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A community "Third Place"

As the sun braises the bright blades of grass of Patricia’s Green in Hayes Valley, young schoolmates imitate each other on the monkey bars while their mothers’ converse in French on a nearby park bench.  Just on the next bench over, a homeless man naps free of newspaper blankets in the day’s sunlight with no one caring how oddly out-of-place he looks.  An elderly Chinese man finds his Chi as his bare feet effortlessly carry him across the grass.  Teenage hipsters from the international high school sip their gourmet coffee as they huddle at a park table - their black hoodies impractical for the heat, but trend-setting nonetheless – conversation and laugher all part of their after school ritual.  It’s 4 p.m. on a Friday, everyone holding onto the last days of summer while somehow falling back into the daily in’s and out’s of fall.

 

Patricia’s Green is a centrally located neighborhood park and point of resident pride that attracts virtually everyone passing through Hayes Valley.  The park stretches a long and narrow patch of land at Hayes Street and Octavia Boulevard.  Littered with art installments, public seating and a children’s dream playground, the park is truly the love child of Hayes Valley community activists who tenderly look after the upkeep and safety of the park.

 

Rather than eating at an outdoor café or using the various benches lining the popular Hayes Street chic boutiques and restaurants, people choose to spend their mornings, afternoons, and even evenings at Patricia’s Green because of its true neighborhood feel and pleasant vibes.  Muffled voices discuss politics, art, and long workdays for sometimes hours at any given time, as if no one has any place to be but right there in that sunny afternoon.  Perhaps it is because it is one of the only public areas in the neighborhood that has enough room for people to gather or perhaps it’s true that Hayes Valley is the most harmonious neighborhood on the planet. Either way, Patricia’s Green is packed with just about any type of person you can think of – and they’re all enjoying themselves.

 

Formerly Hayes Green, the park was re-named in dedication of community activist and founder of the Hayes Valley Neighborhood Association, Patricia Walkup, who died in 2006.  Working for a decade to bring down the Central Freeway running through the neighborhood (a neighborhood once plagued by crime and drugs,) Patricia Walkup inspired the community to turn a blank space into something of real benefit – a public green to teach the neighborhood about pride and involvement.  Hayes Valley plans to place a memorial in the park in her honor.