Project Description

Walk along Elk Street between Chenery Street and Paradise Avenue in Glen Park and you will see an inviting green expanse with baseball diamonds, areas for soccer, archery, yoga and more. You may also see dog walkers, joggers, and parents with excited children all heading for those activities or perhaps the playground, to picnic, or to hike in Glen Canyon.

But you’ll also notice the field’s retaining wall, repeatedly stained, and scarred with graffiti.  Well-intentioned efforts by SF’s Recreation and Parks Department have added a pastiche of multi-colored patches. It’s a temporary fix.

Several Glen Park residents, seeking a longer-term solution that would beautify the area, approached Recreation and Parks proposing a mural. The department welcomed the idea.

The good news is that Glen Park has already achieved considerable recognition for its mural that celebrates the neighborhood’s history, located at the cul-de-sac of Burnside Avenue. The Elk Street Mural will be a sub-project of Burnside Mural+ (www.gpmural.com) and will build upon their expertise.

There are many steps ahead to make the mural a reality. Starting summer 2024, Elk Street Mural will invite the Glen Park community to provide suggestions about what could be included in a joyful mural, designed to bring smiles to the many passersby.

The project might take about a year, pending the selection of a muralist, design review by the SF Arts Commission, raising funds, and painting.