Hacker News Reader

What about the Great Highway separating Ocean Beach from homes in San Francisco?

I don't know of any American cities on the coast that have a road between housing and the sand. Certainly not a major road.

Galveston, Texas.

Seattle, until recently. Though that wasn't sand, it was piers.

Rockaway Beach in New York City is definitely like that:

Hilly areas also often have railroads along the water since that is the flattest terrain.