653 Chenery Street
in San Francisco's Glen Park neighborhood
1-415-586-3733
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Hidden San Francisco has recently been issued in a second edition, which Chris Carlsson, one of San Francisco’s preeminent radical historians, presents to a Glen Park audience at Bird & Beckett on Thursday, September 25th at 7pm.
With its roots in Shaping San Francisco and FoundSF, twin projects born in the mid-1990s, the first edition of Hidden San Francisco debuted in 2020, offering context and a road map for a deep exploration and celebration of San Francisco’s radical soul. That first edition, built on four major themes of ecology, labor, transit and dissent explored in annotated walks and bike rides to peel back layers of the city’s history, delved into the Bay Area’s long prehistory, examining the region’s geography and the lives of its indigenous inhabitants before the 1849 Gold Rush changed everything. It revealed a storied past told through the experience of the streetcar conductors, secretaries, ironworkers, labor organizers, dockworkers, musicians, cabbies and students that have shaped the City’s history. From farming to industry to towering offices, San Francisco’s neighborhoods have been reinvented and reinhabited again and again; behind old walls and gleaming glass facades lurk former industries, secret music and poetry venues, forgotten terrorist bombings and much more.
The just-released second edition of Hidden San Francisco sports Carlsson’s new introduction examining the devastating impact of the pandemic as well as a mini-history of tech in the city from the Gold Rush to AI, and adds new excursions into wild and natural parts of San Francisco from Sutro Forest to Glen Canyon, as well as the cultural uprising that was the Summer of Love.
Join us to hear Chris spin some of the stories that have reassured us along the way that San Francisco’s radical soul is the true nature of a region that we refuse to turn over to those who see it as nothing more than a superficial tourist mecca and a headquarters for capitalist exploitation.
Can’t make it to the reading tonight? Next time you’re hiking the fabled Crosstown Trail, stop off in Glen Park and bop into the bookshop for a copy of his book. We’re doing our part here to nurture the pushback against the fascist creep!
While you’re considering your visit, read up on Glen Park here (Erika Mailman’s TimeOut piece on the neighborhood, #35 in the mag’s 39 picks for great neighborhoods all around the globe). Pick up one of Erika’s books while you’re browsing the bookshop on your visit.
There’s a lot to explore in San Francisco, and we won’t blame you if it takes you awhile to get to Glen Park or back to the Crosstown Trail, preoccupied as you might be with the Double Cross and the new Roundabout perimeter trail (stop in a corner store near you and pick up today’s Chronicle for a nifty introduction to that latter 38-mile gem of a route)!
Why, we ask, would anyone ever want to live anywhere else? Well, we know why… there are good people, beautiful landscapes, interesting geographies and fascinating histories all over the land. But keep your carbon footprint small, and hike local, and you’ll find the world in a teacup right here at home in this diverse, progressive, and, yes, radical city & region! BART will get you pretty far afield from the Ferry Building, and there’s an Amtrak station in Emeryville that can take you further at a reasonable speed!
First, learn more about our own town’s hidden history here at FoundSF and in Chris’s latest update of Hidden San Francisco!
From TimeOut:
35. Glen Park, San Francisco
Photograph: Wayne Hsieh78 / Shutterstock
First thing’s first: Glen Park is a good-looking place. Hastily built after the 1906 earthquake, you’ll find turn-of-the-century architecture and Misson-style homes, not to mention lofty views with fog seasonally crawling up the street thick as a blanket. Its highlight is Glen Canyon Park, a rambling, wild green space of 66 acres, with a deep canyon, spring wildflowers, one of the city’s last free-flowing creeks and wildlife including coyotes and deer. Close to areas with more name recognition like Noe Valley and Bernal Heights, Glen Park has its own village-like identity; it’s largely residential, with a tight-knit community and some great shopping and dining. Quietly cool, Glen Park might not be as in-your-face as other San Francisco neighbourhoods, but that’s what gives the place its charm.
The perfect day: After coffee on the deck overlooking the bay at this Airbnb, grab breakfast at the adorable Glen Park Cafe, then jump on the Greenway – a riparian greenbelt that leads from the retail village to Glen Canyon Park. The ‘Creek to Peaks’ trail takes you to Twin Peaks and back on a moderate 3.7-mile trek. Walk along Chenery Street where you’ll find Bird & Beckett Books and Records, the Cheese Boutique (exactly what it sounds like), the cute gift shop Perch and a handful of restaurants to refuel after your hike – like Manzoni, an Italian spot with a great wine list. Stop for Instagram’s sake at the Burnside Mural, then imbibe at solid dive bar Glen Park Station.
Plan your trip: Try for a third Saturday during the summer months to catch the Glen Park Night Market series with live music & DJs, an artisan market and art-making.
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The Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project
Our events are put on under the umbrella of the nonprofit Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project (the "BBCLP"). That's how we fund our ambitious schedule of 300 or so concerts and literary events every year.
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The Independent Musicians Alliance
Gigging musicians! You have nothing to lose but your lack of a collective voice to achieve fair wages for your work!
The IMA can be a conduit for you, if you join in to make it work.
https://www.independentmusiciansalliance.org/
Read more here - Andy Gilbert's Feb 25 article about the IMA from KQED's site