An afternoon of Sunday fun tames streets of Tenderloin
For a few hours Sunday, the labored hiss of city buses and the whir of passing cars went silent on a half-dozen blocks in San Francisco’s Tenderloin.
Streetlights flicked from green to yellow to red, directing nonexistent traffic. In its place came the screech of skateboards, the tick of bicycle wheels, and the throbbing bass of synthesized pop tunes from a DJ booth.
And sidewalks normally occupied by homeless panhandlers instead were overrun with children in playclothes and couples holding hands.
Sunday marked the first of this season’s two Sunday Streets in the Tenderloin, where a mile of streets is roped off for dozens of free activities. The next event will be held Aug. 20.
The Tenderloin, with its reputation for grime and crime, has one of the highest percentages of school-age children in the city. It also has the smallest amount of open space. Sunday Streets brings family-focused activities and man-made
open space to an often-suffocating concrete neighborhood, organizers said.
“Everybody is talking with each other, kids are playing carefree, visitors are exploring,” said San Francisco Board of Education member Matt Haney. “It really brings out the best in everyone. This is so important for this community in particular, as it is severely underserved with open and recreational space.”
Four activity hubs were clustered in the Tenderloin: near City Hall, and at Ellis and Jones streets, Golden Gate Avenue and Larkin Street, and Larkin and Eddy streets. They each conformed to a theme: exercise, arts, health or food.
Near Civic Center Plaza, workers erected a rock-climbing wall and a pop-up skate park. A row of indigo Bluegogo bikes glimmered in the sun. Parents pushed toddlers with bedhead in strollers, and staff from the nearby Main Library carted out books to be displayed on folding tables.
The bright sun turned cheeks and necks pink. Across the plaza, vendors sold ripe Bing cherries, sweet Fuji apples, coarse clumps of kale and stringy microgreens.
Reid Derrick, 9, slithered up the rock-climbing wall near City Hall, reaching the top in about 45 seconds. His floppy blond hair blew in the wind, and his red harness stood out against the clear blue sky. Mom Lisa Knowles waited below and snapped photos on her iPhone.
“I’m a little nervous, to be honest,” said Knowles, of Daly City. “It’s his first time rock climbing. I’m waiting to throw my body underneath in case I need to.”
But Reid wasn’t deterred by fear. He would give it a 2 — or maybe even a 3 — on the 10point shock scale.
“OK, I was maybe a little bit scared,” Reid admitted once he was back on the ground. “But I knew I was safe. The only time I was truly scared is when I couldn’t find the next handhold. I feel like a real mountain climber.”
“Can I take another picture of you in your gear?” Knowles interrupted. Reid smiled, and in the background, his dad, Matt Derrick, suited up to make the climb.
At the Ellis Street arts hub, live music echoed in the intersection. Scott Guberman and San Francisco’s Blue Bear School of Music All Star Youth Band strummed guitars and crooned into microphones. Puppets danced in artist Toni Tone’s show. Some children made signs at a table set up for crafts: “Save the environment!” said one in pink glitter.
At the Golden Gate Avenue health hub, there were free blood-pressure screenings, a protected bike lane demonstration and tours of a clean Muni bus — a rarity in and of itself.
And at the temporary picnic grounds set up on Larkin Street, families on blankets ate Vietnamese food and listened to bluegrass music.
Pablo Vazquez, 47, rode his bike down a car- and bus-free Larkin, a stark contrast to his busy Bernal Heights neighborhood. It was his third year at the festival.
“It’s fun riding the streets like this,” he said. “It’s easier without all the traffic. In the city that’s bustling, you don’t often get an experience like this.”
Katie Soto, 40, watched her young children play with jump ropes and bubbles and talk to police officers and street sweepers. Other children flitted nearby, or used chalk to draw looping clouds and suns and basketballs and baseball bats on the cement sidewalks.
“It’s so lively, being out here,” said Soto, of Chico. “The kids have learned so much. It’s nice to just slow down, especially in a city that’s normally busy.”
But at 4 p.m., the barricades went down and traffic resumed, the familiar clatter picking up — until the next Sunday Streets.
“This is so important for this community in particular, as it is severely underserved with open and recreational space.” Matt Haney, school board member