In our San Francisco neighborhoods, we are fortunate to walk out our front door and be surrounded by everything we need: markets, schools, parks, and some of the most delicious food from all over the world. Because of this, we sometimes miss out on the other hidden gems our city offers.
As was my experience. I would ride my bike home from City College, hop on Bicycle Route 70 and had no idea that to my left was an experience waiting for me until I was invited to meet a few folks who are part of the Glen Park Merchants Association and who help this neighborhood thrive. I immediately fell in love.
There was parking and lots of it! The corridor was complete with mom-and-pop shops. I was lucky enough to arrive on a Friday, the only day of the week that Destination Baking Company serves their challah bread. And less than a 10-minute walk away was Glen Canyon Park. While we enjoy our strolls, sights, and routines in our neighborhoods, we aren’t always aware of those working behind the scenes to make our experiences so delightful.
Meet Renee Berger, a resident of Glen Park since 1994, marking 30 years. With a passion for cities and their neighborhoods, she made her way from the Bronx to Washington DC and ultimately to San Francisco, which constantly said “home” to her, seeking a small-town feel in a big city. She built her management consulting firm focusing on urban policy. She became an author, speaker, and guest lecturer with clients ranging from the White House to the Ford Foundation and the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. In 2014, Berger retired, joining forces with those who share their excitement and love of our city, becoming a volunteer for San Francisco City Guides, a program created 45 years ago by the San Francisco Public Library and now offering over 80 guided walks. Of the three led by Berger, the Mission Murals tour would prove key to a project that began during the pandemic.
It was late 2020 when Berger and a friend walked by a large, forlorn green wall at the cul-de-sac of Burnside Avenue. Berger says the wall spoke to her, “I need a mural.” She looked to the stairs and thought, a tiled stairway, why not both? She says she “envisioned the story that could be told of the neighborhood’s extraordinary history, notably to pay tribute to the Gum Tree Girls, three women who led the fight in the 1960s to stop the city from building a freeway that would have destroyed the neighborhood. Her vision was met with excitement and a lovely surprise. To her astonishment, she discovered that Joan Siewald, the last of the surviving Gum Tree girls, lived next door to the proposed mural site. It was meant to be.
As Berger and I stand in front of the mural completed in 2022 and envision the tiled steps to come, the combination of folks meant to come together to celebrate the history of the Glen Park neighborhood is apparent. It truly takes a village. Berger’s professional background, leadership, reputation as an “implementer,” and the necessary communication led to connecting this village. Creating a task force of longtime Glen Park residents to help with the Burnside Mural+ project’s communication and fundraising, the idea is coming to life. Berger speaks of the tremendous support from the Glen Park Association, Glen Park Neighborhood History Project, Supervisor Mandelman’s office, and growing a team of supporters. Becoming fiscally sponsored by the San Francisco Parks Alliance, winning an San Francisco Community Challenge Grant, and attracting significant support from Glen Park individuals and beyond. Berger’s knowledge of muralists led to the artists who brought the mural to life, Twin Walls Murals Company. Mosaic Artists Aileen Barr and Colette Crutcher, well-known for their masterful tiled stairways, will complete the vision in September 2024.
In 2023, Joan Siewald passed away. “She spent her last days seated at her living room window, in the house that would have been razed for the freeway, gazing at the mural of the neighborhood that she and others saved,” said Berger.
The coming together of the Burnside Mural+ became the convening point during the pandemic as folks watched the artist’s work. The site continues to be frequented by hikers and walkers enjoying Section 2 of the city’s Crosstown Trail, school children and families learning their ‘history on excursions to the mural, and those on their way to enjoy what the mom-and-pop shops have to offer. The Burnside Mural+ will continue to be where the community was brought together with an idea.
For additional information on Glen Park, visit https://www.glenparkassociation.org.