The fog reaches Taraval Street early and stays late. This far west, where the L-Taraval train slides toward the ocean and the marine layer settles over the Avenues, the Parkside keeps a tempo all its own, a step slower than the rest of the City. Since June, a bright, two-story cafe at 1100 Taraval St. has leaned all the way into that slower pace. Jandii is built around a single idea, that the time between meals matters as much as the meals themselves.
The Inner Sunset is about to become even more attractive thanks to a number of beautification and improvement initiatives. The nonprofit SF New Deal launched the Inner Sunset Neighborhood Vibrancy Fund, a program that supports new and existing small businesses in the commercial corridor. Made possible with generous support from Inner Sunset neighbors, the fund will provide grants in three categories: up to $10,000 for storefront beautification, up to $5,000 for technical assistance and up to $20,000 for businesses taking over a vacant storefront. Applications will be reviewed by a central team and a community advisory group of Inner Sunset neighbors, the Inner Sunset Merchants Association and Inner Sunset Park Neighbors (ISPN). The grant is open to small businesses located between Fifth Avenue and 19th Avenue, bounded by Lincoln Way and Kirkham Street. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis, with priority given to applications submitted by Aug. 28. Learn more and apply at sfnewdeal.org/inner-sunset.
The vocals of the 45-year-old resident of Kensington (just north of Berkeley) are as smooth as charmeuse, confidently improvisational and seemingly effortless, although her perfectionism leads to a lot of tinkering with songs before Wolf is willing to put them out into the world.
When Frank McGinn opened Amazing Fantasy in August 2000, he thought it would take weeks of painting, cleaning and stocking before the comics shop would open. But on the Sunday he took possession of the storefront, Irving Street neighbors poked their heads in to see what was replacing the old Comics and Comix location. They immediately dove into to help: cleaning and painting, whatever it took. One neighbor brought his truck to take away loads of rubbish. On the following Saturday, the shop opened. Community, it seems, has always mattered here.
“Being in the ocean is like breathing,” Sachi Cunningham said. “If I’m not in the ocean for a period of time, I feel like I’m not me. It basically allows me to be who I am, which is an ocean lover.”
When asked why it takes a full decade to fix up one ragged block of Ninth Avenue between Kirkham and Lawton streets, the City’s response could be summed up as something akin to “it’s complicated.”
Comparison photos of Judah and La Playa streets 42 years apart.
District 4 Supervisor Alan Wong has introduced an ordinance to change a decades-old building rule that housing advocates say has kept thousands of existing housing units off the legal rental market. The change would make those existing homes legal without requiring expensive renovations, and could make new construction more affordable, since lower ceilings require less material to build.
Every August, something special happens in the Sunset. School campuses come alive again. Sidewalks fill with backpacks. Muni buses welcome new riders. Parks echo with recess conversations, and neighborhood businesses greet familiar faces after the final bell.
The window of Yvonne’s Southern Sweets sat shattered after vandalism. For Yvonne Hines, the owner of the Bayview shop, this was not merely cosmetic; it was a threat to her business’s ability to operate. For many small businesses, a broken storefront can mean days or weeks without customers, repair bills and uncertainty about whether reopening is even possible.
Recent police activity in the Sunset District.
Imagine a vast playground where you can row a boat, work on your tennis serve, try lawn bowling or pickleball, ride a bike, skate along the promenade, engage in birdwatching or forest bathing, hear a free concert or view an art or science exhibit. From archery to Zumba, countless activities await in Golden Gate Park, the 1,017-acre oasis that is the Sunset and Richmond’s backyard.
Maggie & Mac’s, the new spot on the Ninth Avenue and Irving Street corridor, feels less like an opening and more like a place that was always supposed to be in the neighborhood. That is by design.
By Judy Goddess Bobby Thomas, entertainer, emcee, former butcher at the Inner Sunset’s Andronico’s Market and neighbor, is a fixture at Family House, where he’s known as “Bobby the Bunny.” “My overall […]
Instead of presidential cage fights, on June 14, the Sunset Commons café on Irving Street hosted a “watch party” of an event celebrating the First Amendment, joining more than 1,500 such gatherings with an estimated one million people across all 50 states.
