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San Francisco Trivia Quiz: A Name In Full appendix

By Dave Schweisguth (email: dave at schweisguth dot org)

 

This list includes every street in San Francisco which has the full name of the person it commemorates. Namesakes and locations are given for streets which are neither listed in Louis Lowenstein's Streets of San Francisco nor in the main article. Please note that sources differ on whether some streets are called "street", "alley", "way" etc. As the rest of the name of each such street, which is the interesting part, is in no case in doubt, I haven't attempted to resolve the ambiguity.

 

Adolf Sutro Court. Named for the twenty-first mayor of San Francisco. Near the top of Mt. Sutro, off Johnstone Drive.

Alice B. Toklas Place. Named for the companion of Gertrude Stein. Formerly Myrtle Street. Immediately south of Geary between Van Ness and Larkin.

Ambrose Bierce1

Annie Larsen Lane2

Arelious Walker Drive. Named for the pastor and community activist. Just north of Candlestick Park.

Bernice Rodgers Way. Connects John F. Kennedy Drive and Martin Luther King Jr. Drive west of Chain of Lakes Drive.

Bertie Minor Lane2

Bob Kaufman Alley1

Bret Harte Terrace

Cesar Chavez Street

Charles J. Brenham Place. See main article.

Cleo Rand Lane. Named for the 1970's activist, a founder of the Chocolate City youth program. Just outside the Hunters Point Naval Reservation.

Colin P. Kelly Jr. Street. See main article.

Cyril Magnin Street

Daniel Burnham Court. Named for the Chicago architect and author of the famous, although largely unimplemented, Burnham Plan for San Francisco. Between Van Ness, Post, Franklin and Sutter.

Dashiell Hammett Street1

Don Chee Way. Named for the man who oversaw the building of the F Market streetcar line. The southeastern border of Justin Herman Plaza.

Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place. Named for the physician, publisher of the Sun-Reporter, and civil rights activist. The section of Polk Street which adjoins City Hall.

Frank Norris Street1. See main article.

Henry Adams Street

Herb Caen Way... Named, of course, for San Francisco's beloved columnist. The Bay-side sidewalk of the Embarcadero. This is the only street in San Francisco whose name, unabbreviated, doesn't end in a letter. *

Isadora Duncan Lane1

Jack Kerouac Alley1

Jack London Alley1

Joe Mazzola Place. Named for the business manager of  Plumbers and Pipefitters' Union Local 38. The area in front of 1621 Market Street, the Local 38 offices.

John F. Kennedy Drive

John F. Shelley Drive

John Maher Street. Named for the founder of the Delancey Street halfway house. Between Front, Green, Battery and Union.

John Muir Drive

Juan Bautista Circle

Junipero Serra Boulevard

Kenneth Rexroth Place1

Lech Walesa Street

Lottie Bennett Lane2

Mark Twain Lane1

Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive

Milton I. Ross Lane. Namesake unknown. In the north Bayview parallel to Toland Street.

Peter Sammon Way. Named for the 32-year pastor of St. Teresa's Church. The stretch of 19th St. in front of his church, between Connecticut and Missouri.

Peter Yorke Way. See main article.

Richard Henry Dana Place1

Robert Kirk Lane

Rosie Lee Lane

Sgt. John V. Young Lane

Tandang Sora Street

Terry A. Francois Street

Thomas Mellon Drive and Circle

Thomas More Way

Turk Murphy Lane. Named for the trad-jazz trombonist. Between Broadway, Powell, Vallejo and Stockton.

Vernon Alley. See main article.

Walter U. Lum Place. See main article.

Whitney Young Circle

William Saroyan Place1

Willie Mays Plaza. Named for the Giants' superstar player. The stretch of King Street in front of AT&T Park.

 

1Following a proposal by poet and founder of City Lights Books Lawrence Ferlinghetti, on January 25, 1988, twelve San Francisco streets or parts of streets were renamed for artists and writers. Eleven are listed above; the twelfth, Via Bufano, was named for Beniamino Bufano. Ferlinghetti had also proposed renaming Nobles Alley in North Beach for Richard Brautigan, but the residents of Nobles Alley objected.

 

2All three of these streets in the St. Francis Square housing project, which was founded by the ILWU, are named not after individuals, but ships.


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