Park Merced, San Francisco, California
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Parkmerced is a neighborhood and large apartment complex in San Francisco, California. It is located south of San Francisco State University, west of 19th Avenue, and east of Lake Merced and the Harding Park Golf Club. The far western boundary of the complex is owned by San Francisco State, and used by professors and students; the complex as a whole is popular with them due to its proximity.
The complex was designed and built by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, after their success with the Parkchester development in New York. Construction started in the 1940s, but was mostly halted due to World War II. It was completed in the 1950s and was a first home to many military families returning from the war. Similar complexes were also built by Met Life in Los Angeles and Manhattan, named Park La Brea and Stuyvesant Town respectively, the former of which features strikingly similar architecture and street layout to Parkmerced.
Recently, the complex was owned by controversial real estate investor Leona Helmsley until its sale in 2000. It is currently owned by Alliance Residential Company, and is being marketed as The Villas Parkmerced.
[edit] Transportation
Bus service through Parkmerced is primarily provided by Muni's 17 Parkmerced line, and peak hour service to and from Balboa Park Station is provided by the 88 BART Shuttle line. Additionally, the 28, 28L and 29 bus lines and the Muni Metro M Ocean View light rail line all run on nearby 19th Avenue, and 18 46th Avenue bus line runs on Lake Merced Boulevard.
[edit] Growing up in Parkmerced
Native San Franciscans are famously rare, but you might not believe that if you grew up in Parkmerced during the 1960s and '70s. Most of Parkmerced's apartments -- at least the garden apartments -- sheltered at least one kid. Park Merced was a neighborhood that seemed to be designed specifically for young families. The enclosed courtyards that each garden apartment backed up to and the "swing courts" in the middle of each block were perfect communal play areas, and families flocked to these units in droves.
[edit] External links
- The Villas Parkmerced official website
- Maps and aerial photos
- Street map from Google Maps or Yahoo! Maps
- Topographic map from TopoZone
- Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA
- Satellite image from Google Maps or Microsoft Virtual Earth
- Historical overview of Parkmerced from OutsideLands.org
