Sunday Streets Excelsior #2

October 20, 2019 | 11:00am – 4:00pm

On October 20, Sunday Streets closes out a season of open streets with a return to the Excelsior’s main corridor. From Silver to Geneva Avenue, enjoy a car-free Mission Street, filled with exhibits, live music activities and open space from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

With a route over a mile long, a car-dominated roadway transforms into a temporary park, providing plenty of space for residents to roll, walk, bike, exercise or simply hang out. Open streets increase community engagement and foot traffic, showcasing the area for visitors and giving locals a chance to see it in a whole new, walkable light.

Visit Activity Hubs at Cotter, France and the Persia Triangle, where residents can experience a pop-up community park hosted by the Excelsior Action Group and Friends of the Persia Triangle, who are working to make the park a permanent neighborhood fixture. Enjoy live music, activities and more – plus, bring your pet for the Rose Ann Harris Pet Parade starting at 1pm, honoring the neighborhood activist and animal lover.

Funded through a community action grant from the Excelsior Collaborative, pedicabs will offer free rides for seniors and people with disabilities to tour the open streets.

Along the car-free route, the SF Public Library’s Excelsior Branch will hold their Tricycle Music Fest featuring The Alphabet Rockers and Flying Angels Chinese dance troupe.  At the southern end, dance in the streets to live music onstage from the Excelsior Outer Mission Merchants Association’s (EOMM).

At France Street, enjoy a Market Square and Picnic Grounds, and pick up a Common Cents Passport at a Sunday Streets Info Booth to get stamped (and win prizes from!) local businesses. And don’t forget to pick up the Explore Local Guide for a fun map of the ‘hood you can use all year long.

“The E” boasts the city’s highest number of families and young people and is also San Francisco’s most diverse. Catch the 14, 49, 29, 44 or 52 bus or walk from Balboa Park or Glen Park BART stations to local eateries, ranging from Mexican, Thai and Korean cuisine to old-school Italian. Take in colorful murals, shop at fresh vegetable markets or check out seasonally-themed windows at neighborhood landmark Central Drug Store. Bring the kids for story time at the library branch or explore nearby McLaren Park.

TRANSIT & LIVABILITY

A high percentage of school-aged youth and multiple schools make Muni the schoolbus for many families and youth in this neighborhood, and traffic creates busy – and sometimes dangerous – intersections, with both Mission and Geneva Streets identified as Vision Zero high-injury corridors.

At Sunday Streets, the Persia Triangle Pop-Up Park hosted by EAG gives residents a feel for what the proposed mini park might look like in a neighborhood with few public plazas and open spaces, while car-free streets help envision a safer way for residents to get around. Check out SFMTA’s Mission Street Excelsior Safety Project and Excelsior Neighborhood Traffic Calming Projects for upcoming meetings and feedback sessions.

DID YOU KNOW?
  • On April 15, 1869, the Excelsior Homestead was filed at City Hall. Up to the 1906 earthquake it was a farming neighborhood, populated by Swiss, Irish, Italian Ligurian immigrants, and considered a village.
  • Along with his daughter Jeanette, Emanuel Lewis – one of the original housing developers in the neighborhood –  named many of the area’s avenues after countries, and its streets after countries’ capital cities.
  • The Grateful Dead singer/guitarist Jerry Garcia was born and raised in the Excelsior. In 2016, two commemorative plaques were installed on Mission Street at Amazon and at Harrington to honor his musical and family history.

For info on Sunday Streets Excelsior’s spring event, click here.

Getting There

We encourage biking, walking, or taking public transportation to get to Sunday Streets.

MUNI:  For trip planning and other Muni-related info, go to www.sfmta.com. Visit sfmta.com/alerts the week before the event for updated information on any MUNI lines that will be rerouted during the event.  Bikes are allowed on front racks of buses. The Sunday Streets Excelsior route is served by the following MUNI lines:

  • 14, 49, 14R on Mission
  • 8x, 43, 54, 88 on Geneva
  • 44 on Silver (north of the route)
  • 52 on Mission and Excelsior
  • 29 on Persia and Mission
  • J, K, M rail lines on San Jose (approximately ½ mile west of the route)

Visit sfmta.com/alerts the week before the event for updated information on any MUNI lines that will be rerouted during the event. The following MUNI line will be re-routed from the normal route during Sunday Streets but still provide access near to the route:

  • 14 re-routed from Mission St to Alemany
  • 29 re-routed from Mission St (between Geneva and Persia),  exact reroute TBD
  • 49 re-routed from Mission St (between Ocean and Theresa), exact reroute TBD
  • 52 re-routed from Mission St (between Excelsior and Brazil), exact reroute TBD

BART: Take BART to the Balboa Park or Glen Park BART stations. The Balboa Park station is about a 10 minute walk from the southern end of the Sunday Streets route, while the Glen Park station is about a 10 minute walk from the northern end of the route. Bikes are allowed on BART trains at all times. For trip planning, go to www.bart.gov. For more information about bikes on BART, go to www.bart.gov/guide/bikes.

BIKE: Get in the spirit for Sunday Streets by biking there! Go to:  www.sfbike.org to download a bike map to help find a flat, bike-friendly route from your area or the nearest transit stop to Sunday Streets. Got a long way to go? Shorten the trip by taking transit part of the way. Muni buses have bike racks for 2 bikes, BART and Caltrain both allow bikes on board.

By Car: Should you chose to drive, be aware that the Sunday Streets route is towed of all vehicles beginning at 8 am and no stopping or parking is allowed on the streets after that (even if you’re just stopping for a moment for a cup of coffee), and no vehicles are allowed to drive onto the route after 10:00am.

Should you chose to drive, check out SFPark.org and parkme.com to identify available parking lots and spaces nearby.

Detours and Parking Changes

TOWING: The Sunday Streets route is towed of all vehicles beginning at 8am. Including the following streets:

  • Mission St. from Avalon/Theresa to Geneva Ave.
  • Ocean Ave between Persia and Mission St.
  • First two parking spaces on Francis, Cotter, Santa Rosa, Onondaga, and Seneca Ave.

No parking or stopping will be allowed on these streets after 8am (even if you’re just stopping for a quick cup of coffee, your car may be towed).

DETOURS & LOCAL ACCESS: Streets begin closing to vehicle traffic starting at 10:00 am, and will remain closed to vehicle traffic until 4pm.

  • Vehicle traffic will be allowed to cross the Sunday Streets route via Ocean/Persia Ave
  • East/westbound traffic should use Ocean/Persia Ave to cross the route, or Geneva or Silver Aves to go around it.
  • North/southbound traffic should use Alemany Blvd or London St.

If you need vehicle access to/from your home or place of business during this time, please contact us as early as possible. Email SundayStreets@livablecity.org or call 415-344-0489 to coordinate access.