Page 28 - Allison's Magazine Issue #97

The neighborhood residents, inspired Alice Yee Xavier also lives next door and
by another set of stairs called the 16th tends the hillside garden. She took the
Avenue Tiled Steps, wanted to add time to label the names of each plant,
“ OUR FIRST beauty to their own community in a and once in a while you might also find
similar way. In 2011, they presented the
a sign with a photo of someone stealing
STOP ON
THE HIDDEN idea to the city, who approved it under a flower. Vigilante justice can
be creative.
one condition: they had to pay for it
STAIRCASE themselves. Most of the names on the
TOUR WAS steps are people in the neighborhood If you hang a right at the top of the 16th
THE HIDDEN who donated money toward the project. Avenue Tiled Steps, you’ll eventually
GARDEN Artists Aileen Barr and Colette encounter Noriega Street and the
entrance to the zigzagged wooden
STEPS, ONE Crutcher, who had previously designed staircase that leads to Grandview
BLOCK OVER the 16th Avenue Tiled Steps, were Park. The amount of wind at the top
ON 16TH called in to spearhead the design. The is shocking, but it’s worth it for the
completed mosaic, to which donors had
panoramic splendor, including a view of
AVENUE. contributed over $216,000, was installed Golden Gate Park.
THEY WERE in 2013. In addition to the art tiles,
BUILT IN THE the hillside was planted with a variety This behemoth of a park was the dream
of succulents, like the popular rosette-
1930S OUT OF shaped aeoniums. of Scotland-born John McLaren, who
wanted a park on the West Coast that
PLAIN GRAY would rival Central Park. (It’s actually
CEMENT. We soon arrived at the first set of stairs 20 percent bigger!) He managed to
Aileen and Colette tackled, on Moraga create an evergreen expanse, despite the
Street. Greg laughed and explained, existing landscape of sand dunes. He
“They are called the 16th Avenue Tiled loved trees but hated statues, and if he
Steps, though, because the people on could not win the battle against one, he
16th Avenue paid for them, and the was known to rearrange the park to hide
people on Moraga did not.” Alice Yee it as much as possible by planting trees
Xavier and her friend Jessie Audette or other greenery.
had a vision for the steps in their
neighborhood. Jessie had lived in Rio From this high up, it’s easy to see how
de Janeiro, where painted stairs are compact San Francisco really is. At
plentiful, and they were inspired to about seven miles by seven miles, it
bring the same vibrancy to their corner holds more than 850,000 residents in
of the world. The stairs feature a sun at comparison to the Bay Area’s whopping
the top, then a moon, a stream, a river 7.5 million.
that runs through a forest, and, finally,
the ocean. On one particular step, you’ll The tour wound down and through the
Clockwise from Top Left: find a tea kettle tile with Alice and Forest Hill neighborhood where Willie
Various stops on the Hidden Stairways Tour Jessie’s names on it and two tea cups
include a charming cottage, a hillside garden Mays, one of the greatest baseball players
alongside the 16th Avenue Tiled Steps, and with Aileen and Colette’s names. ever, lived for a short while in a home on
the 16th Avenue Tiled Steps themselves.

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