Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts

The Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts occupies a sprawling campus at five hundred fifty-five Portola Drive, perched on a hilltop in the Diamond Heights neighborhood. While the school bears the name of the acclaimed sculptor Ruth Asawa, its presence here was initially planned as a temporary measure when the school first opened in nineteen eighty-two. Asawa envisioned the arts high school located near the city’s opera, ballet, and symphony houses in the Civic Center, believing students should be immersed in the professional cultural life of the city.