A Photo History of the Hill

The small hill where the Pasadena street lot is located is ringed by Santos, Geneva, Castillo, and Velasco streets. In the past it was a place for kids to play and look out upon the valley, but eventually was cut down for houses.

Prehistory

Before development and colonization, Visitacion Valley was home to the Yelamu Ohlone villages of Tubsinte and Amuctac. Two creeks flowed freely from the hills to the marshes ringing Visitacion Bay; now filled in by the dump and abandoned Southern Pacific railyard. This photo was taken in the 1920s before many houses were built and the creeks still flowed. One flowed right past the small hill in the center of this image where the Pasadena street lot exists today. Explore this landscape in the 3D Visitacion Valley Explorer.

1918

Here, Visitacion valley is still rural, Walbridge, now Geneva Avenue runs at the left, and the hill is behind the telephone pole.

1928

Windmills filled Visitacion valley in the early days of the city. The hill can be seen between the two windmills in this photograph. A creek is just to the left of the windmills, cloaked in dark vegetation.

1936

In the 30s, the valley was beginning to be filled with residential homes. The area around the hill (in the center of the photo) was still farmland and greenhouses.

1937

The Geneva streetcar used to run by the hill, taking a left turn off of Geneva onto Rio Verde, eventually making it to Bayshore Boulevard. The tracks can still be seen in the warehouse area off of McDonald Avenue. Here the streetcar is stopped to the South of the hill, whose slopes are behind the 'keep to the right' sign.

1938

Here you can see the creek that once flowed from the entrance to Visitacion Valley, (Where Geneva is today) around the North side of the Hill (where Velasco Avenue is today) and to the bay.

1940s

The Cow palace was built across the street from the hill and the Sunnydale Housing projects were constructed to the North during world war two.

1948

Houses were first built around the hill and the West face was cut back for Santos street. The creek was filled in to create Velasco Avenue and the Sunnydale housing projects. There was some erosion of the soil slopes due to the construction.

1956

A photo of the kids playing on the hill, colloquially known as "Santos Hill" at the time, taken by Dorothea Lange across the street from the 1956 Republican National Convention. The bottom left is the same view in 2019. You can see how much the hill was cut back from the street for new houses on Santos. Below is the view from Velasco avenue in 1956.

1960s

This photo taken from approximately where Carter street is today, looks over the upper Cow palace parking lot to the hill.The center part of the ridge has been graded down for the construction of Pasadena street and houses.

1962

The Houses built on the crest of the hill cut it down significantly and created the dead end of Pasadena street that exists today.

1970s-90s

In the late 60s, the Geneva towers were built in the valley, they were demolished in the late 90s. The hill remained mostly unchanged in this time, and its summit can be seen in the bottom left corner of this photo. Below is the view from Santos street.

1990s

Excavators and bulldozers tore down the side of the hill on Santos street to make way for new homes. The cypress tree on top of the hill in this photo is still there today.

2000 to Today

Houses fenced in the hill along Santos cutting its slopes to be steeper, and leaving only the Pasadena street lot accessible to the public. The lot has become overgrown with fennel, and a dumping ground for the neighborhood. One side of the hill is choked in dense English ivy and can be seen from Velasco. The Sunnydale Public housing across the street is being redeveloped by mercy housing.

the hillside in 2016, a few years after its last weeding by DPW

the hillside in 2020, overgrown with fennel, with some removal done.

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse