NEIGHBORHOOD INFORMATION
The Richmond District is located in the northwest corner of San Francisco, nestled in between Presidio National Park and the city’s Golden Gate Park. The neighborhood, which includes Sea Cliff and Laurel and Presidio Heights, is home to about 80,000 people. About half of Richmond residents are of Asian ancestry, primarily of Chinese and Korean descent. There is also a large Irish population and many recently arrived Russian immigrants.
Several vibrant commercial areas, including California Street, Clement Street and Geary Boulevard, serve the neighborhood. The 1,400 merchants and small offices in the Richmond District offer a wide range of goods and services.
Local landmarks include the Cliff House and the Beach Chalet at Ocean Beach, the V.A. Hospital at Fort Miley, University of San Francisco and numerous holy houses, including Temple Emanuel, St. John’s Orthodox Church and St. John’s Presbyterian Church. There are numerous attractions in Golden Gate Park, including an American Bison pen, M.H. de Young Memorial Museum, California Academy of Sciences, Strybing Arboretum, the oldest children’s playground west of the Mississippi River and a 9-hole golf course.
NEWSPAPER INFORMATION
Distribution by Neighborhood: Presidio and Masonic Avenues to the Pacific Ocean, Golden Gate Park to the Presidio, Sea Cliff
Distribution by Zip Code: 94118 and 94121
Circulation: 25,000
San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu responded to a lawsuit filed against the City in state court by developers proposing a 600-foot-tall, 712-unit skyscraper on Sloat Boulevard. The building would occupy the site where the Sloat Garden Center is today, at 2700 Sloat Blvd., across the street from the SF Zoo. The area is zoned with a 40-foot maximum height limit, which could accommodate a building up to four-stories tall.
Sakatani, along with 640 other Bay Area artists, attended “artist day” at the de Young Museum, a reception staged a few days prior to the Sept. 30 opening of the de Young Open, a community-based art exhibition consisting of 883 artworks, displayed salon style from floor-to-ceiling by artists from nine Bay Area counties.
As we prepare to pay our federal and state income taxes pursuant to two extensions granted this year by the always-benevolent Internal Revenue Service and Franchise Tax Board, I’m reminded of quips meriting reiteration, such as: “Sorry people feel the government owes them a living! The rest of us would gladly settle for a small tax refund.”
The single-family home market emerges as a winner as since the pandemic people prefer to move to a lower density environment and to not live in close proximity with others. Luxury homes were slow and prices did drop but homes under $2.5 million held their own in terms of pricing.
It is hard to believe that it is already November! As we get closer to the holidays, I want to take a moment to encourage all of you to shop and eat locally – TimeOut listed our District as the coolest in San Francisco, and it’s in no small part thanks to our local restaurants and shops. Protecting and supporting our small businesses takes all of us working together.
The end of the road is on the horizon for a section of the Great Highway between Sloat and Skyline boulevards, after a unanimous vote by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) on Oct. 10.
What sculpture in Golden Gate Park was made by someone accused of cheating because his sculpture was too lifelike?
An organizer of a GoFundMe for the family of a Richmond neighborhood shopkeeper who was killed in August is grateful that the man San Francisco police allege committed the crime has been arrested.
Despite San Francisco Police Department reassurances, local merchants in the Richmond District are not pleased with police efforts to deter break-ins and burglaries.
Hidden under the waves of Ocean Beach and Lands End are the skeletons of hundreds of shipwrecks. On certain days, lucky beach-goers will be able to catch a glimpse of a rusted bow or the ribs of a boiler room jutting out of the water. The mystery and tragedy of the Golden Gate wrecks possesses a special allure for many people, including the Western Neighborhood Project’s (WNP) Executive Director Nicole Meldahl and Director of Programs Chelsea Sellin, who created “shipwreck week.”
What does it feel like to lose and grieve a person who is still alive? How do you show gratitude
for their presence while navigating your well-being? How do you learn to live with the “what ifs”?
In honor of Veterans Day and the 10-Year Anniversary of the MIS Learning Center, visit two thought-provoking military history exhibitions in the Presidio of San Francisco.
My apologies to those who have tried to contact me over the last several weeks. I had a medical emergency that prevented me from carrying out my duties as editor.
Murakami has blurred the boundaries of high and low art. His newest exhibition at the Asian Art Museum (AAM) in San Francisco, called “Takashi Murakami: Unfamiliar People – Swelling of Monsterized Human Ego” (Sept. 15-Feb. 12, 2024), demonstrates that his 82-foot, super-detailed, story-telling painting, created especially for this – his first-ever Bay Area exhibition – is consumed alongside the instantly recognizable, multicolor smiling flower motif, which visitors rabidly purchase in many forms (including as a stuffy-style pillow) at the museum gift shop.
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Richmond Review/Sunset Beacon 