The Central district is bordered by the Twin Peaks West district on the west, Lincoln Way, Fell Street and Duboce Avenue on the north, Valencia Street and San Jose Avenue on the east, and San Jose and Mangels Avenues on the south.

The district includes Twin Peaks, as well as Buena Vista and Mission Dolores Parks.

Buena Vista District

At the geographic center of San Francisco, the Buena Vista District is one of extremes in topography and sociology, from panoramic summits to flatlands, from villas to ghetto flats from conservative, stable neighborhoods to the innovative. Sometimes referred to on planners' map as the Central Hills district. Included are the Haight Ashbury, Ashbury Height, Clarendon Heights, the Haight Fillmore, and the Buena Vista Neighborhood and Twin Peaks.

Boundaries: the Panhandle and Oak Street at the north. Gough and Market Streets to the cast, Upper Market Street, Portola Drive and Woodside Avenue to the south Laguna Honda Boulevard, Seventh Avenue, Kirkham Street. Parnassus Avenue, U.C. Medical Center, Stanyan Street to the west.

5A - Glen Park- On the lower slopes of Diamond Heights, adjacent to the canyon park of the same name, lies this charming community reminiscent of an Irish hillside village. Its mostly older homes tend to be well painted, their gardens in bloom, at least in summer, and carefully tended. The small shopping center, near the BART station, is the old fashioned sort to which one walks rather than drives, and is made up of small stores rather than big ones.

Boundaries: Bosworth, Diamond Streets, Joost Avenue and Malta Drive.

5A - Upper Noe Valley (Glen Park) - There's a somewhat older population here than in Noe Valley proper, and less activity of the 24th Street variety. But the quality of life may have an edge. Some steep streets, hills and hollows create housing sites that you would have to search the countryside to find. On high there's a slope called Billy Goat Hill. Down on the flat there's a shopping center along Church Street with a good German restaurant, an Irish soda bread bakery and good antique shops.

Boundaries: Randall, Laidley, Douglas and 30th Streets.

5A - Fairmount (Glen Park) - Few San Franciscans can enjoy the low density, almost small town quiet afforded by this neighborhood of narrow, winding and hilly streets. The white picket fence surrounding a small, detached house with fruit trees in the rear make a last urban stand here.

Boundaries: a triangle shaped by 30th Street, San Jose Avenue and an imaginary line extending from Castro Street southward.

5A - Upper Noe Valley (Glen Park) -There's a somewhat older population here than in Noe Valley proper, and less activity of the 24th Street variety. But the quality of life may have an edge. Some steep streets, hills and hollows create housing sites that you would have to search the countryside to find. On high there's a slope called Billy Goat Hill. Down on the flat there's a shopping center along Church Street with a good German restaurant, an Irish soda bread bakery and good antique shops.

Boundaries: Randall, Laidley, Douglas and 30th Streets.

5B - Ashbury Heights - Uphill from the heart of the Haight Ashbury of hippie days fame is another world of sedate residences, a few modern apartment houses and, at its summit, a surprise: a mini park called Mt. Olympus. The area also goes by the name of the Upper Haight. It adjoins Buena Vista Hill. According to City Archivist Gladys Hansen, the neighborhood is part of a tract called Ashbury Park, developed in 1911.

Boundaries: Frederick Street, Masonic Avenue. Roosevelt Way, l7th Street and Clayton Street.

5C - Noe Valley - San Francisco's residential Greenwich Village, much of it anyway, has moved across town from Telegraph Hill to Noe Valley. The new bohemians may miss the northern scenery and the abundance of aromas of garlic, olive oil and espresso, but one can still find Italian and French coffee, a variety of offbeat restaurants. a great corner ice cream stand, a superior cheese store, antique shops and a sense of community along 24th Street. Rents in the surrounding blocks have been mounting here, too.

Boundaries: Hoffman, Dolores, Alvarado, 27th Streets.

5D - Twin Peaks - On its eastern and northern, lopes you can find the highest and most panoramic views of the city and bay, which explains the popularity of this 910 foot mountain as a neighborhood. Along the northern crest are some houses of villa dimensions; farther east the density increases to apartment houses. In recent decades, the southern slopes have been developed for single family homes that gaze toward San Bruno Mountain and the ocean. It overlaps upper slopes of Eureka Valley and the Mission District.

Boundaries: Clarendon Avenue, Portola Drive. Clipper Street, Diamond Street, 17th Street.

5E - Parnassus Heights - Rising over the Haight-Ashbury, on the northeast slope of Mt. Sutro, arc a number of streets lined with old trees and wood shingled, detached homes. The atmosphere is one that most locals would expect to find in Berkeley or Sausalito's older sections. Along Edgewood Avenue, gardens are more spacious, the houses especially gracious in appearance.

Boundaries: Fourth Avenue, Stanyan Street, Irving and Carl Streets, the U.C. Medical Center and Edgewood Avenue.

5E - Edgewood Neighborhood (Parnassus Heights) - The larger, more family like homes of Parnassus Heights have come to consider themselves a neighborhood. The name is that of one of their prettier streets.

Boundaries: Willard Street, the University of California Medical Center property, Farnsworth Lane and Belmont Avenue.

5E - Mt. Olympus (Parnassus) - Enchanting natural surroundings developed with mostly commonplace though expensive apartments. The small population or this 570 foot bluff gets to enjoy a mini park at the summit. There's an impressive platform that for many years (1887 to the early 1950s) supported a sculpted female figure, until vandals prompted its removal. Location is an isolated area between Twin Peaks and Buena Vista Hill.

Boundaries: the circle formed by Upper Terrace.

5E - Parnassus Heights - Rising over the Haight-Ashbury, on the northeast slope of Mt. Sutro, arc a number of streets lined with old trees and wood shingled, detached homes. The atmosphere is one that most locals would expect to find in Berkeley or Sausalito's older sections. Along Edgewood Avenue, gardens are more spacious, the houses especially gracious in appearance.

Boundaries: Fourth Avenue, Stanyan Street, Irving and Carl Streets, the U.C. Medical Center and Edgewood Avenue.

5F - Buena Vista Hill (Park) - Steep slopes, vast views, baroque mansions. Victorian restorations, family homes, flats, apartments this neighborhood has a variety of each, plus one or the city's most heavily forested parks and an Arthur Brown Jr. designed hospital, St. Joseph's.

Boundaries: Haight Street, Masonic Avenue, Roosevelt Way, Divisadero Street.

5G - Corona Heights- On the eastern side of Buena Vista Hill, a rocky hill juts upward, creating a dramatic silhouette that is rare for the center of a large city. Surrounding it is a park, playground, the Junior Museum and a circle of houses and duplexes.

Boundaries: States Street, Museum Way, Roosevelt Way, 15th, Beaver and Flint Streets.

5H - Clarendon Heights - To the lowlanders it's all Twin Peaks but this posh section of the city's second highest mountain (Mt. Davidson is taller) has another name. Tiled roofs and Spanish arches characterize its houses. The neighborhood is rich in open space, both on the peaks themselves and near the adjacent reservoir.

Boundaries: Clarendon and Palo Alto Avenues, Twin Peaks Boulevard and La Avanzada.

5J - Duboce Triangle - A rapidly changing area where painters' scaffolds are a common sight. These blocks contain many beautifully restored Victorian houses, a Scandinavian seaman's mission, Franklin Hospital and along Noe and Sanchez Streets, an example of how federal funds can be used to beautify an area as well as protect it from auto traffic.

Boundaries: the triangle (hence the name) formed by Duboce Avenue, Market and Castro Streets. It includes a portion of Eureka Valley.

5J - Mint Hill (Duboce) - Not long ago, newer residents or the neighborhood immediately surrounding the summit crowned by the United States Mint decided to organize and give the area a name. Hence, Mint Hill, whose chief landmarks, besides the money making operation, are Victorian houses, many of which have been spruced up to picture postcard quality, and the University or California Extension.

Boundaries: Market Street, Duboce Avenue, Steiner, Oak and Octavia Streets.

5K - Upper Market Area (Eureka)- A vague label that includes much of Eureka Valley and then some territory uphill from the Central Freeway and within the Market Street watershed. Old-timers would not recognize the commercial main stem itself, where one now finds art galleries, framing studios, handmade jewelry. a Greek delicatessen, a Scandinavian one, a Basque restaurant and a hi fi shopping center. On the hills either side of Market are steep, winding streets and a variety of architecture and lifestyles. Straddles a portion of the Mission District.

Boundaries: Central Freeway, Waller Street, Roosevelt Way, I 8th Street to 17th and Noe, thence an imaginary line running a block south of Market Street to the Central Freeway.