One of the sunnier neighborhoods in San Francisco, Bayview has seen a trend towards community-minded projects that bring plants and greenery into public spaces.
As we've noted previously, Radio Africa Kitchen’s owner Eskender Asege grows herbs for his restaurant in the community garden located at Mendell Plaza, and the youth of Old Skool Cafe have taken on a more active role in maintaining the garden.
Another successful initiative in the neighborhood started small, with two residents on the 1700 block of Quesada Street (between Newhall and Third) who decided to beautify a neglected medium strip that runs the length of the block by rejuvenating it with fresh soil, flowers and vegetables.
What started as a hobby for residents and retirees Karl Paige and Annette Smith, who began the planting process in 2002, grew into community-building activity which inspired their fellow neighbors to pitch in, resulting in the formation of a collaborative group labeling itself the Quesada Gardens Initiative.
A 2007 video from CFCMEDIA.
Over the years, the Quesada Gardens Initiative has taken more of an active role in the Bayview community by greening other areas, such as the Bridgeview Garden (located at Bridgeview and Newhall, installing a piece of public art titled “Bayview..is” (led by resident Jeffrey Betcher and designed by artists Malik Seneferu and Heidi Hardin), and planning free community events, including outdoor film screenings.
At the dead-end of Quesada at Newhall is a large mural by artists Dierdre DeFranceaux and Santie Huckaby, joining a tiled staircase featuring the artwork of schoolchildren from Bayview and Hunters Point. (The Quesada Gardens Initiative also aims to educate youth about the history of the neighborhood.)
Upon walking down the garden, we ran into resident Tai Trang, who lives on Quesada and was also recently a cast member on CBS’s Survivor. Tai Trang who was in the process of weeding.
“I’m a gardener by trade so this is a labor of love. I’ve lived on this block for about six years and I’m amazed at it’s progress and happy to help when I can," he said. He went on to talk a little more about why he enjoys working in the garden:
I also work for the Port of San Francisco, so in my free time I come here to work on the garden. It’s nice where I’m standing because there aren’t palm trees, so there is a lot of sun and we can plant more food. I can come out here to get everything I need. We used to have squash and collard greens; now I’m prepping the soil for green tomatoes—everybody loves tomatoes. I like variety so I also have purple potatoes. I label everything that I plant, so that the community can come and pick what they want. Someone recently donated an olive tree, so soon we’ll have some nice olives.
Edward Allen, another longtime community member, sat at the gateway of Quesada and shared a little bit about his involvement with the garden.
Allen shared his perspective:
I used to plant so many things. I don’t even remember the names of some of things I’ve planted. But this has been going on for about 12 years. I’m a country boy and that’s where I learned how to plant. When I young living in Louisiana I went to a school where there was predominantly white teachers. Because I grew up around a lot of cotton and farm animals, there wasn’t much greenery around. So one day I took some sweet potato and watermelon vines and started planting. Almost instantly I grew a nice crop. It was beautiful. Then it was taken away. I moved here in the '50s after I was drafted by the Korean War. I retired on this block and started growing mustard greens, sunflowers and string beans.
With summer approaching, the Quesada Garden and other Bayview green spaces are bound to flourish, so don't forget to stop and enjoy the plants in bloom.
For more information on the organization and its events, as well as how to volunteer or donate, visit the website.
