• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

The Glen Park Association

Up-to-the-minute news from Glen Park

  • Home
  • Glen Park Association
    • About the Glen Park Association
    • Join the GPA
    • GPA Board Contacts
    • GPA Meeting Minutes
    • Bylaws
    • Neighborhood boundaries
  • News Stories
    • Glen Park News
    • Editor’s Picks
  • Greenway
    • About
    • Greenway Plan
  • GPA Grants Program
  • Crime & Safety
  • Contact
    • Contact
    • Volunteer Sign Ups
    • Event Submission
    • Author Submissions

Remembering Bruce Bonacker, who helped make the Glen Park BART station a national treasure

August 21, 2021 by By Michael Rice, former president of the Glen Park Association

Hannah Simonson’s story in the Spring 2021 Glen Park News, “Local BART Station a National Treasure,” is a great account of the architectural and historic significance of our Glen Park BART station, now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

BART started service in San Francisco, from Market Street to Daly City, on November 5, 1973. I played hooky from work that afternoon, and rode from Powell Street to Glen Park and back, with a friend visiting from out of town. I had heard that the Glen Park station was an architectural standout. We got out, rode the escalators up and down and fully agreed.

My family moved to Glen Park in 1986, and BART became my 12-minute commute downtown, or our easy travel to sights in Berkeley or Oakland. The sense of arrival in the expansive station with brick, marble and careful concrete detail offset the somewhat chaotic pedestrian crossings of Diamond and Bosworth streets.

How did the National Register nomination process come to be?

Bruce Bonacker passed away in 2017

The late Bruce Bonacker, as many people know, was a long-time Glen Park resident, successful architect, officer and board member of the Glen Park Association, a leader of San Francisco’s historic preservation community, and general “nudge.”

In 2016, Bruce advocated that GPA work for a National Register nomination for the Glen Park BART Station. Some of us asked: Why does this 1970’s building need National Register status? Bruce noted that the station was showing its age, and elements such as the canopies over the fare gates could need replacement. The National Register listing would ensure that BART would have to adhere to original design character as part of any maintenance or upgrade.

Working with Tania Treis, Scott Stawicki, myself, and other board members, GPA successfully applied for funding for the Chris VerPlanck study, with grants from San Francisco Architectural Heritage, the City’s Historic Preservation Fund, a direct GPA donation, and some individual donations. Chris VerPlanck’s research included outreach to BART and its archives.

As the nomination went through the review steps, BART actually objected to the nomination, asserting that BART would be responsible for reviewing the architectural significance of all the structures in the system. Nonetheless, the State Historic Preservation Officer recommended approval of the nomination in 2019.

Sadly, Bruce passed away in August 2017, before the BART station nomination was complete.

Filed Under: Editor's Pick, Uncategorized

Primary Sidebar

IMPORTANT UPCOMING DATES

February 4th, 2023
9:00 AM
Details Here
 

Renew Your Glen Park Association Membership for 2023

Join the Glen Park Association and help promote our community’s interests. Together, we can secure improvement funds, publicize neighborhood concerns and strive to speak as one voice on neighborhood and city issues.

Membership in the Glen Park Association is only $10 annually and can be purchased online.

Glen Park Rec. Center

Glen Park Association Advertising Sponsors

JE_Digital Small Space Ad
GPA Ad- Perez Construction ad 6.27.22 v Glen Park
martin
moroco
JE_Digital Small Space Ad
GPA Ad- Perez Construction ad 6.27.22 v Glen Park
martin
moroco
previous arrow
next arrow
Shadow

Current Weather & Air Quality

Subscribe to the blog

Sign Up for Glen Park Association News Updates

* indicates required

Glen Park featured on…

FacebookSF ChronInstagramTwitter

Join the Glen Park Association on Facebook

Comments Box SVG iconsUsed for the like, share, comment, and reaction icons
Glen Park Association
2 weeks ago
Glen Park Association

Meet one of the Greenway’s most diligent volunteers -- A Townsend Warbler as far as Google knows. Progress in removing invasive oxalis is going well, but work remains! As the sun comes out, please join us at the Glen Park Greenway Native Meadow (between Lippard and Brompton Streets) to carefully remove invasive oxalis plants. Email our oxalis remediation lead, Kathy Keller at greenway@glenparkassociation.org if you can help! ... See MoreSee Less

Meet one of the Greenway’s most diligent volunteers -- A Townsend Warbler as far as Google knows. Progress in removing invasive oxalis is going well, but work remains! As the sun comes out, please join us at the Glen Park Greenway Native Meadow (between Lippard and Brompton Streets) to carefully remove invasive oxalis plants. Email our oxalis remediation lead, Kathy Keller at greenway@glenparkassociation.org if you can help!
View on Facebook
· Share
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email
View Comments
  • Likes: 3
  • Shares: 0
  • Comments: 0

Comment on Facebook

Glen Park Association
2 weeks ago
Glen Park Association

Join us THURSDAY JANUARY 19 at the Glen Park Association Quarterly meeting. We'll be in-person at the Glen Park Rec. Center at 6:30 PM. Our agenda includes:

-- A special presentation from QuitCarbon,
-- Meeting the new owners of @canyonmarket ,
-- Learning more about projects at @sfrecpark & @sfpublichealth, and
-- Electing 2023 GPA officers.

Have you renewed your membership for 2023 yet? Help keep our neighborhood vital by joining today at www.glenparkassociation.org/glen-park-association-membership/
... See MoreSee Less

Join us THURSDAY JANUARY 19 at the Glen Park Association Quarterly meeting. Well be in-person at the Glen Park Rec. Center at 6:30 PM. Our agenda includes:

-- A special presentation from QuitCarbon, 
-- Meeting the new owners of @canyonmarket , 
-- Learning more about projects at @sfrecpark  & @sfpublichealth, and
-- Electing 2023 GPA officers.

Have you renewed your membership for 2023 yet? Help keep our neighborhood vital by joining today at https://www.glenparkassociation.org/glen-park-association-membership/
View on Facebook
· Share
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email
View Comments
  • Likes: 4
  • Shares: 0
  • Comments: 0

Comment on Facebook

Blog Roll

Coyote Yipps
Friends of Noe Valley Rec Center
Glen Park Neighborhoods History Project
Open SF History
Sunnyside Conservatory
Sunnyside History
Sunnyside Neighborhood Association
Tramps of San Francisco
Upper Noe Neighbors

Copyright © 2023 · Metro Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in