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