The Painted Ladies San Francisco: Alamo Square, Full House, and the Famous Photo Spot

The Painted Ladies are a row of six Victorian houses on Steiner Street, facing Alamo Square Park, with the San Francisco skyline behind them. The photograph — houses in the foreground, downtown in the distance — is one of the most reproduced images of any American city, used as the opening shot of Full House and reproduced on millions of postcards. The scene is exactly what you expect and worth visiting for the neighbourhood as much as the view.

What the Painted Ladies Are

San Francisco has roughly 14,000 Victorian and Edwardian houses surviving from the period 1849–1915. The Painted Ladies on Steiner Street (710–720 Steiner) are not the grandest examples — the city has more elaborate houses in Pacific Heights and the Haight. They are famous because the specific view from Alamo Square, with the downtown skyline as a backdrop, photographs well.

The houses are privately owned and occupied. You view them from the park.

The Photo

Stand in Alamo Square Park on the grass facing east. The park slopes uphill; the view from the upper eastern section of the park gives the classic angle — houses in the mid-ground, skyline behind, park grass in the foreground. Morning light (east-facing) illuminates the houses directly in the morning and throws them into shade in the afternoon.

Crowds are heaviest 10 AM to 3 PM. Early morning (before 9 AM) or late afternoon reduces the number of people competing for the same angle.

The Neighbourhood: NoPa and the Haight

The area around Alamo Square is one of the better walking neighbourhoods in San Francisco. The Western Addition immediately south and the Lower Haight to the east have good independent restaurants, cafes, and bars.

Hayes Valley (five minutes walk southeast of the park): a concentrated block of independent boutiques, restaurants, and cocktail bars around Hayes Street. The best area for lunch or coffee near Alamo Square.

Haight-Ashbury (fifteen minutes walk west): the neighbourhood associated with the 1960s counterculture — Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane all had addresses here. The intersection of Haight and Ashbury is the landmark; the neighbourhood today has vintage clothing shops, head shops, and good independent food. Worth a walk through.

More Victorian Houses

Pacific Heights: a neighbourhood of larger, more ornate Victorian and Edwardian houses than the Painted Ladies. Broderick Street, Vallejo Street, and Broadway have some of the finest examples. Free to walk past; the neighbourhood is one of the wealthiest in the city.

Nob Hill: another Victorian concentration, plus the grand hotels (Fairmont, Mark Hopkins) on the hilltop.

Our Take

Alamo Square at 8 AM for the photo without crowds. Walk south to Hayes Valley for breakfast. If the Victorian architecture specifically interests you, Pacific Heights has the better houses.