Irish Hill, in the Upper Right Hand Corner, Irish Hill: Gone, and Mostly Forgotten Shown Around 1927
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PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF ANCHOR STEAM PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF ANCHOR STEAM Oldest Good Night Homelessness Businesses Tips for on the Hill INSIDE on the Hill Parents p. 8 p. 6 p. 11 p. 12-13 p. 16 p. 23 p. 27 NOVEMBER 2014 Serving the Potrero Hill, Dogpatch, Mission Bay and SOMA Neighborhoods Since 1970 FREE Publisher’s View: Changing Times BY STEVEN J. MOSS Although San Francisco’s population has grown at a more leisurely pace When I was five years old, at- than the rest of the state — there were tending kindergarten at Pioneer 715,674 souls here in 1970; roughly Elementary School in West Covina, 825,000 now — the City’s personal- roughly 18 million people lived in ity is constantly being made over. California. I walked to school from In the past forty years open fields a one-story four-bedroom bungalow and intermittent creeks in Mission built during the post-World War Bay and Potrero Hill, where unsu- II housing boom, most likely on a pervised kids explored nature and former walnut or orange grove, not played tag, have been paved over. long before my parents purchased it. Beloved businesses — The Daily By the time I graduated from the Scoop, the Greek restaurant S. Asi- University of California, Berkeley, makopoulos, and Klein’s Deli — have 17 years later, the state housed 25 closed or relocated. The area’s tight million people. Agricultural lands working-class Eastern European, and empty green spaces had been Irish, and Italian immigrant, and squeezed into a diminishing geog- later, African-American, communi- DETAIL OF UNITED STATES COAST SURVEY, ENTRANCE TO SAN FRANCISCO BAY, 1859, COURTESY DAVID RUMSEY MAP COLLECTION raphy, mostly in the Central Valley ties have been diminished by death, and far northern counties. Still, assimilation, and relocation, steadily Historical Maps Tell Hill’s Story unfettered by traffic, it never took replaced by third- or fourth-gener- BY ABIGAIL JOHNSTON View’s “McKinley Square” graphic more than 25 minutes to drive from ation Americans with ample folding AND PETER LINENTHAL novel serial by Simon Stahl. Berkeley to San Francisco over the money in their pockets, or stored in The discovery of gold in 1848 Bay Bridge. Today, there’s in excess their iPhones. The maps in this special View issue changed everything. San Francisco’s of 37 million Californians. Between Change is constant. The baby girl reflect Potrero Hill’s past and imagine population exploded, from 459 in 1847 when I learned to tie my shoes and I held in my arms a blink ago is now its future. As seen in map above, the to more than 30,000 in 1850. The Gold to master macroeconomics the state’s applying for high schools, and will Hill used to be a peninsula, bounded Rush prompted demand for gunpowder population had more than doubled. soon be leaving for college. The me of by Mission Bay to the north, San Fran- to blast rock in the mountains. Due Any adult who was raised in today would be barely recognizable cisco Bay to the east, with Islais Cove to an ordinance banning dangerous California has experienced a diz- to my younger self, with a hairline and Islais Creek—labeled Du Vrees industries in populated areas, two zying sense of dislocation, even Creek—to the south. (Interior land was if they’ve never moved from the not charted for this coast survey map.) MAPS page 16 neighborhood in which they grew up. PUBLISHER’S VIEW page 30 Native American Ohlone lived in the area for thousands of years, mov- housing units. These tend to be more ing seasonally between small villages Southside Neighborhoods Evolving Fast family-friendly — 35 percent of hous- to follow the cycle of food availability. BY RYAN BERGMANN next few years. ing is two bedrooms; 32 percent three In 1776, when Spain claimed the land San Francisco is undergoing rapid That doesn’t include 1,800 units that bedrooms or more — than the rest of the for its Mission San Francisco de Asis— economic and population growth, in could replace 600 dilapidated spaces City, with a lower percentage of studios. Mission de Dolores on the map—tradi- part prompted by recent changes in at the Potrero Annex-Terrace public In an effort to create more family- tional Native American life was forever land-use policies adopted to accom- housing complex. A draft environmental friendly housing, the Plan requires 40 altered. The Mission padres sought to modate housing demand. Between impact report for that project — dubbed percent of units in new developments to convert the Ohlone to Christianity; they 2010 and 2014, the City added roughly “Rebuild Potrero” — has just been re- have two or more bedrooms. Develop- also put them to work. A wall built by 20,000 people. The epicenter of this leased. The developer, Bridge Housing, ers have responded by adhering to the the Ohlone stretched from Islais Creek population boomlet is in the Southside hopes to break ground on the first of 40 percent rule as tightly as possible, to Mission Dolores to form a western neighborhoods: the Central Waterfront, three construction phases by the end of focusing mostly on two-bedroom spaces. border. Local historians and archeolo- Mission District, Mission Bay, Potrero next year. In total, nearly 4,000 new units Offerings of three-bedroom-plus units gists were disappointed several years Hill, eastern South-of-Market, and could be added to Dogpatch, Potrero are scant, making up just 50 — two per- ago when the restructuring of Potrero Showplace Square. These historically Hill, and Showplace Square in the next cent — of the 2,500 units in the construc- del Sol Park on Potrero Avenue just industrial areas were rezoned in 2008 decade, increasing the total stock in the tion pipeline. north of Cesar Chavez Street didn’t by the Eastern Neighborhoods Plan, area by almost two-thirds. J.R. Eppler, Potrero Boosters Neigh- turn up any remnants of the old wall. which transitioned about half the land Based on 2012 data from the Ameri- borhood Association president, is con- The land thus enclosed became previously designated for industrial can Communities Survey, Dogpatch and known as Potrero Nuevo—New Pas- uses to mixed-use commercial-housing Potrero Hill presently have roughly 6,200 SOUTHSIDE page 16 ture —and was home to the Mission’s zones. The Plan took nearly a decade to livestock. After Mexico gained in- complete; it’s now ushering in what could Dogpatch and Potrero Hill More Family-Friendly Than the Rest of the City dependence from Spain in 1821, the be upwards of 10,000 new housing units 40% missions became a painful reminder to Southside San Francisco. 35% of Spanish authority. Gradually mis- Potrero Hill, Dogpatch, and Show- 30% Studio sion lands were secularized, and place Square have experienced a wave 25% transferred to well-to-do Mexican of high-density residential development, 20% 1 Bedroom 15% and Spanish settlers. In 1844, Potrero as bottled-up projects were unleashed 2 Bedroom 10% Nuevo was granted to two sons of San by passage of the Plan and the end of 3 Bedroom+ 5% Francisco’s first mayor, Francisco the 2008 Great Recession. Roughly 2,500 0% de Haro, a story documented in the units will be built in the area over the Potrero Hill/Central Waterfront SF Total 4 THE POTRERO VIEW November 2014 from, when he was six. After Brent worked as a draftsman, and painted graduated high school, he thought in his kitchen at night. In search of SHORT CUTS about going to art school, but the an affordable space that had room draft board had other plans. After enough for him to paint, he moved so a stint in the Navy, he arrived in often that he lost count. Eventually, San Francisco Bucket List lease…Irfan Yalçin, who runs Pera, San Francisco in 1967, drawn by the he landed at the Serta Building, a a tasty Mediterranean restaurant Beat artists and poets. He received former mattress factory at 23rd and Christopher’s Books and Aperto on 18th Street, is opening two new a master of fine arts from San Yosemite. More than thirty artists are featured in 100 Things to Do establishments: L’Emigrante at Francisco State University, study- lived there, forming a community in San Francisco Before You Die, 18th and Mission streets, where The ing with noted Bay Area sculptor where everybody looked out for one a new book that gives an insider’s Corner once stood, and a French bis- Stephen de Staebler, among others. view of neighborhood treasures, on tro next door to Weird Fish, which He raised his son as a single parent, SHORT CUTS page 33 sale, of course, at Christopher’s… will soon be closing. The wine bar Sensei Bill Stefanacci is offering launched last month at 2199 Mission free karate lessons Mondays and Street. The restaurant’s name is Wednesdays from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m., from a movie about an Italian im- Letters to the Editor Saturdays 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., at the migrant coming to America, a fitting Potrero Hill Neighborhood House… title for Yalçin, who is a Kurdish Editor, munity benefits which we feel will help Red Bull’s Gravity Sports Event immigrant from Turkey. “With all Grow Potrero Responsibly recently mitigate some of the project’s impacts. will take place on De Haro Street the diverse ethnicities in Mission I organized a meeting with the 1601 Mar- Among our proposals: an onsite public between Southern Heights and 18th would like to bring wines around the iposa Street developer, Related, Inc., community center; active ground floor streets; 19th between Carolina and world at very affordable prices,” he and several community organizations, with commercial and retail space; ex- De Haro streets; and 20th Street said.