Folsom

During the mid-19th century, SOMA became a burgeoning pioneer community, largely low-density residential, except for a business district that developed along 2nd and 3rd streets, and emerging industrial areas near the waterfront.  By the early 20th century, heavy industrial development due to its proximity to the docks of San Francisco Bay, with the advent of cable cars, had driven the wealthy over to Nob Hill and points west, as the neighborhood became a largely working-class and lower-middle-class community of recent European immigrants, sweatshops, power stations, flophouses, and factories.  New infill housing is intended to support families of various size, and to reinforce the pedestrian nature of Folsom Street.