North Beach Neighborhood Vibe

This is old-school San Francisco at its charming best. Little Italy nestles up next to Chinatown, and figures like Joe DiMaggio play a prominent role in its history. North Beach was destroyed by the 1906 earthquake and fire, but it rose from the ashes and rebuilt with many Edwardian buildings. The 1950s saw the rise of the beatniks, and their legacy lives on at City Lights bookstore.

Popular North Beach Home Styles

If you absolutely, positively must have a single-family home, North Beach probably isn’t the right area for you. While not particularly tall (height limits are usually around 40′), most buildings are multi-unit, either condos, apartment buildings converted to TICs, or stock co-ops. Single-family homes exist in the neighborhood, but they are rare. As this was one of San Francisco’s earlier neighborhoods, you’ll find a lot of Victorian and Edwardian homes. Depending on their location, some of the homes have dramatic downtown or San Francisco Bay views.

Getting Around in North Beach

North Beach is served by a plethora of bus lines. The Central Subway extension is supposed to open in nearby Chinatown in 2021, bringing light rail service to one of the densest areas in the City. Cable cars also cross the North Beach neighborhood, but given their popularity with visitors, they don’t necessarily make the best transit choice for a daily commute.

This is old-school San Francisco at its charming best. Little Italy nestles up next to Chinatown, and figures like Joe DiMaggio play a prominent role in its history. North Beach was destroyed by the 1906 earthquake and fire, but it rose from the ashes and rebuilt with many Edwardian buildings. The 1950s saw the rise of the beatniks, and their legacy lives on at City Lights bookstore.

When the Central Subway opens to the public in 2021, it will provide much-needed train service to downtown and the Caltrain station at 4th & King Streets.

The housing is compact in North Beach — not necessarily small, but dense, packing a lot of people into a relatively small area. (New Yorkers would scoff at that characterization, but this ain’t New York.)