sfgazetteer.com
San Francisco Trivia Quiz: A
Name In Full appendix
By Dave Schweisguth (email: dave at schweisguth dot org)
Last updated January 29, 2024
This list includes every street in San Francisco which has the full
name of the person it commemorates. Namesakes (where known) 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.; the names given here are those
used in map data published by the San Francisco Department of Public
Works.
Adolph Sutro Court. Named for the
twenty-first mayor of San Francisco. Near the top of Mt. Sutro,
off Johnstone Drive. Al Scoma Way. Named in 2001
for the owner of Scoma's Restaurant. On Pier 47, the location of
the restaurant, which is numbered 1965 for the year it was
founded. Alice B. Toklas Place. Named for the
companion of Gertrude Stein. Formerly Myrtle Street. Immediately
south of Geary between Van Ness and Larkin. Ambrose
Bierce Street1 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 Bill Walsh Way. Named for
the Giants coach. Formerly Giants Drive. Separates Candlestick
Park from Gilman Playground. Bob Kaufman Alley1
Bret Harte Terrace Cesar Chavez Street
Charles J. Brenham Place. See main article. Cleo
Rand Avenue. 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 Dirk Dirksen Place.
Named for the punk rock promoter and Mabuhay Gardens emcee.
Formerly Rowland Street. South of Broadway between Kearny and
Montgomery. Donaldina Cameron Alley.3
Named in 2013 for the Presbyterian missionary who rescued
thousands of young women from prostitution around the turn of
the last century. Formerly Old Chinatown Lane. 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.
Dr. Tom Waddell Place. Named in 2014 for the founder of the
Gay Olympics. Formerly Lech Walesa Street (also a fully named
street). Renamed after Lech Walesa said that gay people should
not hold prominent political positions.
Earl Gage Jr. Street. Named in 2020 for San Francisco's
first Black firefighter. Formerly the westernmost block of Willow
Street, between Laguna and Buchanan.Enid Ng Lim Alley.3
Named in 2013 for an active citizen of Chinatown who worked on
behalf of and then lived in the nearby On Lok senior housing.
Formerly Bartol Street. Frank Norris Street1.
See main
article. Frida Kahlo Way. Named in 2018 for
the artist. Formerly Phelan Avenue. Phelan Avenue had been named
for the successful Irish immigrant James Phelan (1819-1892); it
was renamed to erase the memory of his son James D. (1861-1930),
25th mayor of San Francisco, U.S. Senator from California, and
white supremacist. Gene Compton's Cafeteria Way.3
The 100 block of Taylor Street. Named not for the individual,
but for that block's location of his chain of cafeterias, where
transgender customers picketed and rioted in 1966 when staff
called the police on them. Gene Friend Way. Named
for a prominent San Francisco businessman and philanthropist,
not for the biotechnology which is the focus of the UCSF Mission
Bay campus where the street is located. Harold
'Bud' Moose Lane.3 Named in 2013 for the builder of
the adjacent Hilton hotel. Formerly Merchant Street. Helen
Macintosh Lane.3 Namesake unknown. A one-lane alley
connecting 4th Street (between Folsom and Harrison) to Tandang
Sora Street. Henry Adams Street Herb
Caen Way...3 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 Balestreri Way. Named
for the Golden Gate Bridge concrete worker who built the
stairway that now bears his name, on Carolina Street between
19th & 20th. He was the longest-surviving Golden Gate Bridge
worker until he died in 2012 at age 95. Jack
Kerouac Alley1 Jack London Alley1
Jack Micheline Alley. Named for the Beat-generation (but
not, he said, Beat) poet. West of Grant between Filbert and
Greenwich. Formerly Pardee Alley.
Jeff Adachi Way. Named in 2020 for the former San Francisco Public Defender. The block of Gilbert Street between Bryant and Brannan Streets, behind the Public Defender's office.
Joe Mazzola
Place.3 Named in 1996 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. Listed in
Lowenstein under "Shelley". John Maher Street.
Named for the founder of the Delancey Street halfway house.
Between Front, Green, Battery and Union. John Muir
Drive José Sarria Court. Named for the drag queen
and activist. The stretch of 16th Street between Prosper and
Pond Streets, near Market Street. Juan Bautista
Circle Junipero Serra Boulevard Kenneth
Rexroth Place1 Lottie Bennett Lane2
Mark Twain Lane1 Martin Luther
King, Jr. Drive Milton I. Ross Street. According
to the plaque in the median on Jerrold at Toland, Mr. Ross was
the head of the Produce Merchants Negotiating Committee when the
new produce terminal was built in 1963. In the north Bayview
northeast of the intersection mentioned. Nancy
Pelosi Drive. Named in 2012 for the San Francisco congresswoman
and Speaker of the House to honor her 25th year in office. South
of the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park.
Formerly Middle Drive East. Nelson Rising Lane.
Named for the then-CEO of Catellus Development Corporation.
Spans UCSF Mission Bay between Mission Bay Boulevard and Gene Friend Way.
Officer James W. Bloesch Road.3 Named for a San
Francisco police officer who was accidentally shot and killed by
another officer at the police stables in Golden Gate Park in
1988. The road that connects the stables and fly fishing ponds
to John F. Kennedy Drive.
Peter Sammon Way.3
Named in 2003 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.
Randall Kline Alley. Named in 2023 for the founder of SFJAZZ.
The block of Linden Street between Franklin and Gough Streets,
adjacent to the SFJAZZ Center.
Reverend Cecil Williams Way. Named
on August 18, 2013 for the pastor of Glide Memorial Church. The
block of Ellis Street next to the church, between Taylor and
Jones.
Richard Henry Dana Place1
Richard Manuli III Way. Named for the 24-year-old resident of Martinez who died in a motorcycle accident in 2017. A private street (actually a driveway) entirely within the Tanko Lighting property at 220 Bayshore Boulevard.
Robert Kirk Lane Rosa Parks Lane. Named for
the civil rights activist. In the Valencia Gardens public
housing development, between Valencia, Guerrero, 14th and 15th
Streets. Rose Pak's Way.3 Named in 2016
for the Chinatown political gatekeeper, who always got hers. Off
the south side of Jackson between Stone and Stockton. Numbered
starting at lucky 888. Formerly James Alley. Rosie
Lee Lane Sam Jordan's Way.3 Named in
2018 for the owner of Sam Jordan's Bar and Grill, the oldest
Black-owned bar in SF, located on that block. The bar closed in
2019. The block of Galvez Street between Phelps Avenue and Third
Street.
Sgt. John V. Young Lane
Sister Vish-Knew Way. Named for a founder of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. Between 15th, 16th, Dolores and Landers Streets. Formerly Alert Alley.
Terry A. Francois Boulevard Thomas Mellon Drive and
Circle Thomas More Way Timothy
Pflueger Place. Named in 2008 for the architect of several
downtown skyscrapers and movie palaces throughout SF and
elsewhere. Off the south side of Bush between Stockton and
Powell, abutting Pflueger's 450 Sutter Street. Formerly Chelsea
Place.
Tom Ryan Place. Named for the longtime San Francisco Fire Dept. stationary engineer. A private street inside the SFFD's Treasure Island Training Facility. The street sign can be seen through the gate on 10th Street between Avenues M and N.
Toni Stone Crossing. Named in 2020 after the Negro League baseball
player. In Mission Bay between 3rd Street and Terry A. Francois
Boulevard.
Tony Bennett Way.3 Named in 2018
for the singer who introduced and continues to be associated
with "I Left My Heart In San Francisco". Mason between
California and Sacramento, site of the Fairmont Hotel, where
Tony Bennett first sang that song. Turk Murphy
Lane. Named for the trad-jazz trombonist. Between Broadway,
Powell, Vallejo and Stockton. Vernon Alley.3
See main
article.
Vicha Ratanapakdee Way.3 Named for a Thai man who was
killed nearby on January 28, 2021. Formerly Sonora Lane.
Vicki Mar Lane.3 Named
in 2014, delightfully, for transvestite performer Vicki Marlane.
The 100 block of Turk Street. Walter U. Lum Place.
See main
article. Whitney Young Circle William
Saroyan Place1 Willie B. Kennedy Drive.
Ms. Kennedy was a city supervisor from 1981 to 1996. South of
Hudson Avenue on Hunter's Point Ridge. Willie Mays
Plaza.3 Named in 2000 for the Giants' superstar
player. The stretch of King Street in front of AT&T Park.
Tandang Sora Street, between 3rd, 4th, Folsom and Harrison, is
named for the Filipina revolutionary Melchora Aquino, but does not
bear her full name; "Tandang Sora" is an epithet referring to her
advanced age (84) at the time of the Phillipine Revolution.
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. Ferlinghetti got his own street, Via
Ferlinghetti, in 1994, but, like Bufano, didn't get a place on this
list.
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 which were themselves named after
individuals.
3These streets are signed (whether by the DPW or not) and
appear on some maps, but do not appear in DPW mapping data so may
not have the same official status as the other streets listed. Most
of these names are honorary, meaning that they did not replace the
previous names but augmented them, and are not registered with the
U.S. Post Office.
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