What's It Like to Live in North Beach San Francisco

Wanna know what it's like to live in San Francisco's Little Italy? It's in the heart of the city, steps from downtown and steps from the water, and has some of the best bars, restaurants, and parks in the entire city. It happens to be the first place that I lived in when I first moved to San Francisco, and it remains one of my favorite neighborhoods in the entire city. In this video, I'm gonna do a deep dive of the North Beach neighborhood, which is the perfect neighborhood for somebody who just moved to San Francisco, a young professional looking to explore what the city has to offer. This is Austin Klar, your lawyer turned real estate agent and real estate developer in San Francisco. I've lived in multiple neighborhoods all throughout San Francisco, giving me firsthand, in-depth knowledge of what it's like to live and work in the city. If you're thinking of relocating, definitely reach out to me. My contact info is in the description below. I will personally answer every call, every text, every email, and I'd be more than happy to help you. And if you like videos just like this, please subscribe to my channel and don't forget to click the bell so you're alerted every single time I post a video. All right, so this video is all about the North Beach neighborhood. Like I said, it's the first neighborhood that I lived in when I first moved here. I lived here for 5 years, so I know it very, very well. The area that is known as North Beach today was actually water and shoreline at one point. It was infilled in the late 19th century, late 1800s, and all the fishing docks and wharves, everything that you see by the water was added, you know, after it was infilled. It sits on the northeast end of San Francisco. It starts in Jackson Square, which is near downtown San Francisco, and it kind of zigzags northwest to Bay Street, which is just a couple blocks from the bay. It is right next to Chinatown, right next to the Financial District, right next to Russian Hill, so you really do get, you know, a good mix of what North Beach has to offer, but also, you know, what a lot of these culturally rich bar and restaurant heavy areas neighboring it have to offer as well. The neighborhood still retains its Italian character, you know, from the population that, you know, originally lived there, and a lot of the Italian population still lives there today. But there are, you know, a ton of the cafes, bakeries, bars, restaurants, very heavily Italian-influenced, Italian-themed. It is mainly young professionals that live there. It's a lot of multi-unit buildings. There aren't really a lot of single-family homes there. It is a pretty healthy mix of both single young professionals and families, but it does lean more heavily toward, uh, you know, single young professionals, just given all the things there is to do in that area. That said, there are a lot of aspects of the area that make it very family friendly. First and foremost, it is very, very walkable. The North Beach neighborhood is largely flat as you head toward the water, but, you know, there are some minor hills as you get further east, closer to, uh, you know, Coit Tower and Telegraph Hill, and closer to Russian Hill on the west. North Beach sort of sits in between those two hills, kind of in a valley of its own. The area is not known as Little Italy just because of the significant Italian population that lives there. It is also very Italian influenced from a cultural perspective. Bars, cafes, restaurants, and just Italian heritage throughout the area. Some of my favorite restaurants in the area: Original Joe's and North Beach Restaurant, both kind of old school classic Italian, very sceney spots in this part of town. Tony's Pizza is my go-to pizza spot. It is my favorite pizza spot, not just in San Francisco, but ever. They have a ton of different kinds of ovens that make a ton of different kinds of pizzas, you know, wood burning, coal burning, a ton of different kinds of pizzas. It's incredible. They also have a Slice House next door where you can get, you know, just slices to go, or, you know, anything that's on the main Tony's menu you can get from the Slice House to go as well. A close second to Tony's is Golden Boy Pizza, which is around the corner. It's open a lot later, you know, 1, 2 o'clock in the morning. Pretty much the only time I've ever been there is like after a night out at the bars. That's when most people go there. It's a cash-only place. They have square slices. It is awesome. My favorite deli in the entire city, Molinari's, Bakeries is an old-school Italian deli in North Beach on Columbus Avenue. They've got fresh-made pasta daily. They've got chicken parm, eggplant parm, some of the best sandwiches in the city. It's also an Italian grocery store, so if you want to cook something at home, you can go there to get all these amazing ingredients, amazing bread, pasta salads, dried pasta, fresh pasta, sauces, oils. They've got everything. Liguria Bakery is also one of the most famous bakeries in the city. They're most well known for their focaccia bread. They're only open a couple hours a day, and they always, always, always sell out of their bread, so you got to get there early if you're looking to get it. Beyond the restaurants that I talked about, there are a ton of other things to do. Washington Square Park is one of my favorite parks in the city. It was established in 1847 and is actually one of the city's first parks. The park is bordered by, you know, sidewalks, cafes, and restaurants like, you know, Mama's, which is a great brunch restaurant, Park Tavern, a great brunch and dinner restaurant, LaGoria Bakery is there, Tony's is there. It gets great sunlight all day. It's just a few blocks from the water. It's right next to Columbus Street, so all the restaurants that I just talked about, you can order food to go from there and enjoy them in the park. They do outdoor movies in the park. People do a lot of exercise in the park. There's a small little playground area there, but it's not really like a playground recreation sports-type park. It's more just an open green space where people go and exercise or picnic or just hang out. In addition to all the restaurants around there. There are also a ton of bars— 15 Romolo, Devil's Acre, Sweetie's, uh, The Boardroom. 15 Romolo and Devil's Acre are a little bit more, you know, upscale. Sweetie's Bar is definitely a dive bar. Uh, The Boardroom is, you know, divey, more of a sports bar. You can walk down Columbus Avenue, eventually you're going to get to Stockton Street, and if you take Stockton Street south, it takes you right through Chinatown, you know, to Union Square. So there's a ton of stuff to do, not only just in North Beach but in the surrounding areas as well. North Beach is also neighbor to Fisherman's Wharf, which is just north of Bay Street, above the North Beach neighborhood. It's also walking distance to Ghirardelli Square. These are both very, very touristy areas, so they get very, very busy. Still fun ways even for people, you know, who are residents here to spend an afternoon. Ton of food options in Fisherman's Wharf, ton of food options in Ghirardelli Square around there, open green spaces just kind of like Washington Square Park where you can, you know, picnic and enjoy views of the water. North Beach is also, you know, a very culturally rich area. The North Beach area is host to some of the city's biggest festivals every single year. The North Beach Festival is hosted there every year on Father's Day. It is considered one of the nation's oldest street fairs. You know, you've got food vendors, drink vendors, arts and crafts vendors, local and not local. You get live music. A lot of people will get food there, drinks there, and just go enjoy them in the nearby Washington Square Park. You also have the Italian Heritage Parade, which is the longest continuously running Italian heritage event in the country. Parade runs from Fisherman's Wharf through the North Beach neighborhood and ends at Washington Square Park. You can also catch a cable car. Believe it or not, that's not just a thing that tourists do. A lot of people who live in the North Beach area actually take cable cars to commute to and from work. One of the lines of the cable cars ends in North Beach at Taylor and Bay Streets, and it goes south to, you know, like Union Square and Market Street. So you can take it all the way to Union Square. You can walk to downtown from there as well. And while you're on the cable car, you know, you also get some great views of the entire city because it goes through into the top of Nob Hill. It's definitely worth doing if you've never done it before, whether you live here or not. It is a pretty fun experience. North Beach also has a lot of different comedy clubs and music venues. They're on the smaller side, they're a little bit divier. You've got Cobb's Comedy Club, you know, Bimbo's Club on Columbus Avenue. You get up-and-coming musicians and comedians there, but also some more well-established ones as well. Joe DiMaggio Park is another great park in North Beach. It's just a few blocks north of Washington Square Park. You know, Washington Square Park is more just open green space, whereas Joe DiMaggio Park more of like a traditional park. You know, you've got children's recreation area, like a jungle gym. There are, uh, basketball courts, tennis courts, racquetball area. The library is there. There's an indoor swimming pool. It used to be kind of run down, but they did a massive renovation to the entire park, so it's actually very, very nice. The City Lights Bookstore, which is a, you know, a historic landmark in San Francisco, was established in North Beach in the 1950s. And believe it or not, North Beach is actually home to a lot of San Francisco's strip clubs. So San Francisco used to have a double-decker freeway over the Embarcadero, near where the Ferry Building is, and it used to exit into the North Beach area on Broadway and Columbus. So all the strip clubs that are there today, they originally set up in that location because that's where the, you know, freeway basically spat out. That freeway doesn't exist anymore, but the strip clubs still do. People in North Beach also have a lot to do surrounding North Beach. They are steps from Chinatown, which, you know, has a ton of great bars and restaurants, very, you know, culturally distinct from the bars and restaurants that you get in North Beach. You also have Russian Hill, which has a ton of more, you know, elevated and upscale bars and restaurants. You are also right next to downtown and right next to Jackson Square, which has a ton of different bars and restaurants and boutique shopping. North Beach kind of sits in a valley between, you know, Telegraph Hill to the east and Russian Hill to the west. So for the most part, North Beach itself is very flat, very walkable. There is a slight incline as you get toward Columbus Street and then down as you get closer to downtown, but for the most part, North Beach is very, very walkable. You know, for the first 3 years that I lived there, I didn't have a car, and then I bought a car, and I pretty much drove it like once a month. I walked to work from there. I walked to the grocery stores from there. I walked to bars and restaurants from there. I walked to the gym. Um, you really don't need a car there. It is super, super walkable. So how much does it cost to live in North Beach? Uh, the— there aren't really a lot of single-family homes there, like I mentioned, but the— there were 2 that sold in 2022 for an average of $1.7 million. Uh, for comparison's sake, you know, all of San Francisco, the average single-family home in 2022 was $2.2 million. So it's a little cheaper than the average single-family home. Condos, it's a different story. Average was about $1.6 million compared to $1.4 million for all of San Francisco. And as far as rent is concerned, average 2-bedroom there will run you between $4,000 and $5,000. It definitely gets more expensive than that to the extent that, you know, you have water views and, you know, if the apartment is like brand new with brand new finishes, I've seen places go for $8,000, $9,000, $10,000 a month for 2 and 3 bedrooms there. But for the most part, you can definitely find stuff in the $4,000 to $5,000 range. That's the scoop on the North Beach neighborhood. It's still to this day is one of my favorite neighborhoods in the city. And if you're thinking of relocating there and you're a little bit younger and you want to see, you know, kind of what the city has to offer, it is definitely, definitely worth exploring. And if you are thinking of relocating and want more information, definitely reach out to me. My contact information is in the description below. I will personally answer every call, every email, every text, and I'd be more than happy to help you. If you like videos just like this, please subscribe to my channel and don't forget to click the bell so you're alerted every single time I post a video.