The name broadly refers to the communities north of Berryman Street, south of Solano Avenue, east of Spruce and west of Albany.

It's bordered by the two commercial districts on Solano Avenue and Hopkins Street, as well as hilly terrain made up of volcanic rock, rhyolite, and 136 stairways carved into the landscape.

The Northbrae development area is visibly distinct for its pink sidewalks and many stone pillars topped with concrete globes denoting street names.

As with all of Mason-McDuffie Co. subdivisions, their homes in Northbrae included deed restrictions prohibiting sale to anyone who wasn't white.

The rock pillars and fountain were designed by John Galen Howard, the lead architect of the University of California, Berkeley campus.

The neighborhood was originally designed with the intention of each single family home having direct access to the train under the 1916 zoning law.