The Sunset Connection - Perspectives from SF's Sunset Neighborhood

Sunset Stories: From Past to Present

• Jessica J. Ho • Season 1 • Episode 1

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In the inaugural episode of "The Sunset Connection," host Jessica Ho, a Sunset resident, sits down with Albert Chow, esteemed community leader and owner of the historic Great Wall Hardware store in San Francisco's Sunset District. Together, they embark on a journey through time, exploring the neighborhood's transformation from its origins as the "Outside Lands" to the vibrant community it is today.

They reflect on Albert's personal stories, discuss how the neighborhood's changing demographics influence its rich cultural tapestry, and more.

Join us for this enlightening conversation as we celebrate the Sunset District's rich history, its dynamic present, and the inspiring individuals who contribute to its enduring spirit.

Have an idea for the podcast or want a chance to be featured in the next one? Please email me at Jessica.Jasmine.Ho@gmail.com. 

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The Sunset Connection — exploring the stories and histories that connect us.

Speaker 1:

All right, welcome everyone to the very first episode of the Sunset Connection, where we explore the rich history, vibrant present and exciting future of San Francisco's Sunset District. I'm your host, Jessica Ho, and I couldn't be more thrilled to start this journey with you. Before we dive in, let me share why I created this podcast. First, I'm currently taking a class at City College Shout out to Professor Cecil and when I was brainstorming ideas, I knew it had to be something meaningful to me and, as those who know me can attest, I absolutely love the Sunset District. For those outside of San Francisco, the sunset might not even register on the radar. Sf is known for its tourism, towering skyscrapers and, let's be honest, the not so great headlines of public safety lately. But the truth is San Francisco is incredibly diverse. Did you know that the realtors divided the city into 89 official neighborhoods? That blows my mind Few. Fewer than a million people live here.

Speaker 1:

I think we're at like 700 000, I don't know something like 780 yeah, and yet we have 89 neighborhoods packed in a seven by seven square miles, and the sunset district is where I really found my home. Um, it's one of the 89 that I felt like I really understood. I felt like it really understood me and accepted me for who I was, which was, it's, difficult to do, I understand. So, yeah, it always had a special place in my heart, and that's what the podcast is all about celebrating the sunset and the people who make it so unique and so vibrant, and the people who make it so unique and so vibrant. Okay, so, since this is our very first episode, I want to lay out what we're going to talk about today.

Speaker 1:

We have a special guest joining us Albert Chow, president of the People of Parkside Sunset. Albert is a business owner, a community leader and a passionate advocate for this neighborhood. Together, we're going to take a journey through the past, present and future of the Sunset District and, to keep things lighthearted and fun, we'll write things up with a little game of trivia. Sound good? All right, here we go. The Sunset District has always been one of San Francisco's most misunderstood neighborhoods. What started as foggy sand dunes has grown into a thriving, diverse community. It's home to generations of families, small businesses and some of the city's best hidden gems. Albert, you've grown up in the Sunset, run a business here and are raising your family in the community. Let's start at the beginning. What's your earliest memory in the Sunset? Run a business here and are raising your family in the community. Let's start at the beginning. What's your earliest memory of the Sunset District?

Speaker 2:

Hi, jessica, great to be here. I'm honored to be your first guest to be on your podcast and talking of all things, this little corner of the city that we both find ourselves in. I've been here a little bit longer than you. I'm a native of San Francisco, so I'm born and raised here, but I started in North Beach, chinatown. I was born in Chinese Hospital, the same hospital as Bruce Lee, and I lived out there until the mid-70s or late-70s. I don't quite remember exactly what year we came out here. I think it was like 77, 78. First came out to the avenues, is what we called it back. Then I used to come out here because my uncle and aunt lived out here, so we would drive from North Beach, which I always thought was really far away.

Speaker 1:

It is very far away.

Speaker 2:

You had to take the and Judah, no, no, we took the Marina Boulevard freeway. It goes one way to Golden Gate Bridge and the other way takes you to Park Presidio, 19th Avenue. I remember driving through the Presidio Avenue. I remember driving through the Presidio and at that time it was a military base, a very active one, so there were soldiers and Jeeps and checkpoints everywhere, and so we used to drive through that.

Speaker 2:

That really makes you feel like you've stepped out of the city because you know Chinatown compared to an army base and then when we come back out again, we're on the other side and it's foggy. It's foggy the that time at uh 18th and judah, uh, they're still there. Um, because even then, back then, it was hard to buy another house. Once you had a house and I think, when I back then, I think the houses were like you know it's gonna make everybody cringe, but I think they're like 40 something thousand at the time throughout the whole district there were some there in the 30s, some of the 50,000 were there a lot of dunes everywhere no, there was.

Speaker 2:

So when I finally moved out here, I lived at 44th and quintera and there were dunes behind saint ignatius high school wow there's still a big, giant amount of dunes, about two or three square blocks worth, and, uh, we used to.

Speaker 2:

You could climb them, you could. You could roll around in the sand there and, um, being Chinese and coming from Chinatown, my friends and I we used to do bottle rocket wars out there, so we would just hide in the dunes and shoot at each other, which, of course, you would never be able to do that today. But yeah, that was kind of sort of fun riding BMX bicycles through the sand dunes. That was still a thing. Today it's a parking lot, a soccer field and, yeah, yeah, it's just a big sports venue. What's what is now sitting? There is used to be all dunes.

Speaker 1:

There's a sports venue area for uh si high school. I know exactly what you're talking about. That's that large like soccer field. Behind si there's the sunset mental health, I think uh there's.

Speaker 2:

They have a department like a building out there that was oh, that was, I think, already there, just to the south of that it was just.

Speaker 1:

It was just a square of sand dune. There was the last bastion of it, and it was just so the kids went there to play.

Speaker 2:

They were the last sand dunes in the sunset and I don't know why that patch was just left the way it was, but it was there and we enjoyed it. You know, uh, firecrackers and bmx bicycles. That's amazing. Um, back in those days there wasn't a lot of Asians, there was a few, there were some Filipinos, there were some black folks that were here too, but predominantly at that time it was very Irish, very white, but slowly, slowly changing. But I think that that's just part of San Francisco.

Speaker 1:

When did you think you saw the change really start?

Speaker 2:

As Chinese. It became more affluent, so we took this. I think it was a natural progression. I was living in an SRO and in a small apartment in North Beach.

Speaker 1:

Oh sorry, explain for our listeners what is an SRO?

Speaker 2:

An SRO is a single resident occupancy room that you get to have. You don't get your own bathroom. You had a sink in the room and a closet and you had pretty much just room for a bed.

Speaker 1:

It's like 10 by 10 feet right.

Speaker 2:

It was on Powell and Vallejo is where I was. It was the SRO I was born in. I don't really remember much of it. I've got photos of it. It's like a pale green room, indicative of those days, that color, you know. Um, I remembered. I can remember sounds like walking up vinyl tile staircases that were just loud and creaky as you go up to the rooms.

Speaker 1:

I don't remember what floor I was on or anything but how old were you when you moved out to the sunset district? I was about eight or nine?

Speaker 2:

yeah, did you go to school out here too? I stayed in the north beach schools until I got to junior high, so I stayed out. I stayed out in the North Beach area, stayed in school there. I just had friends there. So, and my parents worked out there, so it was you know, we had to drive out there anyway, so dropping me off was not a big deal.

Speaker 1:

So going from an SRO in Chinatown where sometimes up to like 10 people live, which is insane in the small cramped room it was just us three Okay good, only this small cramped room.

Speaker 2:

It was just us three Okay good, only three of you, that's good. I've heard horror stories.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it's crazy To come out to the Sunset District. Do you think that was a big factor in coming out here Was more space, or was it cheaper? Or why did your family choose to come to the Sunset?

Speaker 2:

I think, because when my uncle and aunt lived out here to live in the richmond so the richmond was nicer than the sunset yeah, it was always several thousand dollars at that time more for a house in the richmond versus the sunset. Um, the sunset's bigger and I actually, now that I've lived here so long and I've been to both, you know, richmond and the sunset, I actually prefer the sunset. It's just you have more breathing space. There's parking's easier than you know, because the curb cuts you know there's a little small curb cuts in the richmond that you can't park anywhere um, so the density is not as bad. It's definitely more spread out and, um, it's just a, it's just a bigger neighborhood. So I'm totally cool with that.

Speaker 2:

Um, what I noticed the difference was I remember going into our first house and just running around like crazy because it was just this new space and it was huge hallways. Whoever heard of the hallway when you're coming from like the small housing in in chinatown, north beach. So just having a room to myself, that was completely different. You know, having rooms downstairs, having a garage, all that just was so eye-opening to me. And the neighborhood, you know, people were a lot friendlier.

Speaker 1:

Oh, tell me more about that. What do you mean by they were friendlier?

Speaker 2:

You know there was kids on the block and at first I was nervous about playing with anybody. But you know they would come out on the weekends and they'd play football in the street, which you could do back then because nobody drove down 44th Avenue. They would ride bicycles, they would play games, bring out their toys and my sisters and I would slowly get to playing with them. I had a couple of them. They were in school, that I knew, so I just started playing with kids. There was a guy named Mac. He lived on the corner at 44th and Rivera and he used to make toy rubber band guns. He would. He would help me build a bow and arrow set. Was he a child?

Speaker 1:

or no.

Speaker 2:

No, he's an older guy okay, just like a retired old folk used to play with you know, work with the kids and you know like he, he, uh, he carved a. I remember he carved me a rubber band gun just because he wanted to make one and later, like me and um, another kid named Aiden lived down the block, he got got one too and we started just shooting each other with rubber band guns.

Speaker 1:

That's so cute, and this is when you were like nine.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, nine, 10, 11 years old. Yeah, different dynamic. There just wasn't a lot of cars Right and we had blind intersections. There were like four-way no-stop signs, you know. So people just slow down, check left and right, go through, but I, the gang.

Speaker 1:

And the only sand dunes by that time were still just the ones behind SI.

Speaker 2:

Yes, unless you wanted to go down to the beach, right, yeah.

Speaker 1:

So what were some misconceptions that the sunset had when you were growing up? I?

Speaker 2:

don't know if there were misconceptions or there was just a ringing of truth, which I would honestly say it was. I liked going back to Chinatown. It was like on weekends we'd go to Chinatown to have dim sum, visit my grandma. There was a lot of hustle and bustle that I missed in Chinatown. I still do that. Sometimes.

Speaker 2:

I like to go into Chinatown or even to the Mission because I love that crowd feeling that very ethnic and very diverse crowd and I need that every once in a while. But when I don't need it and I just want to have a nice quiet, chill time, I'm back in my neighborhood, back to relax. Now I think that people keep thinking of the sunset at that time, very much like they think of like the middle of the country, like a flyover area. You know you just go there as a bedroom community and to some respects that was true, but it gave you that safer childhood. I think there was a lot of real like good old American stuff going on here. You know, just like playing baseball. Playing we didn't do soccer back then, but you know baseball, handball, kickball, basketball, there was a lot of that going on, just a lot of much simpler fun. The neighborhoods were like the commercial corridors aren't what they are today, so they were just. I mean, what can I say? It was a lot of World War II veterans.

Speaker 1:

Oh, interesting.

Speaker 2:

And they were the ones that were making lives for themselves and their kids were having kids, and that's my generation, so there was a lot. So at that time they were like these were the guys that bought the homes after the war and the gi bill. So I remember seeing guys with, you know, flags, flags tattooed on their arms and chests, anchors on their forearms, because these were former navy guys, former marines and army, so, uh, it was just a lot of those people, and then also, like vietnam veterans I saw a lot of that in in our part of town interesting and they were all kind of in the sunset district, not other places of san francisco this was the biggest development.

Speaker 2:

You know, like, these houses were built in the 40s, especially as you go further out to the west to the beach, um, the houses were built, uh, just prior to going into the war, like 1941, and then after, of course, uh, pearl harbor, all construction stopped. But immediately after 45 46, the houses started being built in massive amounts here and all the coming, the gi's coming back home, um, especially, I think, if you were in pacific theater, uh, san francisco is where you landed and of course there's. This was a military town at that time and there was like so many guys that came back and they just, you know, went through hell and they just wanted to build a life, maybe more earnest than ever, and so they were there. So I remember seeing quite a lot of that. I even remember seeing some Jewish folks with concentration camp numbers tattooed on their arms, wow. So I remember seeing that when I was a kid.

Speaker 1:

So it's almost like the Sunset was a refuge for a lot of these veterans who just came back from war and they were some of the first residents of the Sunset District. Is that correct to say?

Speaker 2:

They were a part of a wave that came post-World War II, for sure. Yeah, I saw a lot of them and you know, you know their kids' kids are my age now. They're 50s and you know that's. You know, I don't really see that other, that greatest generation, anymore. You know many of those have passed on.

Speaker 1:

Yes, moving on to the present, I think I want to transition with this story. So there's another person that apparently knew your mother, that was running the shop.

Speaker 2:

Yes, she was tough as nails.

Speaker 1:

Okay, yeah, that's what he was saying. He was like there was this woman. She seemed tough as nails. Is that Albert's mom?

Speaker 2:

Yep, that's right. Mariana Chow, that's my mom. What is her name? Mariana?

Speaker 1:

Mariana Chow. Yeah, and so tell me where she lives now.

Speaker 2:

So our hardware store. We had a fire just last year. I'm sorry to hear that. Yes, thank you, but we're building back, so we're going to continue to the hardware store. We've only been there 41 years, so let's keep it going 41 years. So how long were you in the sunset before they opened up the shop?

Speaker 1:

I've been here almost 50 years. So for nine years, when you guys were at 44th, you guys were living and then growing up, and then you must've been like 17, 18 when it opened up 15., 15.

Speaker 2:

Okay, so we had, we had moved from the 44th Avenue house and then we lived at 25th and Terravale, so that's where we resided, and I think this piece of property came up for sale. I think we paid 200,000 plus for it, for the whole building. Wow and um, we initially rented it out to you know some, some people that want to do business. One was a baby shop. I mean, I'm sorry, baby carriage. They sold baby carriages, baby cradles and and cribs and stuff like that. But uh, I mean it was a good match because it's a very family oriented part of town, but they just couldn't make a go at it. I think they lasted a couple years and then they just turned in the keys. We there was one other business, I just can't remember what it was, but it also did last very long at all.

Speaker 2:

And so here's my mom and dad. They're going. What are we gonna do with this place? My dad was a contractor at that time and, um, I guess I was not the most obedient kid, so my mom and dad could put their heads together and say let's do something. Let's open a hardware store because you know it goes. It goes hand in hand with his construction business and at the same time maybe Albert will take a liking to it and keep him out of trouble. And it worked.

Speaker 1:

And that's how Great Wall Hardware began.

Speaker 2:

Yes, yes, and we started off as a thousand square foot store and my dad got an architect and we managed to build out the rest, rest of the property. We took out the driveway, we took out the garage, we took out the backyard and just built the whole thing. Property line, property line. So we have, we have the big store that we have now. Uh, and it was very shortly after that was built that the city put a moratorium and wouldn't allow you to build property lines, property line anymore. You had to have setbacks, right, which you know, so you couldn't build like that anymore. Interesting, that was 1987, was 1987, I think, when we finally finished it.

Speaker 1:

Amazing. So tell me what happened last year, what happened to your store and, oh, just for our listeners, where is the store located? What do you like tell us about their store?

Speaker 2:

So our store, great Wall Hardware, it's on Terravel Street about between 28th and 29th Avenue, and last year, august 25th Sunday night, an arson came in, didn't break in, just went right up to the front of the building and just lit the building on fire and walked away.

Speaker 1:

You know, that's when I caught him with a security camera Couldn't figure out why they did it.

Speaker 2:

We still haven't caught him yet. He's a known arsonist, so they do know who he is, but they and they would arrest him on sight, but they haven't found him yet.

Speaker 1:

And it was my understanding that your mother was also living in the building, correct?

Speaker 2:

I had my mom on the top floor and I had two tenants on the middle floor, and so when the fire was fully blazing, both units were full of smoke. And you know the guys that were living downstairs, they were young, they could get out quick enough, but my mom was kind of stuck disoriented. They could get out quick enough, but my mom was kind of stuck disoriented. It was 3.30, 4 o'clock in the morning, so she was trying to find her way out of the building and she was starting to lose her senses is what she told me. She was just in shock, and that's when the fireman broke through the front door and saw her standing just like five feet away from the front door. She couldn't see the front door, wow. And then he grabbed her and took her downstairs.

Speaker 1:

Shout out to the firefighters, yeah shout out to SFPD.

Speaker 2:

Wow, for sure.

Speaker 1:

That's a crazy story and it sucks that we still don't know who did it and why right.

Speaker 2:

Well, we know who did it. I mean, we haven't caught him. We just don't know why.

Speaker 1:

Right, he's a serial arsonist, from what the SFPD has said.

Speaker 2:

Is that correct? Down uh dragon instant printing, which was a store up on uh, a mom and pop's printing shop, um, next to where it meets at 15th and terryville. They have him on camera too and they think it's the same guy I mean, why, like what's happening?

Speaker 1:

this is why are people coming now to the sunset to try to burn down our small businesses? Like what changed? Was that something that happened before? Like is this a new phenomenon? Can you tell me more about like what changed?

Speaker 2:

uh, that's what you're gonna. I you got me, because I think random crimes like that are far and few between, thank god, but once in a while they happen. We've had fires in the sunset, but they've always been like you know, the kitchen, someone left something, a stove going, an electrical panel, a short circuit, something like that. Um, but once in a while, uh, you get a fire, you get get a fire like that. And there's, as far as I can recall, in recent history, there's three fires this way my hardware store, the Dragon Instant Printing, on 15th and TerraVale. And there was a third one. It was a forest shop owned by a Hungarian lady on 20th and Irving next to a hole-in-the-wall pizza, the flower shop, something happier yeah, let's uh.

Speaker 1:

Well, I mean as a business owner, how is running in business in the sunset district shaped your relationship with the community?

Speaker 2:

as a hardware store. I think it's different from other businesses because people when they come to a hardware store, a lot of times they come in with a problem you know, a leak, a paint job, um change a switch or something like that and a lot of times they need help, some advice. So I build up relationships that way. In helping people out I I really, really enjoy doing that. It's more than just the money, it's also that you know being in touch, helping someone solve a problem so they can make something better of their house or where they reside, adding spunk to their house by giving them a beautiful paint job. You know like they get a beautiful paint job, they come to buy colors and they get all the tools and then I can give them advice how to cut a nice line on the wall or what type of primers to use, caulking, all that kind of stuff. So it's more than just a retail experience where someone just walks in, see something they like and put it on the counter and then out they go. That's kind of like for me. That's like Target. You don't ask people much, you just go to what you want to get.

Speaker 2:

For hardware stores, people often ask advice or yeah, just they need some assistance, and that has put me in touch with my community, I think, just because we've had those conversations, often those conversations lead to something else, more in-depth conversations. So then it becomes like a barbershop, right, and people just come in. Just sometimes they don't even want to come in and buy anything, they just want to hang out. That's great. So that's the community that I feel like we formed a great wall. Having been there for so long, I think people just got used to the fact that we were always there and you can always see my face and we can always tell each other a good joke.

Speaker 1:

You know, I think that's great and I am certainly guilty of being part of that community, and thank you for the advice that you have given us for our own home. So appreciate it. Yeah, so how?

Speaker 2:

did owning a business kind of relate to your work at the People of Parkside Sunset, which is a neighborhood merchant corber, I originally didn't want to go, I didn't want to be part of it.

Speaker 2:

My mom, in a previous iteration of People of Parkside Sunset which was called the Terreville Parkside Merchants Association, she was an officer for a while. I remembered the street was different, it was more white, so kind of not as ethnically diverse as it is now, and the president of the Merchants Association back then was a guy named George Zlatnich who was also a hardware store owner and he was president for Terravel's Merchants Association for like 20 years and it was just a bunch of merchants getting together and having meetings, talking about issues, having guests come. But by the time it came to me the TerraFal Parks and Merchants Association was just a hollow shell of what it was before. There used to be 25, 30, 40 members in there and I remember they used to hold meetings at the Tennessee Grill or the Irish Cultural Center and then when I came along it was at the police station and there was four or five people sitting at a table and that was it, and so at that time.

Speaker 2:

Supervisor, carmen Chu, said Albert, you need to go there, you need to be part of this, you're the right fit. And I said, no, I'm busy enough as it is and I want my free time, and so on and so forth. I don't want to go, there's only a few people. But she convinced me to go and I gave it a try. There's only a few people, and uh, but she convinced me to go and I, I gave it a try and, um, you know, went to a few meetings. There wasn't much going on, but they were doing things like senior dance and, uh, trying to do like a, a, a, uh, what do you call it A directory of?

Speaker 2:

And I just said, okay, I'll give this a try, I'll stick to it, I'll go to the meetings and I think, gradually, we just started to do a little bit more and I saw the potential power of this organization and I thought, you know what we need to kind of pivot, and why don't we pivot to something a little bit more exciting? So we tried a music festival at the end of TerraVale. That was pretty good, you know, like we had hay bales out, we had two or three rock bands going. We even had a little bleacher stand for people to enjoy the music, and we had. It was right next to the Riptide Bar, so there was drinks and there was food across the street. It was actually, and at that time it was.

Speaker 1:

Bashful Bowl, and what?

Speaker 2:

year was this, 2009, 2010. Gavin Newsom was mayor. He came and it was a great event, but it was so much work Five or six of us so it was so hard to pull off and everyone was like, oh, what are you going to do next year? But it was too much of a lift for an organization that small and so we decided to. It was Carmen Chu's idea. Why don't we do a movies festival in the park?

Speaker 1:

And where is that located? It was Carmen Chu's idea. Why don't we do a?

Speaker 2:

movies festival in the park, and where's that located? It's at 23rd and Terranville, next to the Parkside Library. And so we started our movie festival, held in October, and we had almost nobody show up and the fog was heavy. It was not a good showing the first time, but I think, like all things, they get started, they're a little bit rough. At the beginning, we started talking more to merchants, trying to rally and get more people in, and I don't exactly remember what. No, I do.

Speaker 2:

I think what really brought people together was at that time the economy was going pretty well. You know this was after 2008. We were coming back, more restaurants and shops were coming down in TerraVelle Street and in San Francisco in general. But we got the TerraVelle project, the beginning of it and that really upset a lot of people. And when those people were upset, they needed somewhere to focus that anger and feeling like they need to have their voices heard. And somehow we became the center of that voice. And you know, then, then our meetings started growing in popularity. You know, 15 people would show up, 20 people would show up, 25, 30. And sometimes when we and I would, you know, I would bring in, you know, guests, you know, I would bring in SFMTA, I would bring in our supervisors, I would bring in, you know, dpw. All these people came in and then everyone really wanted to know what was going on in Terrible.

Speaker 1:

And just for our listeners, the El Terravel project. It was a project that the SFTA spearheaded to replace all of the things that you need for a muni to run and underground for the El Terravel from basically West Portal all the way to the zoo. And it was supposed to take like three years, ended up taking like five or longer.

Speaker 2:

It took about five years total with a one-year break in between, so four years actually. It was just that. It was a big change on TerraVal.

Speaker 1:

It's a huge change. There was a lot of construction. It was very disruptive to businesses. They took away parking. Everything was always just difficult to get to and a lot of the small businesses suffered.

Speaker 2:

Yes, those type of projects, those big projects, actually put the spotlight on people at Parkside Sunset. So we started getting popular. Popular because we were just a go-to place to amplify your voice. Right, and you, me, sam, she was. She had done it for seven years. She was like I've had it. Albert, your secretary, I'm uplifting you to please be the president. I'm like no, but eventually it was like I was already doing all the jobs. You're doing the work. I was doing everything except title.

Speaker 2:

Okay, so you might as well, and taking the title to one year that we just they voted me in I think that was 2014 I became president, so I've been doing this 10 years.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, 10 years, because you're still president, it's 2025.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so we started to do things different. I started getting ideas for, like, let's say, the movies in Macaupin. You know, at that time Star Wars was still coming out with new movies. We could get some funding and we did finally get some money from the city. You know, we could use that money to jazz up, jazz up the movies in the Coppin series. And so we started doing things like serving food. So I would buy food from the restaurants and give it away for free. Everybody sampled the taste of Taranel.

Speaker 2:

We started doing things like hiring entertainment that was associated with the movie we're showing that night. So I remember hiring storm troopers for the star Wars. So we had stormtroopers and rebel pilots, you know, in their uniforms, come in and do do photos with the kids. Everyone was just crazy about that. Hiring an actress that played superwoman, wonder woman or someone like we had. We had uh, nasa come when we did a movie about, uh, hidden figures. Oh, right, right, um, we, you know. So we just, we just really got into it. It was really fun and we're continuing that tradition today and we still you know it know it's become a much bigger event than I ever expected, but I love it now.

Speaker 1:

Movies in Macaupin. Yeah, we get it. Are we doing it this October as well? Oh you bet.

Speaker 2:

I haven't figured out what movies we're going to do, but it's going to be family-oriented movies. We'll have food again. We'll have entertainment again.

Speaker 1:

All right, well, if this podcast be featuring and any special guests you'll be bringing.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely, absolutely.

Speaker 1:

It became like a fiscal sponsor for a lot of the other nonprofits or groups in the Sunset District. Tell me about how you became that role for everyone in the Sunset.

Speaker 2:

So it was just a few years before, so I'd say about 2019, I was approached by OEWD and they said you know, you guys are really doing a great job out there in the Sunset, and they asked if we would, you know, like volunteer ourselves to be the fiscal sponsors of mini grants into the sunset, so like to have money to be in charge of a pocket of money that would be used to promote, let's say, Halloween or another merchant, another block party event or something promoted some of the kids' safety in schools, like you'd have a block party next to a school and they would write up a grant proposal and we would review it and okay it and then give them the money so they can hire vendors and musicians and so forth to make an event. And this is one of the big, pivotal changes that happened in the sunset that started bringing eyes on us. We were no longer just a flyover neighborhood. It we were no longer just a flyover neighborhood. It started becoming a destination.

Speaker 2:

We started, you know, because if people are coming and making happiness here and making events and causing crowds, and also the Examiner, the Chronicle, Channel 2, Channel 7, Channel 5 are coming over chronicling these events that brought more merchants and investors that are willing to decide hey, we're going to set up shop on Irving, we're going to set up shop on Terravelos or Noriega, because they're seeing that there's buzz here and it really had changed. I could honestly say after like 2000,. Probably like 2015,. 2016,. We started seeing more people coming in.

Speaker 1:

Okay, 2015 is when the turning point started.

Speaker 2:

Right, I started seeing more businesses coming to the sunset, more restaurants opening more interesting specialty shops, because there is now so many restaurants on Terravel and Irving and Noriega they could parse out into specialties. They didn't have to be general restaurants anymore, they could just only boba, only bolobao, only, you know, egg tarts, only this, only that. And then there was enough. There was enough crowd that, there was enough business to do that.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and, and the outer Noriega merchants held like a concert every year and they had some nice stores over there with Devil's Teeth and Noriega Pizza. Noriega Pizza, custis.

Speaker 2:

Market was always crowded, that's right, and it was an old location. Yeah, it was just a lot of buzz there. And then you know Hookfish Right, that great burrito and seafood place opened up. Yeah, there used to be a Cajun restaurant before that.

Speaker 1:

Oh, I didn't know that.

Speaker 2:

It was a secret little Cajun restaurant. I loved it. I don't remember the name of the restaurant anymore, but the guy I guess he had to throw in the towel. It was just too much for him.

Speaker 2:

It was just a mother and pop operation. I used to love going there to get some Cajun food, because where could you get it anywhere else in the city? Right, we had. And it was really bad that first year because everybody was terrified. You know, wuhan, manhattan, italy. We thought we were the next one because we're a coastal city, we had an international airport. Someone with a bug could just fly in and mess it up for everybody, right? So we were, everybody was scared, so everything got locked down. But as and actually Jessica, you and I, we I remember doing merchant walks and going down the street and giving information, hand sanitizers, masks and shields to people, putting up posters, just trying to protect the neighborhood. So, thanks to you, I just remember that.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it was a dark time, it was a hard time right.

Speaker 2:

But I think somehow in that hard time people got restless and there was a lot of latent energy and so people were doing projects at home like crazy because they had nowhere to go.

Speaker 1:

But then through that we actually spawned the farmer's market Right the Outer Sunset Farmer's Market to go, but then through that, we actually spawned the farmer's market right the outer sunset farmer's market, yes, which is now such a big staple, 37th and ortega, every sunday right, and then we have saturday events and sunday events there and that's created, you know like a lot of buzz in the neighborhood yeah, so it gives people a lot to look forward to.

Speaker 1:

On the weekends pops was a big reason why the sunset, outer sunset uh, farmer's Market even exists, right we, we worked with Sunset Mercantile shout out to Angie shout out to Angie Taylor awesome lady, she, she's, she's incredible.

Speaker 2:

We're so happy for that, for having our own.

Speaker 1:

It's got its own flavor, it's got its own spin but it brings people out to the neighborhood and I think it, to your point, really brings eyes and people get to see how lovely the neighborhood can be um, my uncles and aunts and my mother and father managed to acquire these homes doing blue collar jobs.

Speaker 2:

My uncle was a waiter, my other uncle was a waiter and aunt was a seamstress Very typical jobs back then and they were able to buy a house in Richmond, raise their kids, go through private school on the backs of a waiter's pay.

Speaker 1:

It's amazing. You can't do that today. You cannot do that today. So you have kids now and they're also growing up in the Sunset District. What would you like the Sunset District to become for the future?

Speaker 2:

I, like you know, I'm going to say that the status quo is actually not that bad right now. This is a very safe neighborhood. It's very family-focused, we've got a lot of parks, we've got the beach, we've got great school no we've got Golden Gate Park, we've got all the little parks in between, sunset Playground, west Sunset, vicenti Playground. We have all these playgrounds and places for the kids to enjoy themselves here and lots of good schools. So in fact, lowell is just outside of our district.

Speaker 1:

No, it's actually now redistricted into our district. Well, yes you're right.

Speaker 2:

And then we have a golf course which, when the kids get older, maybe they want to play golf, I don't know, but we have a lot of amenities here and a lot of open space and room to breathe. You're not crowded in in this neighborhood. So I would like to see us not grow at a frenetic pace. I think that the pace that's going right now will keep sunset, uh, keep its personality, keep its vibe.

Speaker 2:

I think that you know, the sunset in general is a very nice, mellow neighborhood. It's, uh, I think that's the right pace to live a comfortable life and not get too too much into the rush of things which is, look, if I want to go downtown because I want to get crazy, I just hop on the bus or drive downtown and I can get as crazy as I like. But then when I want to go back home to peace and quiet, that's what I like about the sunset. But now, on top of that, we have these events, and it's good too, but they're not every day. It's not every day. It's not going on all kind of a place in our neighborhood. Sure, we can have hardly strictly bluegrass and outerlands, but that's only two times a year.

Speaker 1:

Right, well, thank you so much, albert, for joining us today. I think we're going to transition now to the trivia portion of our podcast. To play with us today, we have also invited Christian Croft Hi, hello. So here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to ask three Sunset-related trivia questions and give three possible answers for each, and you two will have to guess which one is correct. And whoever is right, the quickest wins the point and the best out of three wins.

Speaker 2:

All right, what do I? Get Bragging rights Okay, bragging rights Okay.

Speaker 1:

Yes, maybe in the future we can like upgrade, depending on the sponsors we get. Before the great highway was officially named in the early 20th century, what was the original name of the coastal road that ran along ocean beach? All right, so the three answers are a seal rock drive b, south pacific boulevard or c. Are A Seal Rock Drive B, south Pacific Boulevard or C.

Speaker 2:

Esplanade Seal Rock. Okay, well, I have no idea, I'm going with Seal Rock, seal Rock. That's my guess.

Speaker 1:

Christian. What would you pick?

Speaker 2:

Well, I'll also go with Seal Rock.

Speaker 1:

Well, both of you are incorrect, because the answer is Esplanade.

Speaker 2:

Esplanade.

Speaker 1:

Wow, yeah, that sounds kind of victorian, you know that the road ocean beach was historically called the esplanade, before it was officially designated the great highway wow, okay next question the dolger home legacy developer, henry dolger is credited with mass producing homes that shaped the sunset district.

Speaker 1:

we kind of talked about that throughout the podcast. What unique feature we kind of talked about that throughout the podcast. What unique feature did Dolder Homes include that made them stand out? A earthquake-resistant foundation design. B built-in garages, which were uncommon at the time, or C custom tile work inside each home?

Speaker 2:

I'm going to go with the garages. What was the other one Garage tower?

Speaker 1:

Earthquake-resistant foundation design Garages. Both of you are correct. Yes, built-in garages were uncommon at the time and it was meant to attract middle-class families who were starting to own cars. Yes, alright. Last but not least, the mysterious lake beneath the sunset. There is a natural lake hidden beneath the sand dune. What is the name of the underground body of water? A Laguna Honda, b Sunset Springs or C Pine Lake?

Speaker 2:

Oh, pine Lake, that's already here. Yeah, I'm going to go with Laguna Honda Sunset Springs.

Speaker 1:

And the answer goes to Ding Ding, Christian. Laguna Honda is the underground freshwater lake that extends beneath the sunset and is part of SF's hidden water system. Well, Christian, you win.

Speaker 1:

Yay Power of guessing, the power of guessing. Thanks for playing. That's it for the very first episode of the Sunset Connection. A huge thank you to Albert Chow, my husband, christian, for joining us today. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to subscribe and leave a review. If you want to be a guest on the show or if you have a story to share, please email me at jessicajasminho at gmailcom, and you can also find this information in the show notes. Until next time, take care of yourself and each other. That's all folks.

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Jessica J. Ho

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