North Beach

North Beach is a neon-studded nightlife area clustered around Broadway and Columbus. Three blocks north is Washington Square, the piazza of the city’s Italian sector. North Beach is a neighborhood in the northeast of San Francisco adjacent to Chinatown and Fisherman’s Wharf. The neighborhood is San Francisco’s “Little Italy”, and has historically been home to a large Italian American population. It is still home to many Italian restaurants though many other ethnic groups are in the neighborhood. It was also the historic center of the beatnik subculture. Today, North Beach is one of San Francisco’s main nightlife districts. It’s also a residential neighborhood with a mix of young urban professionals and Chinese immigrants connected to the adjacent Chinatown.