Polk Street

{{Short description|Street in San Francisco traveling northward from Market Street to Beach Street}}

{{Infobox street

| name = Polk Street

| image = AnNeoplanOnThe19InSanFrancisco.jpg

| caption = A Neoplan bus on Polk Street operating on San Francisco Municipal Railway's (MUNI) 19-Polk Line

| former_names =

| namesake = US President James Polk

| postal_code =

| addresses =

| length =

| width =

| location = San Francisco, California

| sector =

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| direction_a = South

| terminus_a = Market Street in SoMa

| direction_b = North

| terminus_b = Beach Street at the Marina District

| junction =

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}}

Polk Street (sometimes referred to by its name in German, Polkstrasse) is a street in San Francisco, California, that travels northward from Market Street to Beach Street and is one of the main thoroughfares of the Polk Gulch neighborhood traversing through the Tenderloin, Nob Hill, and Russian Hill neighborhoods. The street takes its name from former U.S. President James K. Polk.

The street also has bike lanes, which were approved in 2002.{{cite news | author=Rachel Gordon | title=Supes approve bicycle lanes on Polk Street | url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/e/a/1999/05/18/METRO7576.dtl | work=San Francisco Chronicle | date=May 18, 1999 | access-date=23 November 2010}} San Francisco bike route 25 runs along Polk Street, and is the only north–south route suitable for casual bicycle travel within at least a mile in either direction.{{cite web | title=San Francisco Bike Map|url=http://www.sfbike.org/download/map.pdf|year=2013}}

Name

Polk Street is named for James Knox Polk (November 2, 1795 – June 15, 1849) the 11th President of the United States (1845–1849). During the Mexican–American War, and after the Texas annexation, Polk turned his attention to California, hoping to acquire the territory from Mexico before any European nation. The main interest was San Francisco Bay as an access point for trade with Asia.{{Citation needed|date=January 2015}}

The street is sometimes still referred to as Polkstrasse or Polk Strasse ({{langx|de|"Straße"}} being the German word for "street"),{{Cite web|url=http://www.eastbaytimes.com/2005/05/22/the-resurrection-of-polk-street/|title=The resurrection of Polk Street – East Bay Times|date=22 May 2005 |access-date=2017-06-04}} dating back to the time when it was the main commercial street for San Francisco's German immigrants.{{Cite web|url=http://noehill.com/sf/landmarks/sf174.asp|title=San Francisco Landmark #174: California Hall|website=noehill.com|access-date=2017-06-04}} In 1912, the German community built California Hall on the corner of Polk and Turk streets, a building resembling a German-style town hall (rathaus).

== Polk Gulch ==

File:March for queer space 20180310-0766.jpg

Polk Gulch is the neighborhood around a section of Polk Street and its immediate vicinity, which runs through the Nob Hill and Russian Hill neighborhoods from approximately Geary Street to Union Street.{{Cite news|url=http://www.thebolditalic.rip/articles/1401-tears-for-queers|title=Tears for Queers|last=Smith|first=Kristin|date=November 4, 2011|work=The Bold Italic|access-date=2017-06-04|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170827045501/http://www.thebolditalic.rip/articles/1401-tears-for-queers|archive-date=August 27, 2017|url-status=dead}} The name, somewhat humorous, arises because the street runs over an old stream at the bottom of a gently sloped valley.

Polk Gulch was San Francisco's main gay neighborhood from the 1950s until the early 1980s, although around 1970 many gays began to move to The Castro (formally Eureka Valley) and SOMA because many large Victorian houses were available for low rent or could be purchased with low down payments{{Citation needed|date=June 2017}}. Only one gay bar, the Cinch, remains in the area.

As the original center of the city's LGBT community, it had remained one of the core centers along with The Castro and the South of Market (SOMA). On New Year's Day 1965, police raided a gay fundraising party for the newly founded Council on Religion and the Homosexual in California Hall at 625 Polk Street, an incident that, according to some, marked the beginning of a more formally organized gay rights movement in San Francisco.

By 1971, Polk Street was advertised as "one of the gayest streets in San Francisco".{{Cite book |last=Sides |first=Josh |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6k1RDAAAQBAJ |title=Erotic City: Sexual Revolutions and the Making of Modern San Francisco |date=2011 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-987406-4 |pages=103 |language=en}} In 1972, Polk Street was the location of the first official San Francisco Gay Pride Parade. In the 1950s through the 1970s Halloween on Polk Street became a major attraction for tourists and locals. A migration from Polk Street to the Castro District happened in the 1970s for more affordable housing.{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}}

In the 1990s and 2000s the neighborhood started to gentrify.{{cite news | author=Leslie Fulbright | title= Polk Gulch cleanup angers some: Gentrification pushing out 'hookers, hustlers' | url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/10/12/BAG1OF6TFR1.DTL | work=San Francisco Chronicle | date=October 12, 2005 | access-date=10 November 2010}} It remains prominent for its nightlife.

Public transit

Sutter Street Railway established cable car service on Polk Street between Post and Pacific in 1883.{{cite news |last1=Kamiya |first1=Gary |title=How S.F.'s cable cars rose to become emblem of the city |url=https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/How-S-F-s-cable-cars-rose-to-become-emblem-of-5194452.php |access-date=3 August 2022 |agency=San Francisco Gate |date=31 January 2014}} Cable service was replaced with electric streetcars in 1907.{{cite book |last1=Trimble |first1=Paul C. |title=Railways of San Francisco |date=2004 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |isbn=9780738528878 |page=92}} The service was temporarily abandoned in the early 1940s before being reinstated during World War II, but finally replaced by buses in 1945. Tracks remained embedded in the roadway until at least 1948.{{cite news |title=No. 19, No. 44 Buses Changed |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/106849393/ |access-date=3 August 2022 |newspaper=San Francisco Examiner |via=Newspapers.com |date=1 July 1948 |page=14}} {{free access}} The San Francisco Municipal Railway 19 Polk bus line is a remnant of the original cable railway.

Other notable locations

The San Francisco Police Department Northern Station serves Polk Gulch."[http://sf-police.org/index.aspx?page=825 Northern Station]." ([https://archive.today/20130901143221/http://sf-police.org/index.aspx?page=825 Archive]) San Francisco Police Department. Retrieved on September 1, 2013. The street remains a busy business district with many restaurants, cafes, and numerous bars.{{cite web | title=Polk Street - San Francisco Shopping | url=http://www.polkst.com/category/restaurants | work=PolkStreet.com | year=2010 | access-date=23 November 2010}}{{cite web | title=Polk Street | url=http://sfmerchants.com/neighborhoods/polk_district.htm | work=San Francisco City Guide | publisher=SF Merchants | year=2010 | access-date=23 November 2010}}

''McTeague''

Frank Norris's 1899 novel McTeague is about a dentist whose office is on Polk Street.Alex Bevk, [http://sf.curbed.com/archives/2013/01/14/frank_norris_street_and_the_dentist_of_polk_street.php Frank Norris Street and the Dentist of Polk Street], Curbed, January 14, 2013 American silent psychological drama film Greed is written and directed by Erich von Stroheim and based on this book.

In 2008, McTeague Saloon, located at 1237, opened, reportedly "inspired by the novel".

References

External links

{{commons category-inline|Polk Street (San Francisco)}}

Category:Streets in San Francisco

Category:History of San Francisco

Category:LGBTQ history in San Francisco

Category:Entertainment districts in California

Category:Russian Hill, San Francisco

Category:Nob Hill, San Francisco

Category:Tenderloin, San Francisco