What's New At The Harvey Milk Center

Photo: Andrew Dudley / Hoodline

As today is Harvey Milk Day, we figured it's a great time to check in on the local rec center that bears his name.

That would be the Harvey Milk Recreation Center at 50 Scott Street, where registration has just opened for a variety of summer courses. Those include adult classes on everything from dance to digital arts, workshops on musical theater and auditioning for teens, and summer camp classes for kids.

The building also houses the Harvey Milk Photo Center, which has its own roster of 24 different summer classes up for registration. Food photography, getting to know your DSLR, using a darkroom, and creative portraiture are just some of the topics being offered.

If any of this piques your interest, you can search the directory of all programs and register for classes here.

Today would have been the 84th birthday of Supervisor Harvey Milk, who was assassinated in 1978. A year later, the recreation center in Duboce Park was rededicated in his name. The building now also features a quote from Milk displayed on its eastern side: "The American Dream starts with the neighborhoods…". Milk said those words in a speech entitled "A City of Neighborhoods," given during a dinner the night after his 1977 inauguration:

"Let’s make no mistake about this: The American Dream starts with the neighborhoods. If we wish to rebuild our cities, we must first rebuild our neighborhoods. And to do that we must understand that the quality of life is more important than the standard of living. To sit on the front steps – whether it's a veranda in a small town or a concrete stoop in a big city – and talk to our neighbors is infinitely more important than to huddle on the living-room lounger and watch a make-believe world in not-quite-living color."

For more on Harvey Milk, visit http://milkfoundation.org.