a residential neighborhood located in the central part of San Francisco, California. Originally spelled Noé, the neighborhood is named for Don José de Jesús Noé, a noted 19th-century Californio statesman and ranchero who owned much of the area and served as mayor. Noe Valley was primarily developed at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, especially in the years just after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, and as a result contains many examples of the "classic" Victorian and Edwardian residential architecture for which San Francisco is famous. Once a predominantly working-class enclave, the neighborhood has since 1980 undergone successive waves of gentrification and is now considered an upper-middle-class and wealthy neighborhood home to many urban professionals, particularly young couples with children, and is sometimes colloquially known as "Stroller Valley."

Geography and Boundaries

Roughly speaking, Noe Valley is bounded by 21st Street to the north, 30th Street to the south, San Jose Avenue and Guerrero Street to the east, and Grand View Avenue and Diamond Heights Boulevard to the west. The Castro (Eureka Valley) lies north of Noe Valley; the Mission District is east. The neighborhood is uniquely situated in the heart of San Francisco; in fact, the geographic center of the City and County of San Francisco falls within Noe Valley's boundaries.

Nestled on the eastern slopes of Twin Peaks and surrounded on three sides by hills, Noe Valley has the feel of a small town within a big city. Its "downtown" is a concentration of businesses along a five-block stretch of 24th Street, though most locals extend the boundaries of greater Noe Valley to Grand View, 21st, Dolores, and 30th streets.

One of Noe Valley's most celebrated features is its distinctive microclimate. The Twin Peaks hills to the west act as a natural barrier, blocking much of the fog and wind that characterizes other parts of the city, such as the Sunset or Richmond districts, so Noe Valley enjoys more sunshine and warmer temperatures than many other areas in San Francisco. Average annual temperatures range from lows of around 44°F in January to highs of 62°F in September. Rainfall totals approximately 20 inches annually, with the wettest months being January through March, while summers remain largely dry.

History

Rancho San Miguel and Horner's Addition

Historically, Noe Valley evolved from a portion of the old Rancho San Miguel land grant that once sprawled across the south-central part of the city and was owned by José de Jesús Noé (1805–1862). Noé was twice the alcalde (mayor) of Yerba Buena, the settlement that became the City of San Francisco in 1847. Awarded by the governor, Noé's 4,443-acre Rancho San Miguel spread from The Castro in the north nearly to the Daly City border to the south.

Noe Valley's street grid was laid out in the Victorian era by entrepreneur John Meirs Horner (1821–1907), who arrived in California in 1846 with the group of Mormons led by Sam Brannan, the newspaperman famous for publishing the news that sparked the Gold Rush of 1849. Horner acquired part of Rancho San Miguel from Noé in 1854, subdivided the land into blocks and lots, named it Horner's Addition, and gave names to the streets. A large piece of Rancho San Miguel that included Noe Valley was sold for $285,000 in 1854. Many of Horner's street names remain today, but around the 1870s, the city government intervened to change some of the names to numbers. In Horner's original vision, 24th Street was called "Park Street," while 22nd and 23rd were originally "John" and "Horner." Elizabeth Street, named for Horner's wife, still remains.

Working-Class Settlement

Almost first and last, people of Irish descent were the predominant migrants to this part of Rancho San Miguel. Before the Gold Rush, fleeing the devastation of the potato famine in Ireland, the Irish came to San Francisco and many moved into Noe and Eureka Valley from the very beginning. These were working-class men and women, young and single or newly married. Men's skills were manual: carpentry, house building, smithing, shoe making, tailoring — and women were hired as domestics or developed businesses in washing, sewing, baking, and millinery.

By the 1880s, the northern end of the valley along 24th Street was developing quickly, especially after the addition of a cable car to downtown. In contrast, the more remote upper end of the valley was slow to attract residents, with dairy farms such as Mitchell's Dairy dominating the landscape. The housing stock in Noe Valley was augmented in the 1890s by two- and three-story Queen Anne Victorians with their distinctive peaked rooflines, and the famous homebuilder Fernando Nelson, who built thousands of homes across San Francisco, put his own mark across the neighborhood.

A notable industrial milestone took place in the neighborhood during this era: the Pioneer, the first automobile to be produced on the West Coast, was built in Noe Valley in 1896. J.A. Meyer, a German machinist and engineer, created the vehicle in a garage at 4181 24th Street that is still owned by the Meyer family, and the Pioneer itself is now part of the Oakland Museum collection.

The vast Victorian cityscape that the 19th-century builders brought to Noe Valley survived, as did much of the neighborhood, the great earthquakes of 1906 and 1989.

20th Century Transformation

Between World War I and II, there was a marked integration of most ethnic groups in San Francisco as a whole, and the continued pressure for more housing blurred former ethnic and socioeconomic lines in Noe and Eureka Valleys. Since the 1970s, Noe Valley has seen a renaissance as upper-middle-class families moved in.

In the late 1970s, the "orange people," followers of Indian guru Rajneesh, set up a meditation center in the neighborhood. In 1982, Mother Teresa established her only U.S. novitiate at St. Paul's on Church Street.

Noe Valley was once home to at least four movie theaters, including the grand Noe, a classic movie palace on 24th Street that entertained patrons from 1937 to 1952. The Noe Valley Voice was founded in the spring of 1977 by a group of friends who used to congregate at Finnegan's Wake, a bar on 24th Street. Nine people contributed $15 each to the first issue, a typewritten tabloid of eight pages, whose editorial stated the paper's goals: to provide a medium for news and information and "a forum for Noe Valley residents to express our beliefs, to explore our history."

Architecture

The neighborhood contains many examples of the classic Victorian and Edwardian residential architecture for which San Francisco is famous. As a working-class neighborhood, Noe Valley houses were built in rows, with some of the efficient, low-cost homes more ornate than others depending on the owner's taste and finances. Today, Noe Valley has one of the highest concentrations of row houses in San Francisco, with streets having three to four and sometimes as many as a dozen on the same side.

The neighborhood's most prominent architectural landmark is St. Paul's Catholic Church, located at Church and Valley streets. St. Paul's traces its history back to 1876 when George Shadbourne communicated a desire to Archbishop Joseph Alemany to have a new parish established. Archbishop Alemany approved the request, and in 1880 a church building and a residence were built; this first church seated up to 750 people and served approximately 200 families. By 1897, growth led the parish to construct the current 1,400-seat English Gothic structure. Beyond its stone façade, the building, designed in the English Gothic style by architect Frank T. Shea, features lofty arched ceilings that allow light to showcase stained-glass windows imported from Germany and an altar made of Carrara marble from Italy. Its two asymmetrical steeples — one rising 170 feet and the other 200 feet — can be admired from many vantage points in San Francisco. In 1992, the parish was the site of filming for the comedy film Sister Act, which starred Whoopi Goldberg; though the parish — called "St. Katherine's Monastery" in the film — is in Noe Valley, the surrounding area was redressed to make it appear that the church was in a much poorer community like the Tenderloin or Bayview.

Many of the residences in the Noe Valley neighborhood are relatively historic, built no later than 1939, and in some cases quite a bit earlier. Architectural styles in the area include century-old Victorian and Edwardian homes, as well as Marina-style homes and modern designs.

Commercial District and Community Life

The neighborhood is primarily residential, although there are two bustling commercial strips: the first along 24th Street between Church Street and Diamond Street, and the second, less dense corridor along Church Street between 24th Street and 30th Street. The 24th Street strip features boutique shops, cozy cafés, bakeries, and a Whole Foods market, along with a weekly farmers market. Independent bookstores and specialty stores add to the neighborhood's charm, while local restaurants offer everything from casual breakfast spots to upscale dining experiences.

A central gathering point for community life is Noe Valley Town Square, located at 3861 24th Street. The Noe Valley Town Square is a converted parking lot that has become a vibrant space for all kinds of community events, including the farmers market, concerts, and performances. Located at 3861 24th Street, it is the only open space in Noe Valley's commercial corridor and is the permanent home of the Noe Valley Farmers Market every Saturday from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Established in December 2003, the Noe Valley Farmers' Market has operated continuously as a neighborhood institution. The market features more than 20 local vendors and attracts more than 1,500 people a week. Mayor Gavin Newsom proclaimed December 6, 2008, as "Noe Valley Farmers' Market Day in San Francisco" in recognition of the market's fifth anniversary.

October brings the Noe Valley Harvest Festival, with local food, live music, and seasonal festivities, while June's Noe Valley Street Fair celebrates local music and Bay Area artisans.

Noe Valley was once served by two streetcar lines, complemented by a cable car that ran across the hill from Market Street. Today, Church Street is the route of the J car, as well as of cars from the San Francisco Municipal Railway's historic streetcar fleet making their way north to their scheduled runs along Market Street and the Embarcadero.

Demographics and Real Estate

According to U.S. Census Bureau data, 23,005 people live in Noe Valley, where the median age is 40 and the average individual income is $139,042. Noe Valley's real estate market has been significantly influenced by the influx of urban professionals and the tech industry, with a median household income of $136,667 and property values among the highest in San Francisco.

Noe Valley is among San Francisco's most expensive neighborhoods, with single-family homes typically priced between $1.5 million and $4 million, and condos ranging from the low $700,000s to $2.2 million. Larger, luxury homes can reach as high as $8 million. The market is highly competitive, with limited inventory and frequent bidding wars.

Gentrification has been an ongoing process in Noe Valley, affecting long-term residents and shaping the neighborhood's family-friendly atmosphere. The nickname "Stroller Valley" reflects the influx of young families, while the community strives to balance the interests of both new and established residents and businesses.

Notable Residents

Ruth Asawa, the acclaimed sculptor, was a resident of Noe Valley from 1962 until her death in August 2013. Carlos Santana graduated from James Lick Middle School on Noe Street in the early 1960s, as did Benjamin Bratt in the following decade.