Haight-Ashbury
About Haight-Ashbury
Haight-Ashbury grew as a streetcar suburb in the 1880s and 1890s, after Golden Gate Park was laid out and cable car lines reached the area. Haight Street is named after Henry Haight, a 19th-century San Francisco banker. The Victorian flats that fill the neighborhood date mostly to that period and largely survived the 1906 earthquake, since the fire stopped at Van Ness Avenue well to the east.
By the 1950s the neighborhood had declined and rents were cheap, which drew students and musicians. That set the stage for the 1960s counterculture. The Grateful Dead lived at 710 Ashbury Street from 1966 to 1968, and in 1967 the area was the center of the Summer of Love.
The neighborhood splits into Upper Haight, around the Haight and Ashbury intersection, and Lower Haight, east of Divisadero. Most visitor traffic is in Upper Haight, where Amoeba Music occupies a former bowling alley at Haight and Stanyan. Record stores, vintage shops, and cafes run along Haight Street for about eight blocks.
Filmed in Haight-Ashbury
23 recorded shoots across 14 places here.
- 770 Haight StreetLooking Season 2 ep 207 2015/Looking Season 2 ep 206 2015/Looking Season 2 ep 203 2015/Looking Season 2 ep 202 2015
- Duboce ParkSummertime 2015/Milk 2008/DEVS 2020
- Buena Vista ParkWhen We Rise 2017/Golden Gate 1994
- 601 Buena Vista Ave WestLooking Season 2 ep 204 2015/Looking Season 2 ep 202 2015
- 601 Buena Vista WestLooking 2014/Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania 2023
- 60 PotomacChance- Season 1 ep107 2016/Chance- Season 1 ep103 2016
- 110 Pierce StWomen is Losers 2020
- Haight St. at CentralWhen We Rise 2017
- 1521 Masonic Avenue at Piedmont StreetWhen a Man Loves a Woman 1994
- Haight and BelvedereThe Last Black Man in San Francisco 2019
- Buena Vista East btwn Duboce and HaightThe Last Black Man in San Francisco 2019
- 770 Haight St.The Diary of a Teenage Girl 2015
- Carl & Cole StreetsThe Dead Pool 1988
- Waller Street between Scott and PierceSurface 2022
From the San Francisco Film Commission permit record. Every film shot in San Francisco.
Where to Drink
All bars →Zam Zam
Sit at the bar rather than at a table, bring cash, and order the gin martini, or the smaller pour they still call a Bruno.
Toronado
Serious beer list, zero frills. Grab a sausage from Rosamunde next door.
Charmaine’s
Get a fire-pit seat at sunset, on top of the Proper Hotel.
Things to Do
All activities →
Groove Merchant Records
Lower Haight vinyl shop opened in 1990 by Ubiquity Records' Michael McFadin, now owned by Chris Veltri. Name-checked by the Beastie Boys on Check Your Head. Bins lean jazz, soul, and rare grooves on Haight Street.
Relic Vintage
Vintage shop on the corner of Haight and Ashbury, carrying clothing from the 1920s through the 1980s with deeper inventory in the 40s and 50s.
Indigo Vintage Cooperative
Multi-vendor vintage cooperative with two San Francisco locations: on Haight on the Haight's vintage strip and on Chestnut in the Marina. Vintage apparel is the core; accessories and home goods round out the booths, and the stock at the two stores reflects each neighborhood.
The Booksmith
Regular author events, book clubs, and silent reading parties.
Fuzz & Sway
Lower Haight vintage shop leaning toward wearable pieces (70s leather jackets, print shirts, denim) over collector-only stock.
Decades of Fashion
Haight Street vintage shop carrying clothing and accessories from the 1900s through the 1980s, with a deep hat selection and a formal-wear section sorted by period (tuxedos, cocktail dresses, gowns). Pricing is pegged to rarity and condition.
