Hayes Street
Around ten years ago, a couple of our friends from Boston came and visited us. Having visited San Francisco many times before, they wanted to explore other parts of the city they had not been to yet. They did their own research and they asked us to take them to Hayes Street. Truth to tell, had it not been for them, I would not have really returned there and known that it had undergone a major change since the late 1990s.
Back in 1992, I got a membership at a gym a block away and there really was not much around. I couldn't think of any reason to linger. Fast forward to 2015, it is now a hip area where lots of people gather during the weekends. How the area has changed indeed. It now boasts of newly built condo buildings, popular restaurants, retail clothing stores, antique furniture shops, and upscale interior design boutiques.
Come here on a Saturday or Sunday and you will see lots of people in the small park chatting the time away with friends and family.
David Best's Hayes Green Temple at Patricia's Green
A close up of the temple
I love the small stores that line the street on both sides. They have so much character and so different from the chain stores present in Union Square and the Westfield Shopping Center along Market.
More art
I love how these cargo containers have been repurposed and turned into a two story retail clothing store. During the recession of the 2000s, I saw thousands of these containers stacked one on top of another at the Port of Oakland day after day as I traveled by BART to work and back home in the city.
Partial view of the Warby Parker store
Trying out Warby Parker sunglasses
The high end Plantation Interior Design store
What can I say, even forgotten alleys have murals on them.
