Scroll through the photos below to see the history of this storied area of San Francisco. Once the site of farms and homesteads, it survived the Great Depression, flourished in the 60s and then went through another economic downturn before\u00a0becoming the tourist destination it is today. <\/span><\/p>\n Photo: OpenSFHistory\/wnp13.234.jpg<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n Before the Market\u00a0Street Cable Railway was built in 1883<\/a>, Haight-Ashbury was mostly sand dunes and farms.\u00a0After the railway made it more accessible, it became an\u00a0upper-middle-class area.<\/p>\n The Haight Street line of the Market Street Cable Railway was powered by the Market and Valencia Powerhouse, with cars operating from a car barn near Golden Gate Park.<\/p>\n Photo: OpenSFHistory\/wnp27.1305.jpg<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n Chutes at the Beach was an amusement park built in 1895<\/a> and moved to San Francisco’s\u00a0Richmond district in 1902. The main attraction was a 60-foot structure that shot a gondola down into an artificial lake. Unheard of at the time, it reached a speed of 60 miles per hour.<\/span><\/p>\n Photo: OpenSFHistory\/wnp27.0594.jpg<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n Haight-Ashbury was one of the few neighborhoods spared from the rampant fires and utter destruction of San Francisco’s\u00a01906 earthquake<\/a>.\u00a0However, the earthquake also caused a food shortage in the city, and<\/span>\u00a0those living in\u00a0the area\u00a0unfortunately did have to deal with that.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Photo: OpenSFHistory\/wnp27.1157.jpg<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n Less fortunate families stayed as refugees in Golden Gate Park after the earthquake hit.\u00a0Haight-Ashbury became an\u00a0extremely desirable place to live due to the low amount of damage it suffered during the earthquake.<\/span><\/p>\n Photo: OpenSFHistory\/wnp14.0673.jpg<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n Buena Vista Park is San Francisco’s oldest official park<\/a>. It’s located on a steep hill, and interestingly the paths along its west side are lined with gutters made of broken headstones from Victorian cemeteries in the city’s Laurel Heights area.<\/p>\n Photo: OpenSFHistory\/wnp14.0116.jpg<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n Built in 1924, the Kezar Pavilion is an outdoor venue with space for 4,000 people. In the 1960s and 1970s, the Bay Bombers, a roller derby team, frequently played at the pavilion.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Photo: OpenSFHistory\/wnp14.3755.jpg<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n Even in the 1940s, when\u00a0vehicles were much slower and Ubers and Lyfts didn’t exist, congested streets and\u00a0traffic jams were inevitable.<\/span><\/p>\n Photo: OpenSFHistory\/wnp32.0057.jpg<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n The 7-Haight streetcar<\/a>\u00a0existed from 1882 until 1948, only two years after the\u00a0photo above was taken. Its\u00a0turnaround spot was located in front of where Amoeba Records now sits.<\/span><\/p>\n Photo: OpenSFHistory\/wnp28.1265.jpgg<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n Haight-Ashbury \u2014 or \u201cHashbury,\u201d as Hunter S. Thompson liked to call it \u2014 offered the first ever head shop for those looking to easily purchase marijuana or LSD.<\/span><\/p>\n Photo: OpenSFHistory\/wnp25.1915.jpg<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n After \u201cThe Summer of Love\u201d in 1967, Haight-Ashbury\u00a0fell into a period of economic downturn\u00a0due to\u00a0excessive drug use and lack of police presence. Even so,\u00a0that year locals like Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane and The Doors could still be found playing at venues in the area.<\/span><\/p>\n Photo: OpenSFHistory\/wnp25.1914.jpg<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n Haight-Ashbury began to recover from its economic downturn in the late 1970s.<\/p>\nCable railway cars near\u00a0Golden Gate Park, 1900<\/b><\/h2>\n
![\"golden](\"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/golden-gate-park.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nChutes at the Beach, 1901<\/b><\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nBreadline in front of the Terminal Hotel, 1906<\/b><\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nRefugees lining up for supplies outside the\u00a0Young Men\u2019s Hebrew Association, 1906<\/b><\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nBuena Vista Park, 1910<\/b><\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nKezar Pavilion construction, 1924<\/b><\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nStreetcar and fire engine collision\u00a0at Page Street and Clayton Street, 1944<\/b><\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n7-Haight streetcar, 1946<\/b><\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nHippies in front of Stewart\u2019s Style-O-Rama Barber Shop, 1967<\/b><\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nCrowd of young people at Haight Street and\u00a0Cole Street, 1969<\/b><\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nHaight Street and Ashbury Street, 1969<\/b><\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nLooking North from Twin Peaks, 1978<\/b><\/h2>\n