San Francisco's Pacific Heights and Presidio Heights

by Tricia O'Brien

Overview

The prestige of Pacific Heights and Presidio Heights has long fascinated and awed San Francisco residents and visitors. The westward expansion of the city, followed by the addition of cable car lines, quickly transformed these once-barren outlands into gardens, schools, consulates, and homes, both extravagant and simple. Attracted to the stunning views and unique architecture, prominent and humble families alike have formed the fascinating role of Pacific Heights and Presidio Heights in San Francisco lore.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780738559803
Publisher:	Arcadia Publishing SC
Publication date:	10/13/2008
Series:	Images of America Series
Pages:	128
Sales rank:	1,077,258
Product dimensions:	9.24(w) x 6.46(h) x 0.34(d)

About the Author

Raised in Presidio Heights and educated in Pacific Heights, San Francisco native Tricia O'Brien presents here the story of these prominent neighborhoods in vintage imagery. O'Brien, also the author of San Francisco's Bayview Hunters Point, draws from the collections of her neighbors, family, and friends, as well as institutions such as the San Francisco Architectural Heritage collection. These photographs and ephemera offer a personal and historic peek into the genesis and evolution of these iconic neighborhoods. With commanding early views of streets such as Jackson, Pacific, and Broadway, this collection harkens back to the earliest days of the city's history and with it the stories and people that made these two districts into two of San Francisco's true signature neighborhoods.

Editorial Reviews

Title: Book series is perfect San Francisco present
Author: Ken Garcia
Publisher: The Examiner
Date: 12/18/2008

They might be a tad large for stocking stuffers, but there are two new items that ought to satisfy the enduring interests of San Franciscophiles everywhere.

They're the latest entries in the popular neighborhood series created by Arcadia Publishing that has rolled out the photo-driven books on districts such as the Castro, Sunset and Richmond. The newest members of the line include Pacific Heights, Presidio Heights and Westlake, which is kind of like the Sunset South.

The Pacific Heights book was put together by Tricia O'Brien, who penned an earlier one on the Bayview. And I can verify the veracity of the Westlake edition done by Bunny Gillespie, because when I was writing a lot about Henry Doelger's development of the Sunset years ago, Gillespie was undoubtedly the go-to historian on the subject.

O'Brien said the Pacific Heights book was tougher to do than her previous one because it's almost entirely residential and lacked some of the variety of the Bayview, which boasted an area called Butcher Town. But the photos of some of the homes crafted by some of the finest architects in the West are priceless.

"It was hard to get some of the information, because people in the area are so private," O'Brien said. "But I tried to put things in the book that a lot of people don't know, and that was a lot of fun."

The books are available at stores everywhere. They're great for viewing history in a hurry.

From the Publisher