A few weeks ago, commenter Dan J. asked about the etymology of the neighborhood name "Lower Haight":
"Curious when people started actually calling it Lower Haight? I know when I moved to the neighborhood like 9 years ago it was already LH, but pretty sure in '91 it would have been called Haight Fillmore or just Fillmore...right? Just wondering."
So, we did some digging.
"Lower Haight"
The very first reference we could find to the phrase "lower Haight" actually dates back to July of 1921, in a trade journal called the Retail Grocers Advocate. In discussing delegates that the Retail Grocers Association planned to send to a convention, the Advocate writes:
"Jos J. Robinson, newly elected director for lower Haight Street District was introduced and received with applause."
But that appears to be a fluke.
The phrase "lower Haight" doesn't seem to resurface in the news until a June 1974 Sun Reporter article. The story discusses results of a "random sample of black neighborhood precincts" on the upcoming California governor's race:
"Over in the Western Addition voters at a lower Haight St. precinct gave [Jerry] Brown a 48-31 advantage over [Mayor Joseph] Alioto."
The first reference we find of "lower Haight" that's not followed by "Street" comes a year later, in a November 1975 Sun Reporter article entitled "HAIGHT FOLKS STILL CHARGE COPS NEGLECT, HARRASS THEM":
"Despite assurances that their voices are finally being heard downtown, Haight Street residents and merchants are continuing to complain of police negligence and harassment, and protesting that Hank's 500 Club, a local bar, has not been closed in spite of what one man called 'An incredible wall of evidence' against it.
"'There are things being done' reported James Robey, president of the Mint Hill Neighbors Association, at the group's recent meeting at 560 Fillmore street. 'Pressure' he said, has resulted in extra patrols on the streets and increased police attention to the lower Haight neighborhood."
After that, references become more frequent, with the phrase becoming mainstream by the mid-to-late 1980s.
A Google Ngram search for mentions of "Lower Haight" in books the search engine has indexed reveals a similar history. Different variations of the phrase begin appearing sporadically in the late '70s and really take off by 1990. Interestingly, the mentions seem to peak around 1996:
(Chart not loading for you? Click here for a screenshot.)
"Haight-Fillmore"
Meanwhile, references to the area as the "Haight-Fillmore" District start appearing around the same time. While the phrase pops up in a few places earlier in the century, it really seems to take hold by the late 1960s. In a November 1968 article in the Sun Reporter entitled "BLACK BANK MANAGER," a journalist interviews — you guessed it — a black bank manager.
"On Friday, Nov. 22, I had the opportunity to interview Tom Queen, the new black manager of the Haight-Fillmore branch of Bank of America. The purpose of the interview was to acquaint black youth with the kind of careers and jobs they could possibly go into."
A decade later, the narrative around the Haight-Fillmore was its "rehabilitation" thanks to an influx of young professionals. According to the New York Times in August 1978:
"Two high-crime, low-income neighborhoods in central San Francisco, the Haight-Fillmore District and Hayes Valley, are experiencing rapid rehabilitation because young professionals are moving in and restoring the area's many Victorian houses.
"Community leaders say, however, that many longtime residents are being displaced by the dramatic increases in property values and rents, and that tension is rising between longtime black residents and newcomers."
"Haight-Fillmore" was probably the prevailing phrase in 1980, when the Haight-Fillmore Whole Foods company was established. Mentions of "Haight-Fillmore" in the press seem to peak in the mid-1980s and decline through the 1990s, with barely a mention in the 21st Century.
Google news searches for "haight fillmore" return 56 results; searches for "lower haight" return 93,100.
So it appears that "Lower Haight" has become the standard — at least in the media, and at least for now. But with a new wave of young professionals moving into the area, could we be due for a name change yet again? Who knows — maybe realtors' dreams will finally be realized, and the whole area will just become "Hayes Valley."
