My Favorite Corner of SF
This article is part of “My Favorite Corner of SF,” a feature series that pays homage to a special place in the city.
Perceptions of San Francisco can be funny. For many, the city is an incomprehensible cluster of tourist attractions. For others, it is a labyrinth of opportunity — personal, spiritual, professional, or any other avenue in which we hope to grow. And in meeting people from around the world who have experienced these 48 hills, you quickly realize that everyone has a different San Francisco in their mind, not unlike a group of people reading the same book and walking away with different interpretations.
My San Francisco is centered on the corner of 36th Avenue and Balboa Street, tucked in the middle of Balboa Village. Here, you often feel like they are hiding in plain sight from the demands of life. In a city notorious for gentrification and change, there is a medicinal quality to grabbing a coffee from Simple Pleasures Cafe alongside longtime locals who gather at the parklet and dive deep into the minutia of local politics.
Two blocks south leads you directly into Golden Gate Park, where memorial benches surround Spreckels Lake. About a block west is the bison paddock, where you can almost be sure to hear someone enthusiastically declare, “I didn’t know bison lived here!”
Two blocks west of 36th and Balboa is home to a slew of local institutions, the longest-standing being the Balboa Theatre, established in 1926. Neighborhood cinemas have always been disadvantaged when competing with the larger, well-known theatres. Still, with Covid equalizing the moviegoing experience in the worst ways, it brings me a great deal of pride to see the Balboa Theatre’s resilience throughout the past year. In addition to merchandise for sale, they have started to show outdoor films and sell food and beverages to-go. On Sundays, local jazz musicians perform under the marquee and away from the audience.
The resiliency of our local cinema parallels the compassion of the neighborhood bond itself. The community has supported the Balboa Theatre during its struggles, and we also see it in many shops up and down Balboa Village. Nearly a year ago, none of us knew exactly how long the pandemic would last and what challenges were to come. In April 2020, four Asian-owned establishments were targeted and burglarized; moreover, hateful graffiti began to surface.
As violating and racist as these attacks were, I was struck by how quickly the community and these competing restaurants and cafés came together and stood united. Overnight, shop owners helped one another board up their windows, artists offered to paint over the boards, and community members organized and donated to relief funds to keep our local economy afloat.
I credit this community for keeping my faith in humanity healthy. This is a neighborhood that looks out for each other. And while our local community cherishes our time-honored traditions, we’ve also seen a warm welcoming of new small businesses. And as someone who views this corner of San Francisco as home, I encourage you to come support our local businesses, make friendships, and enjoy the temporality of our little yet highly diverse beach town within the big city.
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