by Murray Schneider “Won’t you be my neighbor?” Children and parents, sans Tom Hanks in red cardigan and sneakers, gathered at 10 a.m. on Nov.24 at the foot of the neighborhood’s lower Detroit Street steps to kick off the inaugural step-a-thon run, a fundraiser to beautify a Sunnyside neighborhood landmark. An early fall chill had […]
The Glen Park email lists have a new home
The Glen Park Parents list is dead. Long live the Glen Park Parents list! Fifteen years ago, I launched an email group for parents in Glen Park. The idea was to help connect people and give a stronger sense of community. It worked. Today the group has 2,277 members. That first email was a notice […]
Deb Lunsford’s rent party at Bird and Beckett — What goes ’round, comes ’round
“Dollars for Deb” Eric Whittington billed the fund-raiser. Whittington, proprietor of Bird & Beckett, has thrown rent parties with live jazz before, to help keep his independent bookstore open for another month. But over the summer, he threw a rent party for Destination Bakery’s Deb Lunsford, a neighborhood favorite who’s recovering from surgery. Bakery regulars […]
We’re swimming in change in San Francisco
San Francisco is constantly reinventing itself. Gold Rush seekers giving way to Comstock silver barons. Merchantman brigs surrendering to coal powered steamships, then complemented by coal-powered railroads. The latter engineered by entrepreneurs with names such as Stanford, Huntington, Hopkins and Crocker. Which got me thinking about how, less than a century later, the outer Sunset […]
Sunnyside’s Detroit Street steps got spruced up on June 8
The Detroit Street steps in Sunnyside are getting a spruce up and local residents can take part on June 8, when Sunnyside volunteers are scheduling a “Cleanup and Celebration Day.” During the event, neighbors will have an opportunity to work alongside DPW’s Green and Clean Team, weeding the upper and lower steps. It’s the start […]
Dogs of Glen Park: Meet Bruce Bochy
San Francisco Giants Bruce Bochy is taking victory laps around National League ball parks as he finishes a storied major league career as a big-league catcher and manager. There’s another Bruce Bochy, the Chenery Street Bochy, and he’s caught a few pitches himself. The Glen Park Bochy is in mid-career, takes his own laps and […]
Destination Bakery’s Deb Lunsford Delights
Deb has a destination. For 16 years Deb Lunsford has mounted her Raleigh bicycle and peddled to Destination Bakery from her Bernal Heights home. She crosses Mission Street, picks up Arlington Street, takes a right on Natick, then a left on Chenery and arrives at Destination five days a week before the sun comes up. […]
After three years away, the owls are back in Glen Park
The missing great horned owls have returned! A eucalyptus tree only yards from the Recreation Center has once again become a wooded refuge to a great horned owl family. Their return comes three years after Glen Canyon’s resident owls disappeared. On March 16, 2016 a distant relative was found dead on a trail just west […]
Eco Fair at Denman Middle School March 16
2019 Annual Arbor Day Eco Fair Saturday, March 16, 2019 | 9 am to noon James Denman Middle School, 241 Oneida Avenue, San Francisco FREE Activities Include: Build A Planter Box For Fresh Herbs Pet Goats Get Your Face Painted Ride In A Bucket Truck During the annual Arbor Day celebration, the focus will be […]
Surrey Street’s J. John Priola show at Dog Patch gallery
J. John Priola, who lives on Surrey Street only blocks from Glen Canyon Park, was born on a five-acre farm in Colorado where his parents put up field corn for silage and grew sweet corn for more than just their Thanksgiving table. “My mother sold the corn from a stand,” Priola told the Glen Park […]
Keeping Islais creek running with pickaxes and loppers
Photos: Christopher Campbell Islais Creek is the second longest creek running through San Francisco. Because of drought, it has recently trickled rather than raced. The creek is also inhibited because along its banks invasive Cape ivy and Himalayan blackberry mitigate its flow. Consequently, any dash through Glen Canyon Park on the waterway’s journey to […]
Got a lemon tree? It’s quarantined now. Yellow Dragon Disease has arrived in San Francisco
An innocuous insect that carries a devastating disease which has destroyed citrus groves in Africa and South America has arrived in San Francisco. The Asian citrus psyllid has been found in the Marina district and the California Department of Food and Agriculture is making anyone with citrus trees on their property to avoid moving fruit and […]
Glen Canyon gardener’s landscape show through Jan. 27
Christopher Campbell pulls weeds and paints willows. An early member of San Francisco’s Recreation and Parks Natural Resources Division, Campbell, 55, has been familiar with Glen Canyon for 20 years, removing geriatric eucalyptus and colonizing Himalayan blackberry and replacing them with habitat-friendly dogwood, elderberry and sticky monkey flower. And for the last six years, influenced […]
Mitchell’s ice cream celebrates 65 delicious years delighting an adoring public
Linda Mitchell has a scoop for her legions of customers who flock each day to her San Jose Avenue ice cream store. In a month of Sundays, they’d never have guessed. Actually, in Linda Mitchell’s case, they’d never have guessed in a month of sundaes. “When my father began the shop in June 1953 he’d […]
Arlington Street’s Pauline Scholten and her Prairie Rose Band play city-wide
While Clement Street is a bit of a stretch from Chenery Street, Pauline Scholten has performed music along both San Francisco avenues. Her most recent Glen Park gig was at Chenery Street’s Bird & Beckett on October 11. Scholten, who lives on Arlington Street, fronts a four-member group called The Prairie Rose Band, which two […]
10th Anniversary Retrospective: Dalere’s Beauty Salon, oldest business in Glen Park, gets a visit from the Mayor
To celebrate the Glen Park Association Website turning ten years old, we are reposting some of our favorite stories from the last ten years. Fifty years ago, a lot was happening in the world and in San Francisco. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis. The Beatles released the White Album […]
Mom Writes an Ode to Glen Park Before Moving
Lauren Tilston wrote a post on the Glen Park Parents’ online forum that attracted the attention of a lot of readers. She wasn’t looking for a high chair or asking about an after- school program or seeking a nanny share. The mother of two, ages 6 and 8, was leav- ing the neighborhood and wrote […]
10th Anniversary Retrospective: Tikkun Olam, on Diamond Street
To celebrate the Glen Park Association Website turning ten years old, we are reposting some of our favorite stories from the last ten years. I’ve been seeing him for months now. But the first time he really registered was this summer. He stands outside Canyon Market, a white Styrofoam cup in his hand. Sometimes it’s […]
Camp Mather workers, shut down by fires, come to Glen Canyon to work in the park
As wildfires continued taking their toll near Yosemite National Park in the fourth week of July, San Francisco Rec & Park officials closed Camp Mather, its City-run summer camp. As a result, McLaren Lodge administrators offered seasonal Mather employees an opportunity to come to Glen Park and work with its Natural Resource Division. Six young […]
Assault and attempted phone theft near BART thwarted by victim’s screams, passersby
An attack and attempted phone theft last week in broad daylight by the BART station was thwarted by a screaming victim and multiple passersby who came to the victim’s aid. While it ended well, it’s a reminder to always pay attention as you walk and not carry your phone where it’s visible. The assault took […]
Hit and run crashes on Chenery Street
Two recent hit and run crashes on Chenery St. are reminders that the dangers of driving don’t end once you’re parked. Certainly cars in San Francisco are sideswiped all the time, whether from people losing control on tiny roadways or simply traveling too fast on surface streets. These usually result in a smashed sideview mirror or […]
A San Francisco original gone: Nancy Keane, Glen Park resident and long-time owner of the 3300 Club on Mission Street
Glen Park lost a Mission High School old girl on June 12. Nancy Mifflin Keane, who lived in the heart of the village, graduated from Mission, Class of 1954. On June 22, Keane’s daughter, Theresa Keane-Lama, sat in her Diamond Street home and reminisced about her mother, who was born in Noe Valley on July […]
Left turn signal being installed at Diamond and Bosworth
Photos by Michael Rice SFMTA installed a protected left-turn signal on southbound Diamond for vehicles turning left on to Bosworth on Wednesday July 18. This from SFMTA spokesperson Lolita Sweet: Just a heads up, to increase pedestrian safety, the project team is moving forward with Glen Park Association suggestions on signal strategy on Bosworth and […]
The call of the white-breasted nuthatch across Glen Canyon
By Murray Schneider Richard Craib raised his family on Turquoise Way, his backyard abutting the upper reaches of Glen Canyon. Now he’s overseeing a family of white-breasted nuthatches in the house he’s lived in since 1962. Craib sat recently in his living room, which overlooks a mini forest of pines, cypresses and redwoods. A barn […]
San Francisco Mayor-elect, Calif. Senator attend Laidley Street 4th of July parade
As they have for years now, the wonderful folks on Laidley street held their annual Fourth of July parade this year, featuring a stroll down the red-white-and-blue-festooned street, a reading of the Declaration of Independence by a costumed town crier, and a host of great food cooked up by neighbors. This year’s parade got two […]
What’s up with the parking lot on Kern Alley?
Glen Park Association Meeting Roundup: April 19, 2018 By Heather World Neighbors peppered politicians and a public utility wonk with questions about everything from parking lots to poop at the Glen Park Association spring quarterly meeting April 19. Kern Alley More than a few neighbors asked about the unofficial parking lot on Kern Alley, which […]
Cheese Boutique honored as exceptional San Francisco business
Rick and Nada Malouf, owners of the Cheese Boutique at 660 Chenery St., were honored in a ceremony at San Francisco City Hall on May 15, 2018. Each year, the San Francisco Small Business Commission teams up with the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to honor and recognize an exceptional small business from each of San […]
10th Anniversary Retrospective: Do you know the name of Glen Park’s baseball diamond? Read this and you’ll never forget it.
To celebrate the Glen Park Association Website turning ten years old, we are reposting some of our favorite stories from the last ten years. Two Little League teams faced off on the Thelma Williams Baseball Diamond in Glen Canyon Park on a warm Saturday afternoon in April. The players were six years old, maybe seven. […]
Yes – a tree falling in Glen Park DOES make a sound
A Glen Park family walking their dog in Glen Canyon on Sunday morning caught amazing footage of a tree splitting apart and falling across the path just up from the rec center. The family was on the path when they heard a short crack in the trees and some rustling. After a few seconds they heard […]
10th Anniversary Retrospective: Why are there SFMTA traffic control officers at Diamond & Bosworth every night? Hint: the $2 million redesign of the intersection doesn’t seem to have done the job
To celebrate the Glen Park Association Website turning ten years old, we are reposting some of our favorite stories from the last ten years. By Elizabeth Weise It took nine years of planning, three years of waiting, almost $2 million to fund, a major design snafu and 16 months of soul-destroying disruption to build the […]
Saturday: Greyhounds, West Campus, and Waterless Basins: History of the Balboa Reservoir, 1894-1984!”
Meeting of the Glen Park Neighborhoods History Project Saturday, February 10, 2018 NOTE EARLIER MEETING TIME: 2:30 pm to 4:30 pm Glen Canyon Park Recreation Center 70 Elk Street (just north of Chenery Street) Multi-Purpose Room 1 (Just off the plaza at the building entrance) Join us as we kick-off our first meeting of 2018 […]
Manzoni is the “Best of the Bay” Italian winner
Anyone in the neighborhood who steps in knows that Manzoni is a fantastic restaurant serving authentic Italian food. Clearly, we’re not the only ones. Thanks to Kathleen McCormac for the tip.
Glen Park’s Bernie Kelly has passed away
Bernard Patrick KellyPassed away peacefully on December 6, 2017 at the age of 84. Bernard was born on August 2, 1933, the second of seven children of Irish immigrants Bernard and Mary Kelly. He is survived by his son John Kelly, his step-daughters Marsha Heckman, Cathy Obiedo, and Claudia Allin, his 13 Grand and Great- […]
Ed Lee, San Francisco mayor and Glen Park neighbor, dead at 65
by Elizabeth Weise Ed Lee, the first Asian American to be mayor of San Francisco, died early Tuesday morning. Lee and his wife Anita were grocery shopping at the Safeway on Monterey when he suffered a heart attack at about 10:30 p.m. Monday evening. He was taken to General Hospital, where he died. In a statement, […]
Glen Park public safety meeting Dec. 14
Thursday, December 14, 2017, 7:00 – 8:00 PM at the Glen Park Recreation Center Confirmed attendees: SFPD Ingleside Captain Hart District Attorney’s office – Vietnam Nguyen SF SAFE – Adam Cuadra District 8 supervisor Jeff Sheehy
Mayor Lee and Sup. Sheehy visit Glen Park
Mayor Ed Lee and District 8 Supervisor Jeff Sheehy did a walk through of Glen Park on Thursday, Nov. 30, chatting with local business owners and promoting the “Shop Local” program. Marian Dalere of Dalere’s Beauty Salon got these photos. Zoel from the gift store Perch told her that the mayor bought two ornaments.
Halloween in Glen Park – 3,000 visitors, say police
This year Halloween in Glen Park was bigger and better than ever. The San Francisco Police Department blocked off much of Chenery Street west of Diamond Street, making for a much safer evening. Police estimated that more than 3,000 people visited the neighborhood. Officers stationed at Chenery and Lippard said the department had decided to […]
O’Shaughnessy to be closed this weekend for hillside stabilization
Need your animal blessed? Sunday is St. Francis day.
Blessing of the Animals Oct. 8th Please join St. Aidan’s Episcopal Church for its 3rd Annual Blessing of the Animals in honor of St. Francis, the patron saint of San Francisco. October 8, 2017, Upper Douglass Dog Dog Park, Douglass @ 27th Street, 12:00 – 1:00 pm All are welcome! For more information please contact Reverend Margaret Dyer-Chamberlain,mdyerc@stanford.edu, 650-619-0781. […]
The First Friday Walkers take on Glen Park
Story and photos by Murray Schneider In 1967, as a freshly minted and struggling high school teacher only a few years older than my oldest student, I thought about leaving the classroom and becoming a tour guide. Instead, I stayed put and didn’t turn in my U.S. History textbook. Fifty years later I finally got […]
Crags Court Community Garden: A hidden gem in Glen Park
By Murray Schneider The Crags Court Community Garden may be the best kept secret in Bay Area urban gardening. Perched high above the floor of Glen Canyon, the terraced garden boasts 18 garden beds served by 25 gardeners who grow winter crops such as lettuce, kale, spinach, beans, beets, chard, celery, red potatoes and carrots. […]
Bruce Bonacker passed away on August 3, 2017
By Michael Rice, past president, Glen Park Association Bruce Bonacker, architect, community activist, historic preservation advocate, and long-time Glen Park resident, passed away on August 3, 2017, at age 69. Bruce had been in treatment for over a year for a rare form of cancer, but he was engaged in Glen Park Association work, in […]
Noted peace activist and Sunnyside resident Charles Liteky’s life remembered
By Dwight Smith Sunnyside resident Charles Liteky, a decorated war hero, former Catholic priest and later an outspoken and honored peace activist, died on January 20. However, a significant memorial date for Liteky could be September 1 because it was on that date in 1986 that he renounced his medal of honor and the pension […]
UPS driver Mike Lefiti remembered by his teacher
by Murray Schneider Mike Lefiti was a bear of a man and a cub of a boy. Tragically killed on June 14, a victim of a senseless and inexplicable shooting at the UPS Distribution Center on Potrero Hill, Big Mike, as I called him when he was a 46-year old-adult and a 16-year-old teenager, was […]
10th Anniversary Retrospective: 75 years on, locals remember the Japanese internment.
To celebrate the Glen Park Association Website turning ten years old, we are reposting some of our favorite stories from the last ten years. Howie Dudune, Ko Takemoto and Chuck Peterson. Ko Takemoto was a SFSU classmate of the late Dudune, a jazz saxophone player. He’d come to the Glen Park bookstore to listen to […]
10th Anniversary Retrospective: Glen Park’s Leo Parker describes horror at UPS shooting
To celebrate the Glen Park Association Website turning ten years old, we are reposting some of our favorite stories from the last ten years. from the San Francisco Chronicle Witness recounts UPS rampage in San Francisco: ‘He could have easily shot me’ By Evan Sernoffsky Updated 7:13 pm, Thursday, June 15, 2017 A UPS worker’s deadly […]
Diamond Height’s UPS driver Mike Lefiti was murdered in Wednesday’s shooting
from The Chronicle: Slain UPS driver Mike Lefiti ‘was always there for you’ By Sarah Ravani, Evan Sernoffsky and Erin Allday Updated 10:11 pm, Wednesday, June 14, 2017 Mike Lefiti was a longtime UPS driver who took pride in his work and was widely respected by his colleagues and adored by his large family, friends […]
Silver Tree campers get sneak-peek of new Glen Park Rec Center
By Susan Sutton After years of planning and $14 million, the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department led elected officials, community leaders, the media, and many who had a hand in revitalizing the Glen Park Recreation Center on a tour Monday morning. This New Deal building, built in 1937, looks a great deal better. In […]
Glenda the cow welcomes neighbors to Glen Park’s history, and the new rec center
Story and photos by Murray Schneider On June 10, the public will be invited to the general opening of the refurbished Glen Park Recreation Center from 11:00 – 3:00. After two years of work, the fully renovated space will open to what’s expected to be a big crowd. On their way in, they’ll hopefully noticed […]
Glen Park Hardware closes for remodel
Glen Park Hardware closed on May 29 for renovation and the new owners hope to have it reopened by mid-June. Aaron and Simar Esquivel had originally hoped to be able to buy additional shelves to add to the shelving units already in the store. However when Aaron went looking for them, he found the company that made […]