NEIGHBORHOOD INFORMATION
The Richmond District is located in the northwest corner of San Francisco, nestled in between Presidio National Park and the city’s Golden Gate Park. The neighborhood, which includes Sea Cliff and Laurel and Presidio Heights, is home to about 80,000 people. About half of Richmond residents are of Asian ancestry, primarily of Chinese and Korean descent. There is also a large Irish population and many recently arrived Russian immigrants.
Several vibrant commercial areas, including California Street, Clement Street and Geary Boulevard, serve the neighborhood. The 1,400 merchants and small offices in the Richmond District offer a wide range of goods and services.
Local landmarks include the Cliff House and the Beach Chalet at Ocean Beach, the V.A. Hospital at Fort Miley, University of San Francisco and numerous holy houses, including Temple Emanuel, St. John’s Orthodox Church and St. John’s Presbyterian Church. There are numerous attractions in Golden Gate Park, including an American Bison pen, M.H. de Young Memorial Museum, California Academy of Sciences, Strybing Arboretum, the oldest children’s playground west of the Mississippi River and a 9-hole golf course.
NEWSPAPER INFORMATION
Distribution by Neighborhood: Presidio and Masonic Avenues to the Pacific Ocean, Golden Gate Park to the Presidio, Sea Cliff
Distribution by Zip Code: 94118 and 94121
Circulation: 25,000
It’s hard to believe that it’s already August. As we inch closer to the fall season, there is a lot of activity happening in the Sunset District. Students will soon return to classrooms, thousands of tourists will visit our neighborhoods as they attend concerts in Golden Gate Park – and we all find ourselves on the precipice of a divisive election cycle.
I’ve been asked several times this month whether it makes sense to pay extra each month to pay off a mortgage sooner. It’s a good question, and the answer depends on your personal financial situation.
Michael Durand, the former Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of the Richmond Review and Sunset Beacon newspapers, passed away on May 30 following a diagnosis of metastatic melanoma. He is greatly missed.
Valeriya Romashchenko opened Cuprum Bakery in 2024, offering sourdough and other baked goods produced in her home kitchen in the Inner Richmond. The popularity of Romashchenko’s cottage bakery, like her sourdough bread, is rising in the Richmond District and beyond.
Walk up to a plum-colored house, just steps away from Golden Gate Park and you will find fresh sourdough bread stacked neatly on a white rack on the stoop, waiting to be bought. Here is where Inna Pak, a Richmond resident and full-time mom, operates her new microbakery, Plum Perfect.
Nearly every bar in the Richmond District held watch parties for the 2026 FIFA World Cup games that took place from June 11 to the final match on Sunday, July 19 where Spain won against Argentina 1-0.
Last month, Green Apple Books on the Park celebrated Maria Lenhart, an acclaimed journalist and writer who has authored more than 100 publications. The event celebrated her latest book, “Lost Treasures of San Francisco.”
Mill Valley painter Christiane Lyons has dedicated the last decade of her life to her series, which she, somewhat facetiously, calls, “Some Women.” The oil paintings are collage-like, yet more refined. There is also a double or triple-exposure effect in the depiction of the women. The work is figurative, abstract and surreal. It is easy to be drawn to the colorful, layered pieces. There is a soft beauty to them. But a closer, more pensive examination reveals an indictment on the objectification of women in history and in current times.
Instead of waiting for their orders by the pick-up counter, customers of Constance Tea & Matcha often flock to the back of the studio, where three granite stone mills are actively grinding tencha leaves into the fine green powder that will fill their drinks. At most cafes in the U.S., this step is done thousands of miles away, but at Constance, it happens just 20 feet from the register.
Comparison photos of Geary Boulevard and Second Avenue 75 years apart.
A San Francisco restaurant owner closed his Richmond District business on July 28 after he was put in a chokehold outside of it in March, in what he said was a racially motivated attack, and after prosecutors declined to file charges.
Founded in 2001, SF City FC is the oldest community-owned soccer club in the United States. The team competes in USL League Two, several rungs below Major League Soccer,
Three San Francisco Supervisors are pushing to give structures with a significant past “landmark” status, to protect them from changes coming through the Mayor Daniel Lurie’s Family Zoning Plan.
Just as it was announced that a proposed measure to reopen the Upper Great Highway to vehicle traffic will make the November ballot, a lawsuit has been filed by supporters of Sunset Dunes to try to stop it.
Last month we learned from a reported City Hall audit that a wily operator, former Chief Assistant Treasurer Tajel Shah, ignored procurement rules to ensure that a $7 million City Hall contract for a new tax collecting system went to tech corporation Mechanical Orchard. The system handles billions of dollars in San Francisco‘s infamous business taxes. City Attorney David Chiu, City Controller Greg Wagner and the Controller’s Auditor of City Services uncovered Shah’s perfidy. Shah never revealed her friendship with the chief revenue officer of Mechanical Orchard whose subcontractor (Ratio PBC) then hired Ms. Shah’s niece. A complaint was thereafter filed by a knowledgeable citizen with the Ethics Commission in late 2024. The San Francisco Standard reported such malefeasance on Sept. 25, 2025. Mechanical Orchard pulled out of contract talk the day before Shah’s perfidy was revealed. Shah resigned on Nov. 21, 2025.
