[4] At the northern foot of the hill is Ghirardelli Square, which sits on the waterfront of the San Francisco Bay, Aquatic Park, and Fisherman's Wharf, a popular tourist area.

A trip down the winding turns of Lombard Street and across Columbus Avenue to the east leads to the neighborhood of North Beach.

The neighborhood's name goes back to the Gold Rush-era, when settlers discovered a small Russian cemetery at the top of the hill.

[6][5][7] The switchbacks design of Lombard Street was first suggested by property owner Carl Henry[8] and was built in 1922,[9] intended to reduce the hill's natural 27 percent grade,[10] which was too steep for most vehicles to climb.

[citation needed] San Francisco Police Department Central Station, Metro Division serves Russian Hill.

The cast of The Real World: San Francisco, which aired in 1994, lived in the house at 949 Lombard Street on Russian Hill from February 12 to June 19, 1994.

[24] In Anne Rice's book The Wolf Gift, the main character, Reuben Golding, grew up in Russian Hill.

John "Scottie" Ferguson, a character played by James Stewart lives at 900 Lombard Street in Alfred Hitchcock's film Vertigo (1958).