As you plan your charitable giving, we hope you’ll include a contribution to the Garden. If you support bringing green spaces to urban places, this is your opportunity to make a real difference - right here in the neighborhood!

Once a trash-covered hillside, San Francisco’s Tompkins Stairway Garden is now a safe and welcoming street park, featuring a drought-tolerant garden in year-round bloom and a colorful tiled stairway. Dedicated attention from surrounding neighbors has transformed the site into a community greenspace and pedestrian corridor serving the Alemany Farmers’ Market and nearby schools and shopping districts.

We finished our garden implementation in spring 2019 and celebrated with a ribbon cutting on June 8 (see our news page). The San Francisco Chronicle calls our new garden “stunning,” “gorgeous,” and a “cheerful splash of public art that will probably become a photo hot spot.”

In addition, San Francisco Beautiful honored us with the 2019 Placemaking Award for creating a sense of identity in a public space. We are grateful to Andre Rothblatt, Tompkins Stairway Garden founding member, for our multicolored, zigzag tile design, inspired by the Steps to Peace painted by youth in the Syrian town of Deir Atiyah. Our landscape design was generously provided by Arterra Landscape Architects.

The stairs link Tompkins Avenue between Nevada and Putnam Streets in southeast Bernal Heights. The next time you’re in the neighborhood, stop by!

JOIN US

We’re a group of neighbors in Bernal Heights who enjoy and care for the Tompkins Stairway Garden. Join us on the first Saturday of each month, 10 a.m. to noon, as we weed, trim, and clean up the garden. Tools and work gloves provided! If you want to help out or simply learn more, contact us.