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
After ending last year reflecting on gratitude and thankfulness, looking forward I see a potential sea change ahead. Not only because it’s going to be an election year, but honestly things would just get a little boring if they always stayed the same. So let us examine what lies ahead in 2024.
In last month’s column, I wrote about the power of people in the history and preservation of the Richmond’s beloved eyesore, the Alexandria Theatre. Several of you referenced the piece while either initiating or renewing your memberships with Western Neighborhoods Project (WNP). As it turns out, the power of our local independent press is also very real. I’m not sure how to find the right words to describe how I felt after reading the brief notes you attached to these memberships, but this gets close: It made my heart full.
Cartoon by Paul Kilduff.
Things to do on San Francisco’s west side in January 2024.
As of 2024, more seniors and people with disabilities in California will be eligible for health care under Medi-Cal, the state program administering the federal Medicaid program. In 2021, under my leadership as Assembly budget chair, we approved the elimination of the asset test.
Thomas Jefferson supposedly declared: “Democracy is cumbersome, slow and inefficient, but in due time, the voice of the people will be heard, and their latent wishes will prevail.”
Recent police activity in the Richmond District.
For all you lovely people out there who were following my recent health scare, thank you once again for your concern and good thoughts. Just two months after my heart attack, I’m feeling great! I am so lucky and grateful.
It’s normally not dramatic at the Bison Paddock, but occasionally drama breaks out.
Among the leafy greenery of Golden Gate Park’s Botanical Garden, vibrant sunflowers burst with color year-round. Sprawling with painted petals across a mural, the flowers’ yellow rays attract curious, young eyes.
In a shop window on Clement Street between Ninth and 10th avenues, a large blue robot stands guard over the entrance to the Heroes Club, with its fists in the air, ready to battle for right against wrong.
A city supervisor will be seeking input from the public on a new name for Stow Lake in Golden Gate Park, after revelations that its traditional moniker honors a virulent anti-Semite led to a resolution to change it.
The smell of toasted cheese, warm spices and light notes of sesame beckon passersby to the Richmond District’s latest hidden gem.
As every new year begins, I pause to center my priorities and plan for how to put those ideals into action.
This is all too common in the Richmond District and many other San Francisco neighborhoods. We need to do better as a city. It’s time for more action and less rhetoric.
Richmond Review/Sunset Beacon 