[4] Forest Hill is located near the middle of the City of San Francisco, southeast of the Inner Sunset and northeast of West Portal.

Boundaries are roughly Seventh Avenue/Laguna Honda Boulevard to the north and east, Taraval Street to the south, and 14th Avenue to the west.

[6]: 86–87  Like other "residence parks" in San Francisco, Forest Hill was intended as a racially exclusive, white-only enclave for economic elites.

When a man selects a homesite in this tract it is done with the positive assurance that there will be nothing disagreeable to mar the serenity of the most fastidious.The streets in Forest Hill were originally built for horse and carriage, making them unusually wide.

These streets in Forest Hill did not conform to San Francisco's standards regarding width and grade, and therefore were not initially approved nor maintained by the City until 1978.