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 San Francisco's Cow Hollow: From Barns to
Boutiques
It's no secret that San Francisco is smitten with its
past. In recent years whole neighborhoods have become monuments to nostalgia. The contagion that began in Jackson
Square soon spread to Cow Hollow.
Cow Hollow is old-time vernacular for the valley lying west of Van Ness Avenue between Russian Hill and the Presidio.
The name nowadays is applied mainly to the locality around Union Street's 1600 to 2200 blocks, a patch of ex-cow
country where shoppers have replaced the milk maids and cash registers ring more briskly than the cow bells ever
did.
In post-Gold Rush days, this district was a green dale watered by the surrounding hills and small creeks seeking
the Bay. The first dairy was established there in 1861, and 30 others followed. Soon hundreds of cows shared the
grasslands with wild ducks, quail and rabbits.
Besides supplying early San Francisco's milk, the Hollow was the communal wash basin. Fresh water was scarce along
the Barbary Coast in the 1850s, so much so that rich miners sent their laundry to Honolulu and even to China to
be washed. Consequently, the little lake located in the area roughly bounded by Franklin, Octavia, Filbert and
Lombard Streets became a drawing card.
Laguna Pequeña, as it is referenced to on early maps, was used by the robust washerwomen who took in laundry
from the Presidio officers and by thrifty housewives who congregated there from all over town on washday outings.
The locals dubbed it Washerwoman's Lagoon.
The bucolic era ended with the 1800s. Tanneries, slaughterhouses and sausage factories crept into the valley. They
were tolerated for a while...until their offensive odors reached the nostrils of the bonanza kings and affluent
businessmen building homes nearby Pacific Heights.
Washerwoman's Lagoon was filled in 1882 when tannery wastes fouled its waters. The cows were banished by the Board
of Health in 1891. After that, Cow Hollow developed into a district of sedate residences and modest stores.
By the middle of this century outer Union Street was a nondescript service area running heavily to hardware stores,
garages, groceries, five-and-dimes, laundries, barber shops and the like, with a few houses in between.
Then things took a Cinderella turn... imaginative merchants, began to see possibilities in Cow Hollow's old clapboard
dwellings, its converted carriage houses and surviving stables and barns. Members of the decorating industry had
discovered the pre-earthquake buildings of Jackson Square and were already in the process of turning a run-down
warehouse area into a San Francisco showplace.
Union Street's regeneration began in the late '50s with a few stylish antique shops and home  furnishing
showrooms. The movement quickly gathered momentum, and by 1964 Cow Hollow had evolved into a neighborhood with
a flair... a flourishing shopping sector with a turn-of-the-century flavor.
Cow Hollow is best reconnoitered on foot because of its tucked-away charms, few of which can be seen from a passing
car. Passages lead between buildings to flower-filled courtyards bordered by boutiques. In fair weather, business
overflows through Dutch doors into doll-size patios. These intriguing apertures are an invitation to browsers.
To get there from downtown San Francisco's shopping-hotel district, take the No. 45 bus westbound from the Financial
District on Sacramento of along Columbus Avenue in North Beach. Get off the bus at the corner of Union and Franklin
streets and walk west, or ride to the Steiner Street intersection and walk east.
This seven-block stretch of Union Street abounds with home furnishings showrooms; antiques  and handicraft
galleries; shops purveying custom clothes, art, objects, imports, books, gifts, linens, specialty foods, fabrics,
feminine fripperies and odds-and-ends emporiums.
The Hollow's handsomest accessories are the clusters of old Victorians, faintly reminiscent of London's mews, which
have been artfully refurbished and transformed into smart shopping compounds. Fine old facades are painted subtle
shades with black gingerbread trim. Wrought iron fences have been retained and, in some places, gas lights reinstalled.
Cow Hollow harbors an international array of eating spots, many of them with garden or veranda service. Its crannies
are crammed with restaurants, pubs, and cafe-delicatessens offering seafood, American, Armenian, French, Indian,
Irish, Italian, Japanese, Mexican and Vietnamese cuisine in settings which reflect the street's flair for decor.
Several feature entertainment.
Especially noteworthy along the route are: 
- Corner of Gough and Union Streets - The Octagon House is a perfectly preserved (1861) Cow Hollow heirloom
restored inside and out by the National Society of Colonial Dames in America. It's open to the public the second
and fourth Thursdays of every month from noon to 3 - donations optional.
1851 Union Street - Originally (1884) a stables facing Washerwoman's Lagoon, it is now an Italian restaurant.
Charlton Court - A cul-de-sac off the south side of Union's 1900 block, it is said to have been a milk-wagon
loading yard. A trio of 1873-1896 Victorians at Nos. 2, 4 and 5 were until recently genteelly recycled into the
Bed and Breakfast Inn, but have since been sold.
1980 Union Street - This is one of the district's most striking Victorian compounds fashioned from three
circa 1870 residences. Including a pair of "wedding houses" (identical bungalows joined by a common center
wall). It is now home to several shops and restaurants.
1981 Union Street - The old Laurel Vale Dairy building is virtually all that remains of Cow Hollow's dairy
industry. It's now a women's apparel shop. 
2040 Union Street - This three-story mansion built around 1870 by James Cudworth, one of Cow Hollow's first
dairy men, is now boutiques. The barn originally belonging to the big house is now occupied by an office at 2044
Union. It was a first aid station during the 1906 earthquake and fire, as well as a hideout for a pair of notorious
looters, "the Gas Pipe Thieves."
2164-66 Union Street - This carriage yard and remodeled barn is home to Valentine & Riedinger Flowers.
2963 Webster Street - The Vedanta Society Temple was built in 1905-1908 as a reflection of Hindu religious
philosophy. It's visible from Union Street as an amazing amalgam of Moorish columns, lobated windows, cusped arches,
crenellated towers and onion domes.
2221 Filbert - One block north of the Union-Filmore corner, it began life around 1895 as a carriage house
and stables. The hoist for the hayloft was located in what is now an upstairs window.
3011 Steiner Street - Three doors north of Union, this two-story vintage clapboard with carriage entrance
housing Pane E Vino restaurant was a Wells Fargo stagecoach stop in the 1880s.
2325 Union Street - This vestige of Cow Hollow lingers in the rustic grounds of St. Mary the Virgin Episcopal
Church. Its Eternal Fountain is fed by a spring which once watered the district's herds. http://www.smvsf.org/
You may find the official Cow Hollow Association's Web site of interest if you are looking for more information:
http://www.cowhollowassociation.org/
You may also want to visit http://www.unionstreetsf.com/
, http://www.unionstreet.com and for information on shopping,
go to http://www.unionstreetshop.com/
For information on the annual Arts Festival, go to http://www.unionstreetfestival.com/
and for the Fantasy of Lights celebration, http://www.unionstreetsf.com/FantasyPG3.html
Main Source: San Francisco Convention and Visitors Bureau
http://www.sfcvb.org/
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