Living in Cow Hollow, San Francisco

Union Street's boutiques and restaurants now run through blocks that were, until 1891, a working dairy district known for the more than thirty herds that once grazed around Washerwoman's Lagoon, a shallow pond near today's Gough Street that gave Cow Hollow both its name and its water supply. The city filled the lagoon and banned livestock within its limits that same year, clearing the way for the Victorian houses and low-rise apartment buildings that still line the neighborhood's side streets. Union Street itself began as an unpaved road connecting the growing city to the Presidio, and its shops today draw visitors from well beyond Cow Hollow's own blocks. No BART or Muni Metro line runs through the neighborhood; residents depend on buses along Union and Lombard Streets or a walk to the Marina or Pacific Heights for anything closer to rail.

Union Street's restaurant rows and bars keep weekend evenings loud and foot traffic heavy, and street parking on the busiest blocks is scarce most nights.

Sitting between the Marina and Pacific Heights, Cow Hollow trades their waterfront and hilltop views for a compact, walkable shopping strip that gives the neighborhood a livelier, more retail-driven feel than either of its neighbors.