The area straddles a shallow valley between Mint Hill and Upper Haight, sloping down from Oak Street (north) toward Duboce (south).

Adjacent neighborhoods include the Western Addition/Alamo Square to the north; Duboce Triangle to the south; Hayes Valley to the east; and the Upper Haight to the west.

[5] A mixture of restaurants, small nightclubs, cafes, drinking establishments, residences, galleries, and hair salons characterizes the Lower Haight.

[9][10] The San Francisco Zen Center is at the northeast edge of the neighborhood in an elegant brick building designed by famed architect Julia Morgan in 1922.

The heart of the neighborhood, at the corner of Fillmore and Haight, is six blocks from the subway stop of Church and Market, which is also the location of the city's largest supermarket, a Safeway.