Irish Hill

You are standing near what remains of Irish Hill, a neighborhood that physically vanished from the San Francisco map. In the late nineteenth century, this was a prominent, steep outcropping that rose nearly two hundred and fifty feet above the bay. It served as a dense, working-class enclave for laborers who walked to the massive shipyards and steel mills at its base. To reach their homes, residents climbed a long, wooden staircase that started at the intersection of Illinois and 20th Streets.