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The transformation of San Francisco's Sunset District from a seemingly uninhabitable, windswept realm of sand dunes and shrub to a comfortable residential and commercial neighborhood is one of the city's most surprising stories. Originally outside of San Francisco's boundaries on federal land, the district was part of a large tundra-like expanse then forbiddingly called the "Outside Lands." As changes overtook the established parts of the city around the turn of the century, the industrialized eastern edge seemed less hospitable to many citizens. These people looked to the Sunset's open spaces and saw there a perfect place for building homes, shops, churches and schools.
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In this collection of vintage photographs compiled by Sunset historian and tour guide Lorri Ungaretti, readers will see the dramatic changes that transformed this portion of the hostile Outside Lands into the very livable area that San Franciscans know today. From early views of the dunes to the scrappy settlement known as "Carville" (composed of discarded municipal railway cars), the curious Larsen Chicken Ranch which took up the equivalent of several city blocks, to the astonishing house-building frenzy of developer Henry Doelger, the Sunset's amazing history is as varied and surprising as the citizens one meets in the district.
