The Lakeshore area around Lake Merced was developed just before and after World War II as a "model community," complete with single family houses, apartments and townhouses. Like Park Merced, the real estate was state-of-the-art when built. A quick walk west from the lake to Fort Funston shows you what most of San Francisco looked like before it was developed: vast sand dunes with a few sturdy flowers and trees dotting the landscape.