The Bold Italic’s 2020 Awards
This article is part of The Bold Italic’s 2020 Awards, which celebrate the Bay Area’s small businesses and local residents who have hustled and shown creativity throughout 2020. See all the award winners here.
As we’ve written about before, one of the positives to come out of the pandemic has been the way cities have boldly rethought the way cities are laid out and operate. Case in point: San Francisco’s Slow Streets Program. Through it so far, 24 streets have been shutdown to cars (with another five on the way), now available for people to walk, run, and cycle about.
These have also become boons for struggling businesses to take advantage of creating more outdoor space through the city’s Shared Spaces program (in which restaurants can apply to take over sidewalks, parking lots, etc).
One of the most major improvements has been to the Great Highway. Prior to the pandemic, we walked along it, not through it. For pedestrians and cyclists on the west side, closing this vast stretch of road was possibly one of the few great things to happen this year. Finally, cyclists can ride the Highway without fear, there was plenty of scenic space for those long walks we used to take for granted, and foot traffic at the beach was… bearable!
This street takes you within a stone’s throw of Lake Merced, Golden Gate Park, Lands End, and (kinda) the Presidio, four excellent options for when your four walls full of Zoom meetings, roommates, and roommates’ Zoom meetings leave you in need of some fresh air.
This is why The Bold Italic’s reader chose the Great Highway as the Best “Slow Street Corridor” in San Francisco in 2020. Read on to see the other nominees.
Other nominees for the Best “Slow Street Corridor” in San Francisco
1. Page Street
Now closed from Stanyan (the base of Golden Gate Park in the Haight- Ashbury) all the way down to Gough Street in the Lower Haight, Page Street residents are enjoying their carless streets with more people hanging on their front porches and more children playing in the street. The neighborhood loves it so much some are trying to get it to be closed forever.
2. 20th Street & Valencia
Now closed from Potrero about 14 blocks over to Valencia, this is a bustling slow street corridor (when we’re not in shelter-in-place) with dozens of restaurant and bar parklets. We love the energy here and hope it doesn’t go away completely post-pandemic.
3. Shotwell Street
Now closed from 14th Street to Cesar Chavez in the Mission, this is a huge swatch of street to shut down in the neighborhood, offering businesses along the way to take advantage of more outdoor space.
4. Hayes Street
Hayes Street is closed to cars from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Fridays, and 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays, between Franklin and Laguna Streets.
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