Potrero Hill resident and musician, Daniel Berkman, composes rhythmic, resonant songs for a multitude of instruments, which he regularly performs at Farley’s. His primary instrument is the kora, a 21-stringed West African harp-lute the size of a cello. Berkman also plays guitar, keyboards and synthesizers, string instruments – cello, viola da gamba, and ukulele –…
It’s a Saturday afternoon in late February. Art lovers and creatives are arriving for a pair of exhibit openings in the adjacent art galleries of Catharine Clark and Brian Gross, at 248 Utah Street. The spacious rooms rapidly fill with perhaps 100 guests sipping wine and conversing in small groups that mix, disperse and regroup.…
Since 2016, the Dogpatch/Northwest Potrero Hill Green Benefit District (GBD), the City’s only GBD, has focused its efforts on greening streets and improving common spaces. During that same three-year period residents of other neighborhoods – Mission Dolores, Buena Vista, and the Inner Sunset – have engaged in heated debates about whether to establish a GBD…
The newest arrival to Mission Bay is 826 Valencia, a nonprofit that works with under-resourced children and youth, ages eight to 18. The organization opened its 1310 Fourth Street location last month. It offers a three-part program: homework help, writing projects and reading support. Sessions are three hours long, from 2:45 to 6 p.m., Monday through…
When Dr. Linda Shiue became Kaiser Permanente’s first-ever director of culinary medicine at the San Francisco Medical Center three years ago, she saw an opportunity to address a gap in care that she recognized over 15 years of practicing medicine. “I realized that in my career as a primary care doctor I could only do…
In 2015, voters approved Proposition K to streamline the process of identifying surplus municipally-owned land that could be used for affordable housing. The voter guide indicated that there’d be specific reporting dates for public agencies, hearings and oversight by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors (BoS). Three years later, the City has passed on the…
The San Francisco Unified School District held a briefing last fall to collect community reactions to a planned pre-kindergarten through fifth grade campus, to be built adjacent to the Owens Street traffic circle. The first of many anticipated public engagements, the meeting, held at the Mercy Housing Community Room on Fourth Street, was well attended by…
The Esprit Community Advisory Group (ECAG) was formed last year to recommend approaches to the San Francisco Parks and Recreation Department about how to best maintain and renovate Esprit Park. Members include Dogpatch resident Susan Fitch, Irma Lewis of Toes and Paws for Green Space, Green Benefit District executive director Julie Christensen, and Dogpatch Neighborhood…
Pennsylvania Garden is located at 249 Pennsylvania Avenue, underneath a John F. Foran Freeway off-ramp near 18th street. Pennsylvania Railroad Garden is on the east side of the 100 block of Pennsylvania Avenue. Collectively known as the “Pennsylvania Street Gardens” (PSG), the plots suffer from maladies that plague many San Francisco’s parks: pedestrians and dog-walkers…
Farley’s, a cozy coffee shop located at 1315 18th Street, was founded by Roger Hillyard after he was unable to find a retailer that sold a glass insert replacement for his broken French press. He decided to open a coffee and tea paraphernalia store, which he named after his grandfather, Jack Farley, who disappeared in…
McRoskey Mattress, which had been the oldest family-owned manufacturer in San Francisco, closed its Minnesota Street plant last fall after selling its production and brand rights to Fresno-based Pleasant Mattress. The shift marks a new chapter for the iconic company, which now focuses solely on retail sales. McRoskey was established in 1899 by brothers Edward…
Dogpatch and Potrero Hill residents, along with their neighborhood associations, are unhappy that vaping company JUUL has leased space at historic Pier 70. The nicotine-supplying e-cigarette maker is occupying 8,000 square feet of office space at Building 102, on 20th and Illinois streets. In June, the View broke the news that Orton Development, which is…
Dogpatch residents are wondering when the San Francisco Municipal Transit Agency (SFMTA) will follow through on promises it made when it developed its motor coach facility along Islais Creek, or whether the agency intends to comply at all. When SFMTA obtained permits to build its facility plans called for an accessible second floor viewing area…
The Manufacturing Foundry, a new outpost of the longstanding San Francisco makers coalition, SFMade, and its sister nonprofit, PlaceMade, opened in early 2017 in the Design District. Together, these nonprofits, both of which are headed by Kate Sofis, advise San Francisco manufacturing companies, helping them find affordable spaces, negotiate leases, and, in collaboration with various…
Since 1988, University of California, San Francisco’s Art for Recovery, an art-making, writing, and music program for adults living with cancer, has helped thousands of patients build confidence in themselves and work toward mental wellness. The series is open to anyone dealing with cancer; participants don’t have to be UCSF patients or even under care…
Doug North Slope resident Encountered on De Haro Street “It’s too bad Tony didn’t win. District 10 is enormous. We’ll see what happens when Shamann gets into office. I’m hopeful. I hope he’ll be responsive to the northern part of the District. I felt like the last supervisor focused on the southern part of the…
The second phase of a $25 million Third Street Bridge – more popularly known as “Lefty O’Doul Bridge” – rehabilitation project started last fall, with work expected to continue through early 2020, according to the San Francisco Department of Public Works (SFDPW). Despite the bridge work, pedestrians, bicyclists, vehicles, and kayaks still have access above…
Last summer, Stagecoach Greens, on Fourth Street, joined Urban Putt, which opened on South Van Ness Avenue in 2014, in offering San Franciscans a miniature golf experience created by San Franciscans. Co-founders Esther Stearns and Jan Cohn Stearns are keeping it local. They can see the course from their house, employ their kids’ friends, and…
Last month marked the opening of Art and China After 1989: Theater of the World, at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. The prodigious exhibit is littered with three-dimensional objects, videos, maps, paintings, and other items. Setting aside the crisp, white-walled institutional setting, wandering the galleries prompts a feeling of touring a community garage…
Starting last month, the 22nd Street and Fourth Street Caltrain stations are no longer open on weekends. The closings are to accommodate installation of a catenary rail system that’ll allow Caltrain to convert the majority of its line from diesel to electric trains, known as Electric Multiple Units (EMU). Until construction is completed, weekend train…
According to Inc., San Francisco is the country’s most expensive city. Business Insider recently reported that Northern California is among the most prosperous economies in the world. While this may be great news for young people engaged in the lucrative sectors fueling growth, such as social media, high living costs have made life challenging for…
Earlier this fall, more than 100 people turned out to view a proposed new design for Jackson Park, which features an elevated promenade around the park, community center with rooftop tennis court and adjacent plaza, large public open space at the corner of Mariposa and Carolina streets, restored clubhouse, new picnic area outside the ballfields,…
Malia Cohen was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors by a razor thin margin eight years ago. This December, the 41-year-old will be termed out of office, leaving her post as Board president. Her years as District 10 Supervisor will likely most be remembered for the building boom that occurred under her watch,…
A proposed merger between Dignity Health and Catholic Health Initiatives has raised concerns about access to care for women, transgender, and low-income patients, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. Nurses in Dignity’s California hospital system are also worried that the merger could disrupt labor union contracts and job security. At the same time, the…