Sidewalk Cafes

Sidewalk Cafes

In 1993, San Francisco Beautiful worked with North Beach merchants and the Department of Public Works to draft Order 162,240, which made outdoor cafe and restaurant seating legal in San Francisco.

Play Streets

Play Streets

A pilot program designed to make it easier for residents to close a block or two to cars and open them for play and community-building. SF Beautiful partnered with Sunday Streets to hold workshops to get neighborhood organizers up to speed on best practices for holding successful events. The program successfully reduced the fees and […]

Clement Street Pole Gardens

Clement Street Pole Gardens

In 2013, the Clement Street Pole Gardens Project was honored for their creativity in bringing beauty to unexpected public spaces. The Clement Street Pole Gardens are small hanging gardens placed on various parking meters along Clement Street in the Richmond. Neighbors really enjoyed this anonymous gardener’s whimsical approach to making the street more beautiful and […]

Noriega Parklet

Noriega Parklet

In 2012, the newly installed Parklet at 46th Ave and Noriega was honored for its innovative design. As the first perpendicular parklet, this project is (de)paving the way for future public placemaking design breakthroughs. For more than 40 years, San Francisco Beautiful has been honoring San Franciscans who make special contributions to the unique character […]

Pavement to Parks

Pavement to Parks

In 2011, San Francisco Beautiful recognized the city’s Pavement to Parks Program with a Beautification Award. With a focus on activating our streets and sidewalks, the San Francisco Planning Department, the Department of Public Works and the Municipal Transportation Agency are reclaiming underutilized spaces in the public realm by creating vibrant, beautiful gathering spaces. For more than […]

Tenderloin National Forest

Tenderloin National Forest

In 2010, San Francisco Beautiful gave a Beautification Award to the Tenderloin National Forest. Two decades in the making, this alley in the heart of a challenged neighborhood has been transformed, with funding from the Art Commission and Mayor’s office, into a garden of redwood trees, performance and public art, classes and activities. For more than […]

Pennsylvania Garden

Pennsylvania Garden

In 2010, San Francisco Beautiful gave a Beautification Award to the Pennsylvania Garden, a volunteer-created project that transformed a blighted lot in Potrero Hill into a garden. Creative vision, ingenuity, knowledge of horticulture and the inspirational leadership of Annie Shaw and a group of volunteers have transformed a leftover freeway “no man’s land” into an extraordinary […]

Visitacion Valley Greenway

Visitacion Valley Greenway

In 2008, San Francisco Beautiful gave a Beautification Award to the Visitacion Valley Greenway Project, a re-purposed blighted property that was converted into a public park. This series of six publicly-owned parcels functions as an outdoor classroom and recreation area beautifying the landscape and uniting the diverse groups of Visitacion Valley. Park features include a native plant […]

Brooks Park

Brooks Park

In 2005, San Francisco Beautiful recognized Brooks Park with a Beautification Award. Volunteers reclaimed this neglected park from drug dealers and created a natural area and community garden for neighbors to enjoy. For more than 40 years, San Francisco Beautiful has been honoring San Franciscans who make special contributions to the unique character and beauty of our City […]