Trina's page of Blogginess: Neat little treasures in our neighborhood

Sunday, July 07, 2013

Neat little treasures in our neighborhood

This afternoon, Dick and I took a short little neighborhood walk. We went out with the intent of seeing this interesting house a few blocks away, then walked around a little more.

After we saw the the cobblestone house on Collingwood, we took the stairs down on 22nd Street. Just as we reached the stairs, we saw this charming little cabinet at the top landing of the stairs.

"Little Free Library"
How cute is this? Take a book, leave a book. Such a neat little gem that I had never seen before.

We decided to walk around just a little bit more. (I've been a little under the weather over the last few days, and didn't want to push it.)

We walked over to Douglass Street, and found our way to the Seward Street Slide! (between Corwin St and Seward Street) We have been here a few times, but I always love bumping into it on our walks around the neighborhood. For some reason, I always forget its exact location, and it always seems like we magically happen up on it. :) It truly is a hidden gem in the neighborhood that most people don't know about.

Some history about the concrete Seward Street Slides from this site:

Tucked into a mini park in Noe Valley is an impossibly steep set of concrete slides. Over 30 years old, the slides were created by a neighborhood who cared and a 14-year-old's design inspiration.

Back in the 1960s, a vacant lot in Noe Valley was considered for a new 105-unit residential building. The neighborhood, which was mostly full of low-scale houses, began a campaign of petitions and letters to city, state and federal officials, complete with a sit-in during the developer's last day to begin work. The opposition got their way, effectively leading to city legislation requiring a minimum amount of neighborhood open space.

Neighborhood kid Kim Clark, then 14, won the "Design the Park" competition with her curved double slide. Kim lived on Seward Street and attended Alvarado School, where local sculptor Ruth Asawa ran a special arts program she was in. Cool side note - Kim got her inspiration from a slide that used to be at Playland Amusement Park out at Ocean Beach (which was torn down in 1972). The park opened in 1973, and is now open to visitors, complete with leftover cardboard boxes to ride the slides on. Just don't try to go after it closes at 5pm - neighbors are vigilant about reporting shenanigans.

Trina's Note: isn't this considered Eureka Valley, versus Noe Valley?

Surprisingly, we were the only ones there at around 3:00 on a beautiful Sunday. We took advantage, defied rule #2, and rode down the slides! I grabbed a piece of cardboard at the top to help make my ride faster.