We expect a lot from infamous Capp St. in the northern Mission, but a prim/proper-looking woman eating yogurt in a parked Mercedes-Benz with a license plate frame that reads “I’d rather be sailing” isn’t on the list of anticipated results. After all, the diciest of dicey Mission side streets has a reputation to maintain. Shootings occur here on occasion - some very recently. And does anyone else remember when one Capp resident had it up to here with the street’s more unsavory elements and hurled rebar at Guido the Killer Pimp and a few of his direct reports several years ago? This isn’t exactly Presidio Heights....

In San Francisco’s continuing battle of needs vs. wants, Sacramento St. between Walnut and Laurel proudly sides with the throng promoting antique galleries, fancy-dan hat shops, and other finer things. Everyone knows it can’t be soup kitchens and public libraries on every block in town. Just the same, every city worth its salt has a well-coiffed neighborhood or set of blocks where it’s OK to fly one’s sophistication flag high and proud. San Francisco is endowed with several such areas, and if Presidio Heights’ business district isn’t at the head of the class, it’s at least kissing the teacher’s ass a hell of a lot to get there....

A photo of the gate in front of Presidio Terrace in San Francisco and a short discussion of the racial covenants affecting the history of the street....