The Southwest district is bordered by the Pacific Ocean on the west, Sloat Boulevard and Wawona Street on the north, Junipero Serra Boulevard, Holloway and Ocean Avenues and the 280 freeway on the east, and the San Francisco city border on the south.

The district includes the San Francisco Zoo, Pine Lake and Harding Parks, Stern Grove, Harding Park Municipal Golf Course and Lake Merced.

Lake Merced District

In an old city, this is the newest and last district to be developed. The farms it replaced persisted well into this century. Its lake, golf courses and zoo make it one of the most scenic of districts. The newness and its proximity to the ocean (nothing is upwind) make it the cleanest of areas. Included within its boundaries is the campus of San Francisco State University, Stonestown Shopping Center, Park Merced, Lakeside and Lakeshore neighborhoods.

Boundaries: San Mateo County line, the ocean, Sloat Boulevard and Junipero Serra Boulevard,

3A - Country Club Acres - A tract of relatively new homes, each with double garage, small front garden and unblemished paint. It looks, unpretentious but house prices, when one is for sale, are well up there. Recreationally, it’s adjacent to the 700, ocean and Lake Merced.

Boundaries: Lake Merced Skyline. Sloat and Sunset Boulevard.

Lakeshore Park - Built by the Gellert brothers after World War II as a middle class family neighborhood, even its smaller houses have now climbed in price to an upper middle class level. House are white, of several varying floor plans, have patches of green out front. Those on Lake Merced Boulevard have a view of the lake. Lowell High School and Stonestown Shopping Center are at one side; the small Lakeshore Plaza shopping center at the other.

Boundaries: Sunset Boulevard, Keith Avenue, Sloat Boulevard to Gellert Drive and Eucalyptus Drive.

John Muir Tract - A new subdivision of adult apartments on the shore of Lake Merced.

Boundaries: Skyline Boulevard, John Muir Drive and Olympic Club Golf Course.

3B - Park Merced (Merced Heights) - Broad lawns carpet the sides and centers of its streets. Uniform architecture unifies its high rise tower, and clustered townhouses. Behind the white columns of the townhouse porticoes are dwellings with private patios, enclosed gardens, and, in some cases, a view of the lake. The neighborhood was financed at its outset by Metropolitan Life Insurance Co.

Boundaries: Lake Merced Boulevard, 19th Avenue, Holloway Avenue and Brotherhood Way.

3C - Pine Lake Park - A small subdivision of ranch style homes, first developed in 1936 (when projected. house prices were between $7,450 and $10,7500 by the late builder Arthur J. Herzig and completed by the late Carl Geller,' s Standard Building Co. after the end of World War II. The park makes a handsome backdrop for the houses.

Boundaries: Stern Grove, Pine Lake Park, Sloat Boulevard, 23rd and 34th Avenues.

3D - Stonestown - Apartments and San Francisco's largest shopping center with mail.

Boundaries: 19th Avenue, San Francisco State campus, Lake Merced Boulevard and Eucalyptus Drive.

3E - Lakeside - In Lakeside, a traffic sheltered world tucked between San Francisco State and Junipero Serra Boulevard, the white picket fence fronted house live, and in quantity. It's an exceptionally clean neighborhood devoid of overhead wires and characterized by green shutters, white grille balconies and any number or rose gardens. Despite its name, it is not beside the lake. It has a boutique scale shopping center called Lakeside Village.

Boundaries: Eucalyptus Drive, Junipero Serra Boulevard and 19th Avenue.

3F - Lake Merced Hill - A new thirteen acre tract of town houses and condominiums with a population of about six hundred.

Boundaries: Lake Merced Boulevard, Brotherhood Way and the San Francisco Golf and Country Club.

3H - Merced Manor (Igleside) - The first subdivision to supplant vegetable farms in this quarter has maintained its respectability and pleasant appearances through the decades of its twentieth century life. The houses tend to have a Spanish look, the trees tend to be small palms, and there's a park like reservoir in the middle.

Boundaries: 191h Avenue, 26th Avenue, Sloat Boulevard and Eucalyptus Drive.

3H - San Miguel ( Ingleside) - This residential neighborhood, to judge by the number or cars that began to use its streets relatively recently, found sudden prominence as a parking area for BART patrons using the Balboa Park station. Despite this, it remains a pleasant, middle income, single home neighborhood of steep, up hill-down dale streets. It contains a mixture of old and newer homes, most of them on a leeward hillside south of City College and adjoining the Ingleside District.

Boundaries: U.S. 280 Freeway, San Jose Avenue, Summit and Niagara Avenues and Howth Street.

3J - Ocean View - A vast, gently sloping area of straight, right angled streets containing straight, right angled houses, a few of which predate the 1930s. There are few business establishments, most of its residents preferring to shop at Stonestown or on Ocean Avenue. One asset, a four square block park with grass playing field.