On a sunny day in Potrero Hill – a neighborhood with more than its share of sunshine in a more often foggy city – cafes and open spaces tend to be well-populated. Crowds mill outside Plow; the ting! sound of bat on ball, and subsequent hoots and hollers of a softball game, can be heard at Jackson Park; dogs and their companions sniff the grass at Esprit Park.
Metin has helped make his family-run restaurant – Pera, located on 18th and Connecticut streets – a neighborhood pillar. For almost six years the eatery has offered a delicious array of Mediterranean lunch and dinner plates, while contributing time and food to local school fundraisers, particularly Daniel Webster Elementary School, which is just a few blocks away. Metin lives in Oakland; his time on the Hill is usually limited to restaurant hours.
Ben, a second generation Hill resident and Christopher’s Books bookkeeper, sees the neighborhood at all times of the day. Ben’s passion for “connecting with people one-on-one” nurtures his love of the neighborhood. Still, love has its limits. Ben finds some recent community trends as unwelcome, including the erratic driving habits of commuters and a decline in friendliness, so much so that he’s begun to imagine calling somewhere other than the Hill “home.”
Olivier, who has lived in two different Dogpatch locations, spewed out a long list of favorite locations for eating and drinking faster than you could say “Dogpatch Saloon.” He too sees drastic changes to the neighborhood he’s called home for a decade and a half. Still, the newfound sense of community amongst his more recently arrived neighbors keeps him in the area.
Wyatt and Lindsey, former Dogpatch residents who now share a Noe Valley apartment, regularly travel to Esprit Park to visit friends and feel a part of their old neighborhood again. Ryan, Steve, and Tyler, three friends who work in marketing and technology, venture to Dogpatch for lunch at Just For You Café, or share ice cream cones at Mr. and Mrs. Miscellaneous, despite living and working in completely different quadrants of the Bay Area. Tyler lives in Oakland, and commutes to San Francisco daily for work and to volunteer once a month at the University of California, San Francisco Benioff Children’s Hospital. Ryan and Steve are Inner Richmond residents. All three have friends who live in Dogpatch, who encourage more frequent visits.
According to Lisa, who’s lived in Dogpatch for about a year, the neighborhood is starkly different from her former Russian Hill residence. Community engagement, online and in-person, fosters an “extremely neighborhood friendly” sensibility that creates a “small-town feel.”
Metin said that newer patrons to Pera tend to be young, single and less consistent customers than his longer-tenured regulars. Aiden, an 18th and Illinois streets resident for more than 25 years, finds that his interactions with the latest crowd are “transactional.” He believes appreciation for a strong sense of community and overall friendliness is declining as the area’s population grows. Ben echoed this sentiment, pointing to an “aloofness,” combined with an “obsession with wealth and technology,” that’s creating a new Hill culture. The sight of Maseratis and other luxury cars cruising through the neighborhood is becoming commonplace.
