Cesar Chavez Street runs roughly east-west from Third Street near the bay, through Hunters Point and Bayview, crossing Highway 280 and Highway 101, running through Potrero Hill, the Mission and Bernal Heights, and then uphill to Noe Street, where it dead-ends and re-appears — and again at Castro and Diamond streets.
This street has been well known as a place for day laborers to get work, since at least 1990.
In the 1950s, neighborhood anti-highway activism stopped a street-widening and house demolition project at Guerrero Street.
The underpass at Highway 101 and Cesar Chavez is a camping spot for homeless people.
Renaming
The street was originally called Army Street, but renamed for Cesar Chavez in 1995 amid much controversy. This could be a whole subpage... --aa
Cesar The Man
Cesar Chavez (1927-1993) was a Chicano civil rights activist who spearheaded efforts among agricultural laborers and helped form what eventually turned into the United Farm Workers union. More information about César Chávez can be found here.
Bike-Friendliness
Local bike groups and a neighborhood organization called CC Puede are working on making Cesar Chavez Street a safe, bike-friendly corridor. (See http://www.sfbike.org/?cesarchavez.) But right now, it's not very bike-friendly.
Accessibility
The sidewalks along Cesar Chavez Street in the Mission are fairly accessible for manual wheelchairs, with curb cuts. But they're nothing fancy. Crossing this street where it's 6 lanes of traffic, between 101 and Guerrero, is quite difficult even at the lights. There's heavy traffic.
Public Transportation
While no buses travel the length of Cesar Chavez Street, the 27 bus spans several blocks of it on its loop to and from Bryant Street. The J-Church and T-Third Muni rail lines transverse it at Church and Third streets, respectively. The nearest BART station is at 24th and Mission. The 22nd Street Caltrain Station is not too far away.
