by Michael Rothmann, Committee Chair michael.rothmann@thd.org
GROWTH, RENEWAL, AND PRESERVATION
Greening North Beach: Climate Action NW! Grant
A Community Challenge Grant, awarded to Climate Action Now! (CAN!) in 2023, is entering its implementation phase. The grant award of $147,390 is for the Sidewalk Garden and Internship Program in North Beach.
CAN! is best known for its sidewalk gardens and drought-resilient landscaping. The organization creates and fills plantable space, planting in already available basin space in and around street trees, thereby introducing a multitude of environmental benefits.
The project coming to North Beach is a collaboration with Supervisor Danny Sauter and North Beach Neighbors. According to its flyer, property owners or tenants with their landlord’s consent can apply for a street tree or sidewalk garden. They must donate a minimum of 10 hours to volunteering on the North Beach Biodiversity Hub (locations TBD) and pay permitting fees of ~$300. Pavement removal and planting costs are included, and the garden/tree receives one year of support, which, unfortunately, does not include watering. With several businesses already on board, we should start to see installations popping up soon! More information: californiaCANoperations@gmail.com.
Sue Bierman Park: Major Renovation Project Approved
The five-acre parcel designated for the renovation includes the green area of the park as well as the Embarcadero Plaza and the Vaillancourt Fountain. On March 4, the Board of Supervisors (absent of D9) voted unanimously to approve $12.5 million to the Rec and Park Department (RPD) for the work ($2.5 million for design from development firm Boston Properties BXP and $10 million for construction from Downtown SF). The first community meeting was held on March 8th with another scheduled for next month. The plan was presented by RPD architect Brian Jancek and impressively shows the need for the renovation.
The surrounding area has morphed over the years, and many of the original design elements are no longer relevant. Although I personally have fond memories jumping around the fountain as a child, perhaps it is time for its retirement. Seeing photos of the fountain next to the freeway as it was originally intended at least finally puts it into context! Poor design, poor drainage, and leftover pandemic trends have made the area largely unused. It also receives more 311 calls than average. The Board of Supervisors has given the project until December 2028, and we will likely not see construction start before 2026. More information can be found at sfrecpark.org.
Pioneer Park Paving and Tribute to Peter Macchiarini
Some of you who are denizens of the top of Telegraph Hill or travel up there regularly might have noticed the construction going on in the Coit Tower parking lot. Currently, the lot is being repaved as well as Telegraph Hill Boulevard. Construction was scheduled to be completed by April 7th, but disruption to the 39-Coit bus and the temporary removal of parking continues to cause inconvenience to residents and tourists alike.
In the last issue of The Semaphore (Winter 2025), I presented my opinion that the cypress trees that block the view from the lot should be thinned or completely removed to restore the original design. Here, I’d like to present a proposal to improve the park further by erecting a sculpture in the center of the lot. Since 2020, the pedestal has remained vacant, and I believe this is not the best course of action. To be clear, this view is not wholly represented by the THD board, although it is shared with members of our community. The impact of art should not be understated, especially in efforts to preserve the character of a place. As discussions around making North Beach a historic district continue, public art can play a vital role in maintaining the neighborhood’s identity, transcending politics, and ensuring that the neighborhood’s cultural legacy remains visible and valued.
Peter Macchiarini was an incredibly influential and important person in the history and culture of North Beach. The son of Italian immigrants, Macchiarini was born in California in 1909. He developed his brand of modernist jewelry and sculpture during the early and mid-1930s, when he interacted and became friends with depression era modernist artists from the German Bauhaus. These artists had been driven out of Nazi Germany because they were not propaganda artists, and many of them were Jews coming to this country as refugee immigrants. Peter fell in love with modernism as an amazing development in artistic design, creating his own modernist style during this period and becoming successful to the point where he opened his production studio gallery on upper Grant Avenue in 1948, which became world renowned. His studio itself became integral as a meeting spot for creative artists and poets alike and no doubt helped foster a generational movement of creativity in the neighborhood.
The letter transcribed below, written by Peter’s son Danny Macchiarini, describes his vision for a sculpture in Pioneer Park. Danny carries on the family tradition of jewelry making in North Beach.
In the mid 1950s Peter Macchiarini designed and created a modernist pyramid spiral sculpture…using half round brass plates which progressed from larger at the base to small almost, invisible ones, thereby giving the visual impression of actually touching and extending into the infinite.
This visual impression is brought about by the upward progression of the spirit spiral pyramid by each of the half rounds diminishing in size based upon the “divine proportion“ or “golden ratio“ 1.168 phi. Thus it as an artistic sculpture is both connected to nature as well as exuding a futuristic inspired character.
Peter Macchiarini always thought that this sculpture should be placed in Pioneer Park as part of a modernist representation of the spirit of Coit Tower itself.
In 1963 as part of the 30th anniversary of Coit Tower, he placed the sculpture on the top of the new Tilly building roof and took the picture shown here aligning his spiral with the tower and put it on display in his studio window.
Geometry has two great treasures: one is the Theorem of Pythagoras; the other, the division of a line into extreme and mean ratio. The first we may compare to a measure of gold; the second we may name a precious jewel.—Kepler
