I left my heart in San Francisco, and it will forever reside in the Richmond district. It’s where I raised my two children and owned my first home. 

Our house was a 3 bedroom Edwardian with a big backyard on 15th near Balboa. So perfectly located! From there we could stroll, bike or run into Golden Gate Park via the Rose Garden, and we spent many happy hours playing at the Blue Playground, adventuring in the SF Botanical Garden, walking to the top of Strawberry Hill and visiting the DeYoung Museum or the California Academy of Sciences. We could easily walk to our favorite places – Green Apple Books, the SFPL Library branch on 9th Avenue, House of Bagels and so on. And – bonus! – Ocean Beach, the Presidio, Baker Beach, the inner Sunset and many other destinations also were walkable or accessible via public transportation.

Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of representing and/or befriending the inhabitants of hundreds of homes in the Richmond district (many of them highlighted by the icons on this map). I’m so very lucky to have a job that allows me to learn new things – almost every day – about my favorite neighborhood in the city.

How well do YOU know the Richmond district? You can find out and join in the fun of our monthly trivia contest here! Scroll down for the this month’s question, the latest answers and to how to enter to win a valuable prize.

April 2021 Trivia question:

Who is the polar explorer commemorated in a monument standing in the Beach Chalet parking lot and what was the name of his boat that for many years sat disintegrating nearby? 

Your answer qualifies you for a drawing to win a valuable prize. To enter, please email [email protected] , click the “submit” box above, or fill out the form below! (Be sure to select “other” for interested in).

March 2021 answer:

Thanks to all of you for entering our trivia contest. (Remember, your odds of winning are very high.) March’s question wasn’t easy: When homeowners on the 700 block of 10th Avenue dig under their front sidewalks or driveways, they may find remnants of what famous turn-of-the-century 10-cent attraction that extended north from Golden Gate Park?

Answer: The Chutes at 10th and Fulton (then known as D Street) was a wildly popular attraction 100+ years ago when the inner Richmond was first being developed. Remnants of its 350-foot water slide can still be found today when you dig under the surface of the 700 block of 10th Avenue.

Everyone who answered was entered in the drawing for this month’s prize of a San Francisco Historical Society membership.) 

March 2021 Trivia question:

When homeowners on the 700 block of 10th Avenue dig under their front sidewalks or driveways, they may find remnants of what famous turn-of-the-century 10-cent attraction that extended north from Golden Gate Park?

Your answer qualifies you for a drawing to win a valuable prize. To enter, please email [email protected] , click the “submit” box above, or fill out the form below! (Be sure to select “other” for interested in).

February 2021 answer:

Thanks to all of you for entering our first-ever trivia contest! (We had more than a dozen responses for our initial launch.) Most of you guessed Mark Twain as the answer to this question: Tales of foggy weather are greatly exaggerated when it comes to the Richmond. Yet which famous author said,“The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco?”

But the answer is “nobody that we know of.” Turns out it was a bit of a trick question and only a couple of contestants got it right. (Nonetheless, everyone who answered was entered in the drawing for this month’s prize of a San Francisco Historical Society membership.) 

Mark Twain wrote plenty of very clever things and spent time in San Francisco. And while this “coldest winter” quote certainly seems like something he might have said, there is no record of it. He wrote about the weather in New England, the weather in France and about San Francisco residents complaining about the weather in San Francisco. But he didn’t write this particular quote, nor has anyone been able to trace who did. It’s a mystery!