Here’s A Map To Find Open Streets In SF For All Your Pedestrian Dreams (January 2022)

The Castro’s Shared Streets space on 18th Street. Courtesy of SFMTA.

Jane Jacobs wrote in The Death and Life of Great American Cities that “lively, diverse, intense cities contain the seeds of their own regeneration.”

One seed, nourished by SF’s Shared Spaces, is the confluence of people, strangers and neighbors alike, neighborhoods, and public streets. Through Shared Spaces, temporarily car-free streets are stewarded by communities, to make space for more spirited constellations of people.

These closures have enabled a flourishing of gorgeous, convivial public spaces (peep these photos taken by Patricia Chang for Eater) that expand the communal liveliness of street fairs and farmers markets to more common and reoccurring occasions that include more neighborhoods, businesses, and people in these pockets of time to take part in the  pleasure of simply being with one another.

Jacobs wrote of the interconnected dance between people in her neighborhood: “The ballet of the good city sidewalk never repeats itself from place to place, and in any one place is always replete with new improvisations. The stretch of Hudson Street where I live is each day the scene of an intricate sidewalk ballet.”

49 Miles once described Hayes Valley as “San Francisco’s answer to New York’s… Greenwich Village,” where Jacobs lived and drew inspiration from for her writings on cities. When I try to imagine the sidewalk ballets Jacobs witnessed, I think of weekends in Hayes Valley, where sidewalk foot traffic spills over onto both Hayes and Octavia, where people have the full breadth of the street to stroll around with a coffee in hand, catch up over an outdoor meal, people (or dog)-watch, receive a custom typewritten poem, browse local pop-up vendors, catch the occasional performance by jazz quartet Curious Planet.

This is one of the many cozily chaotic scenes that play out across the city, where there have been over 100 approved pedestrian-friendly street closures, some event-specific, most recurring weekend occasions.

The city also open sourced a map tracking applications at all stages of the process, so that it’s easy to locate a nearby Shared Space, or acquaint yourself with another neighborhood’s space. Hint: look for the solid dark blue bars on this map, which represents streets that have been approved for closures:

A current look at the Shared Spaces applications tracker, live at https://sfgov.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/b1e37820230a4017ae53d645a96c774b

The array of permitted street enclosures listed on the Shared Spaces projects page as of Jan. 12 includes:

Valencia Street – Mission

• Valencia Street from 16th to 17th streets; Valencia Street from 18th to 19th streets; Valencia Street from 20th to 21st streets
• Fridays, 4:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.; Saturdays, 1:00 pm to 11:00 p.m.
• Active: Friday, August 1, 2021, through Friday, December 31, 2021
• Sponsor: Valencia Corridor Merchant Association

Galvez Avenue – Bayview

• Galvez Avenue at 3rd Street
• Saturdays, 7:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
• Active: Saturday, January 1, 2022, through Saturday, June 25, 2022
• Sponsor: Economic Development on Third

Austin Street – Lower Polk

• Austin Street from Polk Street to Van Ness Avenue
• Sunday through Tuesday, 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. each day; Wednesdays and Thursdays, 11:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. each day; Fridays and Saturdays, 10:00 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. each day
• Active: Thursday, July 8, 2021, through Friday, December 31, 2021
• Sponsor: Lower Polk CBD

Natoma Street

• Natoma Street from 2nd Street to easterly terminus
• Monday through Friday, 10:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. each day;  Saturdays and Sundays, 10:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. each day
• Active: Thursday January 6, 2022, through Thursday, June 30 2022
• Sponsor: The East Cut Community Benefit District

Hayes Valley

• Hayes Street from Laguna to Gough streets; Octavia Street from Hayes to Ivy Streets
• Fridays, 4:00 to 10:00 p.m., Saturdays and Sundays 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. each day
• Active: Thursday, July 1, 2021, through Friday December 31, 2021
• Sponsor: Hayes Valley Neighborhood Association

Jane Warner Plaza – Castro

• Jane Warner Plaza
• Daily 11:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
• Active: Saturday, January 1, 2022, through Thursday, June 30, 2022
• Sponsor: Castro/Upper Market Community Benefit District

Larkin Street – Tenderloin

• Larkin Street from Eddy Street to O’Farrell Street
• Thursday through Sunday, 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. each day
• Active: Saturday, January 1, 2022, through Thursday, June 30, 2022
• Sponsor: Tenderloin Merchants Association and Tenderloin Community Benefit District

37th Avenue – Outer Sunset Farmers Market & Mercantile

• 37th Avenue from Ortega to Quintara streets; Pacheco Street between Sunset Boulevard and 37th Avenue
• Sundays, 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. each day
• Wednesdays, 12:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. each day
• Active: Wednesday, January 12, 2022 through Thursday, June 30, 2022
• Sponsor: Sunset Mercantile

37th Avenue – Sunset Wellness Mercantile

• 37th Avenue from Ortega to Pacheco streets
• Saturdays, 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. each day
• Tuesdays, 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. each day
• Active: Wednesday, January 12, 2022 through Thursday, June 30, 2022
• Sponsor: Sunset Mercantile

Ocean Avenue Parking Lot

• Ocean and Junipero Serra Parking Lot located at 2500 Ocean Avenue
• Closure: 24/7
• Active: Tuesday, January 18, 2022 through Thursday, June 30, 2022
• Sponsor: Dinosaurs Sandwiches

Noe Street – Castro / Duboce Triangle

• Noe Street from Market Street to Beaver Street
•  Sundays Only, 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. each day
• Active: Sunday, July 11, 2021, through Sunday, December 26, 2021

Jessie Street – Westfield San Francisco Centre

• Jessie Street from 5th to Jessie West streets; Jessie West Street from Mission to Jessie streets
• Friday through Sunday, 3:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. each day.
• Active: Thursday, July 1, 2021, through Friday, December 31, 2021
• Sponsor: Westfield San Francisco Centre

Stevenson Street – SoMa

• Stevenson Street from 6th to 7th streets
• Tuesdays, 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.; Thursdays, 4:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.; Saturdays, 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
• Active: Thursday, July 1, 2021, through Friday, December 31, 2021
• Sponsor: San Francisco Parks Alliance

12th Street – SOMA Second Saturdays

• 12th Street from Folsom Street to Bernice Street
• 2nd Saturday of the month, 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
• Active: Saturday, August 14, 2021, through Saturday, December 11, 2021
• Sponsor: Leather & LGBTQ Cultural District

Trinity Street – RMW architecture + interiors

• Trinity Street Street from Bush Street to Sutter Street
• Daily, 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.
• Active: Saturday, January 1, 2022, through Thursday, June 30, 2022
• Sponsor: RMW architecture + interiors

After all, one must imagine taking their weekend silly little walk as a revelatory occasion, from time to time.