At our July meeting, we discussed creating a Haight Ashbury Historic District.  Our impetus and urgency comes from the recent upzoning—one- and two-story buildings are now targets for demolition.  Creating landmarks and historic districts can slow down the demolitions.

Planning recently released Survey Findings for the Haight-Ashbury, A Haight-Ashbury Historic District was defined based on Planning’s Counterculture Context Statement, but it was limited to Haight Street and a small part of Stanyan, and only the period 1965-1975 was considered.  We believe there is a lot more history in the Haight-Ashbury, both in area and in time periods.  We showed a picture of a bread line on Clayton Street from 1906.

We listed other historic districts, some of which have been approved as historic districts, and some of which have been defined, but not yet approved.  We listed addresses from the Counterculture Context Statement, and addresses from a Haight Ashbury History Night event in April.  We had additional suggestions from our audience, and put together a list of current landmarks and other potential landmarks.

We concluded that in addition to the counterculture history, the Haight Ashbury is significant for its architecture, and for its other history, and we should organize and work diligently to create and expand a Haight-Ashbury Historic District.

A video of the meeting is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qp5PZc22epI&t=2515s and slides from the meeting can be downloaded from our website at  https://www.hanc-sf.org/the-voice-and-docs/Meeting-Slides/July-2026-Meeting-Slides/.