November 2010
Serving the Potrero Hill, Dogpatch, Mission Bay and SOMA Neighborhoods Since 1970
Newest S.F. Neighborhood Searching for an Identity By Bill Slatkin Growing over the past decade from a few homeless inhabitants to upwards of 600 residents, the neighborhood just south of Dogpatch is struggling to develop its own identity. But there’s no place at the civic table yet for the people living or doing business south of 22nd Street, north of Cesar Chavez, in the area bordered by the T-line and CalTrain tracks. “We got left out of the planning process,” said Glenn McNulty, co-owner with wife Alexis of Oyster Bed, a Tennessee Street manufacturer of contemporary storage beds and other space-saving furniture. “When the rezoning was done for the Central Waterfront, this area was completely ignored. Like we don’t exist. We need to find a way to have a voice.” The area used to serve as the hub for small enterprises that served companies in the meatpacking industry to the south, and the shipbuilding industry along the eastern waterfront. Until mid-century last, the Tubbs Cordage Company – a nowforgotten manufacturer of rope and marine cordage – was a major San Francisco employer, located on land
now used to park dozens of Muni buses. The waves of development that intermittently rolled through the City over the past sixty years mostly left untouched the vacant industrial buildings and empty lots that extended to what used to be called Army Street. It wasn’t until the dot.com boom and the creation of a loophole in San Francisco’s building regulations – which enabled livework lofts to be fast-tracked towards development – that the area began to come back to life. “This was a place where you didn’t want to be at night,” said Rich Lawson, whose roofing company has hugged the corner of 25th and Tennessee streets since 1984. According to Lawson, the first round of development, which starting roughly twelve years ago, was the “loft boom. It did change the area. More people here, that improved our personal safety.” The trend toward gentrification, including newly-erected loft projects wired with fiber-optic cable, BMWs parked curbside next to pick-up trucks, and the delivery of trendy sofas and entertainment centers from South-of-Market furniture bousee neighborhood page 10
History Night Showcases “The Unique Ones”
The 11th annual Potrero Hill History Night was held last month at International Studies Academy. Roughly 150 audience members braved the rain, and missed the San Francisco Giants clinching the pennant, to hear interviews with long-time Hill residents: (left to right) Thomas Terrell, “Butchie” Alabanza, Donald Minor, Villy Wang, Gregory Bryant, George Brown and “Jackie” Smith. The guys - known as “The Unique Ones” - grew up mid-century last in the Potrero Annex-Terrace complex, and have been close friends all their lives. Wang is president of BAYCAT, a nonprofit that teaches media skills to underserved youth, whose video, Public Housing on Potrero Hill, premiered, and is available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vTtK1F9nYw. Lorraine Vinson, who helped create the community garden at 20th and San Bruno in 1969, was interviewed by Phillip De Andrade. Andie Grace showed slides of the Burning Man party that takes place each October in Dogpatch. Thee Parkside, Chat’s Coffee and Bottom of the Hill offered a tasty barbeque. History Night is co-sponsored by the Potrero Hill Archives Project and the Potrero Hill Association of Merchants and Businesses. Photograph by Peter Linenthal.
Living and Working at Home By Sarah Macdonald John Borg’s part-time home on Illinois Street might be considered out
International Studies Academy Principal Builds Community By Linda Chang Matt Livingston might want to add “international diplomat” to his job description. As International Studies Academy’s (ISA) principal, his responsibilities include negotiating logistics for a group of 15 exchange students from Cologne, Germany, who are living with ISA students while visiting the U.S. The exchange program – ISA is the only San Francisco public school that hosts students from Germany – is in its third year. Next June, 15 ISA students will spend three weeks in Cologne. ISA currently supports five international trips – nicknamed “iTrips” – for students each academic year. In 2010 the destinations include Barcelona, Puerto Rico, New York, and a service-learning experience in Haiti. Families start saving money
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in the ninth grade; ISA staff and others raise additional funds to support the programs. For many of these students, the “iTrip” will be the first time they’ve left San Francisco. ISA, which serves sixth to twelve graders, has a mission to cultivate students to become global citizens. In addition to international travel, graduating seniors are required to take a year-long course in international relations that includes a senior thesis. A t e e n age r poke s h i s head through the back door of Livingston’s office, and hands a paper to him. Livingston tells the student that he’s busy, but earnestly expresses his intention to follow-up with him later. Our meeting is already 45-minutes see ISA page 9
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Principal Matt Livingston honors Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi with Honorary Principal Certificate. Photograph by Linda Chang.
of the ordinary. Borg rents a small apartment and large workspace – where he runs Eco-Imprints, an environmental design firm – across the street from historic Pier 70. He splits his time between San Francisco and Bolinas, where his children go to school. When Borg first moved to his Dogpatch digs he lived and worked there full-time. “Living where you work makes a lot of sense,” said Borg. In the past, people often combined their homes and businesses. Doctors and lawyers worked out of home offices; shopkeepers lived in apartments adjacent to their stores. The Olympia Building, where Borg lives, was once a saloon and boarding house for pier workers. According to Borg, Dogpatch used to have a “company town culture,” with workers living walking distance from their jobs. While urban sprawl and modern work practices have driven workers to longer commutes, Borg said he expects more people will start living where they work in the future. “Our culture is changing,” he see live work page 7
Fallen Bridges p. 11 p. 8
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