Vol. XLVI, No. 3
March 2022
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THE NOE VALLEY VOICE Sidewalk Gardens Help Brighten the Neighborhood Four Households Show How to Spruce Up the Streetside View By Kit Cameron
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hanks to our December monsoon, sidewalks not otherwise occupied by cement or asphalt are burgeoning with greenery. If Nature continues to comply, the “front yards” of Noe Valley can provide a walking landscape as satisfying as any city park. Stroll (or puff) your way up Cesar Chavez Street to 4343, near Diamond Street, and you will encounter an entire retaining wall covered with more than 20 species of salt- and freshwater fish. The ceramic mural, designed by homeowner Hudson Lanier and made of individual sculptures affixed to the wall with ceramic tile adhesive, regularly stops pedestrian traffic. Lanier built the house 25 years ago, when the address was still Army Street. As Hudson tells it, his wife Terry took charge of the garden at the back of the house and gave him full rein with the planting and décor of the front. Why fish? “I’m a fisherman,” says Lanier. “My favorite thing is fishing in my boat at Lake Almanor,” a reservoir in Plumas County in the northeastern corner of the state. In his youth, he cast lines off the piers of San Francisco and
Fisherman’s Feast: This ceramic mural made from molds of actual fish dazzles those who pass by Cesar Chavez Street near Diamond. The creation of Hudson Lanier provides a vivid backdrop to his potted succulents. Photo by Art Bodner
along the Russian River, where his parents, architect Al Lanier and artist Ruth Asawa, had a summer home. One of his favorite memories of fishing is with his paternal grandfather on childhood vacations in Georgia. “I’m named after him.” Lanier started making ceramic fish in 2015 and, with the help of artist daughter Lilli Lanier and carpenter Marcial
Saavedra, installed the mural in 2016. The fish are made from the remains of real fish that Lanier or others have caught and frozen. “I thaw them a little and make a plaster mold,” Lanier says. “I get two molds, front and back. I press clay into the mold, dry [the new ceramic fish], fire them, glaze, and then
New Zoning Hopes To Scare Off ‘Monster Homes’
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By Matthew S. Bajko
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he development of “monster homes” at the expense of more affordable housing would be restricted in Noe Valley and other nearby neighborhoods if new zoning proposed by District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman is approved in March. The new legislation would place limits on both new homes and expansion projects, and would bar construction of a single-unit residence larger than 4,000 square feet unless the owner could prove a special hardship. In announcing the proposal in January, Mandelman said he hoped the changes would help slow the razing of smaller, older homes and incentivize developers and property owners to construct housing more affordable to middle-income earners, who find themselves priced out of the local housing market. “The way much of San Francisco is zoned today makes it easier to flip existing housing into monster homes than to build small apartment buildings for regular working people,” said Mandelman. “We’ve done a really good job of building housing for millionaires and billionaires over the last decades, when we should be building housing for the middle class.” The new zoning would establish a Central Neighborhoods Large Residence Special Use District, covering Glen Park, Noe Valley, Dolores Heights, Mission Dolores, Diamond
These Women Do It With Heart And With a Spirit That Has Calmed Us All By Megan Wetherall
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ore than three decades ago, Martha Lau opened the first of seven Danny’s Cleaners, named after the song “Danny Boy.” Today just two remain, both here in Noe Valley where she started, and Lau can be found most afternoons at the location where she has worked for the past 16 years, on the corner of Douglass and Elizabeth streets. Lau was born and raised in Hong Kong before moving to San Francisco and starting a family. Her mother had high expectations for her and urged her to start a business while she was still young and could put her education to good use. So she did just that while raising her three children. When the pandemic hit, she never closed, even though on that first day of lockdown in March 2020 not one person walked through her door. Then, as the neighborhood realized she was still open, people started coming in with one or two items, saying they didn’t really need any dry cleaning but just wanted CONTINUED ON PAGE 11
Plan Would Limit the Size of New Housing in District 8
Martha Lau’s dedication to work, and to her extended family of customers at Danny’s Cleaners on Douglass Street, has made her a community standout. Photo by Megan Wetherall
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