The temperature in the Outer Sunset is around five degrees lower than the rest of San Francisco, but it always feels much colder. There, the sun struggles to penetrate overcast skies and the wind seeps through rows of single-family townhouses, unhindered by skyscrapers or housing complexes. It’s an unattractive expanse of mid-century architecture built on…
The San Francisco Center for the Book (SFCB), located on 375 Rhode Island Street, has stood the test of time; 25 years to be exact. Jeff Thomas, executive director since 2012, attributes the nonprofit’s longevity to a strong constituency as well as the organization’s flexibility and nimbleness. “There’s a real legacy and tradition here that…
Located at 1500 Owens Street, Oda originally opened in 2014 as a coffeeshop catering to the University of California, San Francisco crowd. Today, it’s a full-service restaurant with ample indoor and outdoor dining serving a growing neighborhood. Emin Tekin took over the establishment in 2018, seeking to build a community-driven, family friendly establishment. Having trained…
McEvoy Foundation for the Arts in Dogpatch celebrates the City’s masked reopening with Next to You,an ode to in-person gatherings. The exhibition features 52 pieces from the McEvoy Family Collection, with a focus on performing arts and public spaces. The gallery positions the show as “a farewell ballad to a strange and challenging time and…
Nick Osborne and his fiancé, Monique, were workmates in the restaurant his family owns, Mission Rock Resort Oyster Bar & Grill, so naturally that’s where they tied the knot in 2017. They hosted 250 friends and relatives at their wedding ceremony and reception at the bayside establishment, among a dozen or so couples who’ve celebrated…
Peter Linenthal is a neighborhood treasure. As Potrero Hill Archives Project director, he’s educated and entertained audience members for the last twenty-one years at annual ‘Potrero Hill History Nights.’ He has a passion for collecting historic maps, artifacts, and photographs of Hill people, places and things, spending thousands of hours searching out and organizing newspaper…
“Hi neighbors. I’m John…I have lived in Dogpatch since 1959. I attended the Elementary School which is now closed at 1060 Tennessee Street. You may see me walking every day with a cane.” Several months ago, this post greeted Dogpatch and Potrero Hill residents on the social networking app Nextdoor. Neighbors chimed in: “John is…
Black Mountain College was founded in 1933 based on the belief that the study of art was central to education. Over the years notable faculty and students included textile artist and printmaker Anni Albers, experimental composer John Cage, and San Francisco sculpture superstar Ruth Asawa. Although the school closed in 1957 it had an outsized…
Over more than three decades Homeless Prenatal Program (HPP) has helped thousands of unhoused pregnant women and families, offering health, job training and child development services. The nonprofit may soon expand its assistance to include affordable housing. In May, the San Francisco Planning Commission recommended approval of the 18th Street Affordable Housing Special Use District…
Live music is returning to Potrero Hill, with Thee Parkside and Bottom of the Hill planning shows for this summer. Thee Parkside doesn’t have an official “welcome back to live music” event scheduled but is preparing for performances for a yet determined August date. Who the players will be isn’t known. The bar and grill…
Starting last month, visitors to Sextant Coffee, located on Folsom and 10th streets, had their beverage of choice prepared by someone other than owner Kinani Ahmed. After performing every task himself for the previous year and a half, Ahmed is rebuilding the team he lost at the beginning of the public health crisis. An energetic…
Four local pizzerias not only survived, but thrived, during the ebbing COVID-19 crisis, adapting their businesses to shifting consumer habits. Launched more than 45 years ago, Goat Hill Pizza, located on the corner of 18th and Connecticut streets, has a storied presence on Potrero Hill. It’s one of the community’s longest continuously operating restaurants, co-founded…
The windows above Christopher’s Books at Missouri and 18th streets come alive from 8:30 to 10 p.m. on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through July 18. Family photographs taken between 1880 and 1960 appear from a selection of hundreds found recently in a Potrero Hill basement. Also shown is a 1932 film of a festive procession…
At least one corner of Potrero Hill blossomed during the pandemic: the permaculture agriculture plot at Rhode Island and 18th streets. Founded in 2008, the holistic garden had fallen into disorder. When shelter-in-place began, Travers Flynn, who lives across the street, saw an opportunity to put his surplus time and energy to use. “I was…
KADIST, an arts organization founded in Paris, France, that promotes interdisciplinary work, is exhibiting Seeing Sound, a blend of sound and video art, at its 20th Street gallery. Curated by Barbara London, an advocate of sound art since the 1970s, the show debuts in San Francisco before travelling internationally. Three distinct modes of contemporary sound…
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, commuters used to park on Vermont Street to avoid steep garage prices in Showplace Square and elsewhere nearby. Assuming these travelers ultimately return, residents will no longer have to compete with them for spots; the 500 block of Vermont Street now requires a parking permit for extended stays. Prior to the…
A proposal to demolish a Victorian and replace it with a larger modern home at 249 Texas Street has drawn the ire of neighbors. Kerry Shapiro and Joanne Siu purchased the Texas Street property in 2019 for $1.6 million. They’re planning to live in the newly customized home with their daughter and Siu’s 81-year-old mother.…
Broadcasting through the end of the month, Radio Coyote features experimental music, archival recordings, interviews, and improvisational content. The standalone project, available at 88.1 FM or online at radiocoyote.org, is orchestrated by 2020-2021 Capp Street Artist-in-Residence Raven Chacon, a composer, performer, and installation artist from Fort Defiance, Navajo Nation in Arizona, under the sponsorship of…
Award-winning contemporary artist Raymond Saunders has chosen two San Francisco galleries as sites for his first solo exhibition in more than a decade. A major figure in contemporary art, Saunders graduated with a Master of Fine Arts from the California College of the Arts in 1961, where he went on to teach, and has been…
Most of the roughtly 100 participants at last month’s virtual meeting about a proposed development at 1458 San Bruno Avenue vehemently opposed the project. “For the people in the neighborhood, it seems like an alien spaceship is landing and completely gentrifying the neighborhood,” said one attendee, who didn’t disclose his name. The Goode family has…
Condominiums offered at below-market-rates (BMR) to moderate-income buyers are being developed at 350 China Basin Street, where an eight-story building on Mission Bay South Block 9A (MB9A) is in the design process. The edifice will ultimately feature 148 BMR condos available to first-time homebuyers who earn 80 to 110 percent of San Francisco’s Area Median…
Whenever Catherine Rathsam sinks her fingers into a ball of clay the monotony and stress of the pandemic momentarily dissolves, replaced by a calm focus familiar to creatives everywhere. Rathsam engages in her art at Clayroom SoMa, the latest addition to San Francisco’s growing roster of ceramic studios. “It has been a lifesaver, because otherwise…
During the public health crisis, long-time Dogpatch resident Adam Zolot rededicated himself to standup paddle boarding. Living across the street from the newly opened Crane Cove Park, he no longer had to lug his board to Pier 52, instead accessing the Central Waterfront with ease. Zolot saw the park as an opportunity to share his…
Potrero Hill artist, Anahid Aslanyan, described her style as “modern mysticism, art that comes from the spirit and explores the dream universe of the soul…intuitive, a magical process translating my emotional truths into color and form.” Aslanyan works with acrylics, aqua oils, mixed media, collage, and found objects. Nature often inspires her, with music and…
Two exhibitions are on view at the Museum of Craft and Design in Dogpatch, with clocked entries, adherence to public health guidelines, and 3D tours available online. The shows explore a common theme: the passage of time. Encoded Holidays is a retrospective look at a 30-year collaboration between Bay Area designers Gary Hutton and Tom…