Five years after its expulsion from Pioneer Park, San Francisco’s Christopher Columbus statue remains locked in secret storage as interest in returning it intensifies.
On June 19, 2020, the statue of the 15th-century Italian explorer, which had been pointing westward toward the Pacific Ocean since 1957, was taken from its base outside Coit Tower. Following nationwide protests stemming from George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis, local protesters vandalized public monuments, including those dedicated to Ulysses S. Grant, Francis Scott Key, and Saint Junipero Serra. Columbus, was next on their list.
With support from then Mayor London Breed and then Supervisors Aaron Peskin and Catherine Stefani, the San Francisco Arts Commission decided to remove the statue from North Beach, San Francisco’s deeply entrenched Italian neighborhood.
Now ,only a small piece of jagged concrete remains on the granite pedestal. Attributions from donors who hailed from Italy’s Ligurian Region and Genoa are still visible. The words “Christopher Columbus Discoverer of America” are carved into the circular base.
The commission did not consult the city’s residents at large, North Beach residents, or the Italian American community before it instructed workers to uproot the statue.
“In cities across the US, many historic monuments are being taken down because the actions and ideas symbolized do not deserve to be venerated,” the commission wrote in an August 2020 statement. “The Columbus monument was removed because it doesn’t align with San Francisco’s values or our commitment to racial justice.”
Phil Ginsburg, the recently retired San Francisco Recreation and Park general manager, said at the time: “Christopher Columbus statues have become upsetting symbols of oppression and racism in cities across the country. Such symbolism is at odds with SF Rec and Park’s values of equity, access, and inclusion and our prioritization of parks and open space for marginalized communities.”
After flyers circulated over the weekend of June 11-12, 2020, calling for protesters to topple the two-ton statue and toss it off Pier 31, the commission was prepared. They deployed a crane to lift the severed statue from its pedestal, then had it transported to an undisclosed location.
In October 2025, Coma Te, director of communications for the San Francisco Arts Commission, told the Voice of San Francisco in an email that the sculpture is locked in storage “in the interest of public safety.”
Such danger was and is unfounded. Although activists did destroy monuments in 2020, there is no record of related injuries in San Francisco. Today there is even less interest in toppling statues.
The movement toward purging works of art was ramping up in 2020, though. That year, a Monuments and Memorials Advisory Committee (MMAC) was assembled. It’s aim was to evaluate the merit of each of the city’s 100 or so monuments and memorials and cull the collection so it aligns with “modern civic values like equity and inclusivity.”
“Columbus represents more than someone just coming in and discovering a new continent. The statue represents pride.”
— Leo Pierini, president of Italian American Citizens Club of South San Francisco
The MMAC consisted of Ralph Remington, Sheryl Davis, Phil Ginsburg, Denise Bradley-Tyson, Claudine Cheng, Chuck Collins, Morning Star Gali, Lisbeth Haas, Roberto Hernandez, Lian Ladia, April McGill, Ata’ataoletaeao McNealy, Lydia So, Sharaya Souza, Kiyomi Takeda. There was no specific representative from the Italian American community.
In 2022 the MMAC commissioned a survey (completed by just 677 people) to identify the most problematic pieces in the city’s collection. Christopher Columbus took the number one spot, then the Junipero Serra statue and the James Lick Pioneer Monument. The Dewey Monument, which still stands in Union Square and is topped with the winged Goddess of Victory, took fourth place.
San Francisco’s arts commission is hardly the only censorious group operating locally. In August 2025, Caltrans evicted the 26-foot-tall statue of Junipero Serra that had overlooked Interstate 280 for over 50 years, ostensibly because it was subject to graffiti and vandalism and didn’t meet their art program requirements.
Although the MMAC disbanded in 2023 after making its recommendations for what stays and what goes, its Shaping Legacy initiative is still in effect.
As for the Columbus statue, it remains in storage. Te said the commission has no plans for its disposition, and that decisions are made through the commission’s Policies and Guidelines for Public Art/Civic Art Collection.
Yet there is no meaningful process for the public to have influence over the statue’s future. Individuals can voice their opinions but the commission makes the decision.
When asked what they intend to do with the Columbus statue, not one of the current members (Chuck Collins, Janine Shiota, Debra Walker, Marcus Anthony Shelby, JD Beltran, Ralph Remington, J. Riccardo Benavides, Seth Brenzel, Patrick Carney, Susie Ferras, Nubile Mussel) responded.
Leo Pierini, president of Italian American Citizens Club of South San Francisco, said the statue’s removal reflects a misunderstanding of history.
“People look at history and try to equate what’s happening now to over 500 years ago,” Pierini said. “But Columbus represents more than someone just coming in and discovering a new continent. The statue represents pride.”
When Italians immigrated to the United States, they were not considered white and faced intense discrimination, including lynchings, Pierini said. Their place in San Francisco took hold in 1906, after the great earthquake and the resulting fire destroyed approximately 80 percent of the city. An influx of Italian families settled in North Beach and Fisherman’s Wharf, rebuilding neighborhoods and establishing restaurants, shops, cafes, and cultural institutions that continue to define the area.
“In San Francisco, to unify they joined clubs and started to identify with Christopher Columbus,” Pierini said. “Why take things from Italians that they associate with? And the city didn’t pay for it; it was a gift.”
The Columbus statue doesn’t have to be returned to Pioneer Park, though, said Pierini: “Perhaps a more appropriate place is Washington Square where it’s more visible and more secure. The conversation should be open. Hiding it is a slap in the face to the Italian American community.”
Te declined repeated requests to allow reporters to see or photograph the statue, saying it is in a “secure fine arts storage” that is “not accessible to members of the public.” When asked for time-stamped photos to verify its location, he stopped responding.
The prolonged limbo has frustrated many San Franciscans. In a Sept. 21, 2025 post on X, locals were asked to weigh in on what should happen to the statue. By an overwhelming majority, respondents said they want it back in public.
“I fully support the return of the Christopher Columbus Statue to Coit Tower,” said Adam Mayer, a Bay Area native and architect. “Its politically vindictive removal was not only an insult to San Francisco’s Italian heritage, it showed cowardly leadership from the highest level.”
“Italian Americans demand it!” one commenter wrote, while another stated: “Return all statues. We don’t cancel history, we learn from it.”
In fact, evidence of the Renaissance-era explorer’s importance is found throughout North Beach. Some is obvious, such as Columbus Avenue, the main commercial street. The classic watering hole Columbus Cafe has been in business since 1936. But other hints are more subtle. For example, an apartment building near Coit Tower bears a painted relief of the Santa Maria, the largest of the three ships used by Columbus in his first expedition across the Atlantic Ocean in 1492. Look up to see Columbus Tower, the triangle, copper-green Flatiron-style building, currently home to Francis Ford Coppola’s Cafe Zoetrope
On Oct. 12, the Italian Heritage Festival and Parade will be held in North Beach. Beginning in 1868, it is the longest continuously running Italian American parade in the United States. Organizations honoring Italian history and culture will be on full display, along with floats celebrating Christopher Columbus. The arts commission may hold the statue hostage, but his legacy clearly carries on.