Quite a hidden little community garden, pretty lovely blooms, especially lovely on a sunny day, the…read morecolors of the florals really stand out. A small secret garden feel, I remember reading that book "the secret garden" in my youth Happy there are three wooden picnic tables at the top of the hill! Love that you get an awesome view of the city skyline from these tables. 2-3 benches scattered if you would like a seat. The waitlist to get a plot is very long. Years long

This is an amazing spot on Twin Peaks at the upper end of Noi Valley. There are picnic benches for…read morepublic use and a beautiful view of the city.

This is one of the reasons I love SF I've lived here 20 years and just discovered this place. It's…read morehuge! And SF park and recs hosting a camp for my daughter is how I discovered this hidden gem You are allowed to pick a small amount of items .. we picked fresh squash blossoms which we had for dinner. Plums and apples... tomatillos... herbs... peppers... wow!!!!

I volunteered for the first time on a Saturday and all the coordinators were extremely helpful,…read morekind, and informative. I learned a lot about planting and gardening, and even though it was definitely tiring work, it was so worth. At the end, you get to take home some delicious, organic produce!

Well isn't this a fun one?!…read more I happened upon this place browsing Yelp and made the journey out here on our way to Golden Gate Park. It did not disappoint! It was a bit of a mystery to find, and once we did, we had the slides to ourselves. Views are epic, slides are a freaking blast, and the views are stunning. A fun stop for kids and adults alike!

This is honestly such a cute fun side quest if you're already in the Castro! I first came here when…read moreI was 16 years old in the summer when I was exploring the city by myself. I came back here in 2025 with my now husband and had so much fun sliding down and feeling like a teen again! Definitely use or bring a piece of cardboard to really get the fun fast experience!

Got to see my friend perform here tonight on a Saturday! Super fun! Like 6 benches that fit about 5…read moreppl on each. One stage and lots of lightbulbs for shows at night!

So I live at 23rd and Harrison and there happens to be a garden between 23rd and 24th, closer to…read more23rd. There is a little sign that says "Secret Garden", in a little alley enclosed by a white fence between two homes. I've passed this sign millions of times but every time the fence has been closed! Finally, this past Saturday the gate was ajar! We diverted and went inside the garden! Suspense! Someone's back was turned towards the vegetables, there was human in the "Secret Garden". I said "Hello". I was greeted warmly by an older gentlemen. He says his name is "Tree". How fitting :). Anyways, Tree tells us the history of the 23rd and Harrison garden. It was supposed to be a common space for all the houses in the area, then it became a crack den and the parks people sealed it off. Supposedly everyone in the neighborhood had keys before it was closed. Now only Tree and someone else that runs a gardening program for kids has a key. He uses the park for his urban farming project. Tree used to hope he could feed all the homeless with his urban farms, he has a few. There is one at 23rd and Treat st., I don't know where his others are. With the produce he gardens he gives it all away at his food stand in the mission for low income and homeless folks. How cool is that? Amazing to have people like Tree in SF. I've heard he also had something to do with the trees that line Folsom, I'm not sure about that rumor. Here is a link to his blog: http://freefarmstand.blogspot.com/

Today is the perfect sunny day for the 12th Annual Glen Park Festival. Going on from 10 am-4:30 pm,…read morethe street festival is being held on Diamond Street in the quaint Glen Park neighborhood. Having grown up around this neighborhood & spending countless weekends having breakfast & shopping in the area, the festival has a special place in my childhood memories. Local vendors line the street. Oakland is represented with clothing booths from "Korrupt Label" & "fiftyseven-thirtythree." And San Francisco locals sell their jewelry, chocolate spreads, light switch covers & ceramic ware. There are a few food booths set up: Miggy's Island kettle corn, Hawaiian food, Pica Pica Maize Kitchen & the booth where I got my trip tip sandwich ($8--see pic), Good Foods Catering. Thankfully, the lines weren't very long at all. Perfect festival for families, as there are game booths, face painting, a bounce house & vendors selling children's books & clothing for everyone in the family, including the dog. Not too crowded, upbeat live music & plenty to see. The festival is a great way to get acquainted with the neighborhood or if you live there, to rub elbows with your neighbors while supporting your community. Some street parking is available. Also, the Glen Park Bart station is right across the street.

What's there not to love about this??...Beautiful day, local businesses, community neighbors,…read morechildren laughing and playing, live entertainment...and I can walk here from my house in about 15 minutes. Gets a bit crowded but not so that you wouldn't want to enjoy it...make sure to attend the next one, you won't regret it!! =)

The Fillmore District has a complicated history intertwined with racial tensions that erupted and…read moredivided the city in two distinct waves: The 1940s and 1960s. Within the Fillmore District is Japantown that started as an internment camp following WWII. The shutdown of the forced confinement of anyone of Japanese ancestry led to an influx of African-Americans fleeing the Jim Crow South ("The Great Migration"). Rising to become the "Harlem of the West", the Fillmore District was filled with jazz clubs where some of the greatest legends played. The largest concentration of San Francisco's African-American population lived in the Fillmore. In the name of "urban renewal", the city turned to The Fillmore District and mapped out the demolition of scores of blocks of housing east-west from Van Ness to Webster and north-south from Pine to McAllister, a massive chunk of the city deemed "derelict." Even Victorians that survived the 1906 earthquake weren't spared. A fraction of Edwardian and Victorian homes survived, some of them trucked to other parts of the city. Not being able to secure housing loans, many African Americans fled the Fillmore. The housing that replaced some tenements and single family homes razed weren't affordable, leading to the smallest population of African-Americans in any US city. That trend continues today with the city trying (but not hard enough) for a less homogenous population. Geary Boulevard, the eight-lane thoroughfare begun in 1960 was, in addition to large swaths of housing bulldozed in the name of "eminent domain", a project rooted in racial tension that divided Pacific Heights from the then racially diverse Fillmore District. Geary Boulevard dipping down into a tunnel bypassing surface streets in Japantown is a slap in the face to the neighborhood. There are talks of leveling Geary to benefit merchants in The Fillmore/Japantown with some push-pull that it would slow public transit. Now home to thriving blocks of shopping and dining and a small handful of jazz clubs resulting from a late 90s push to restore the jazz heritage of the neighborhood, The Fillmore has found a balance of sorts but like most of the city, has sadly lost most of its diversity.

I love the Fillmore district in San Francisco. It's a pretty safe area compared to some other areas…read more(Tenderloin and Lower Knob Hill, for example). It is beautiful and the streets are less full of trash, poop, and homeless folks. It is also more quiet here. A famous place to see here is the Painted Ladies homes.

Family neighborhood, lots of tidy single family homes and narrow streets where neighbors wave you…read morethrough as you thread, carefully, between parked cars and opposing traffic. The main thoroughfares, San Jose and Alemany Avenues, are populated with a decent library, many good Salvadoran, sushi, Chinese and family businesses. This is a working neighborhood where people get things done. It's a modest neighborhood, seems quiet here on the southeastern quarter of the city, snugged up to Bernal Heights.

A colorful neighborhood in San Francisco. Known for street art and culturally diverse restaurants…read moreand bakeries. McLaren Park is also a highlight. Located roughly at the half way point between Daily City and downtown San Francisco - its probably not a bad place to live or visit. Tourists might find it hard to believe but downtown San Francisco is really not much to see besides tall buildings with not all that much character. Mostly office spaces and residential housing there is more recent - say the past five or ten years. The neighborhood is small - the boarders are Mission St and John McLaren park. Roughly ten by ten blocks and El Farolito is about in the middle on Mission. Come here for tacos or a Salvadorian bakery. If you prefer the more mainstream stuff you can give your money to Amazon and walk into a nearby Whole Foods. Balboa Park Bart stop is the closest but bus routes go to the city and that is also an option. Some might think of this as the 'outer limits' of San Francisco and I suppose in many ways it is. Most people from the city only recognize the seven by seven. No, no... I don't think this is the outer limits at all. If you consider the age of the neighborhood and how nobody wants to live downtown - it might just be the heart of the city.

People confuse this staircase with the 16th Avenue Tiled Steps, and they are certainly similar as…read morethey both feature lovely colorful artwork created by the same artists. But they are not the same thing. The Hidden Garden Steps are located a little further away from Grandview Park (the bottom of the stairway along Kirkham Street) and presents a slightly different theme, the focus of its design more on flowers and plants rather than sealife. It's a unique and beautiful work of art, in good condition (as of January 2026), and located in a nice neighborhood in SF. It's also free to visit with free street parking nearby too. I couldn't find a reason to give it anything less than 5 stars.

After visiting the 16th Avenue Tiled Steps, I was just on my way out of Golden Gate Heights, when I…read morenoticed a sign that said, "Hidden Garden Steps." The sun was almost down, but I decided to check it out. With 148 steps designed by the same artists as the 16th Avenue steps, this really almost felt like a continuation of the same staircase. The Hidden Garden steps have more of a garden theme, with lots of flowers, bugs, mushrooms, birds, etc. The plants around the steps are similar to those found around the 16th Avenue steps. Succulents are interspersed with California native plants chosen to attract butterflies, including the locally endangered green hairstreak butterfly. My favorite design on the staircase is the snail near the bottom. The shell swirls up several stairs, with patches of mushrooms sprouting from the head. The snail is surrounded by mosaics of California native plants such as hibiscus flowers and buckeye sprouts. The Hidden Garden steps are about 10 years newer than the 16th Avenue steps. In my opinion, the artists improved their skills over time, and, while one flight smaller, these steps are actually more impressive than their sister stairs. The design feels more imaginative and detailed. While the 16th Avenue steps were a bit slippery, the Hidden Garden steps were even more slippery. Because the sun was setting, I really had to watch my step. This must be why the steps are "closed" after dark. Overall, this is such a beautiful community art project, and I'm so glad I happened to stumble across it. My only regret is not having visited earlier so that I could compare the sunset views with the views from a block away.