BAZAAR CAFE: A COMMUNITY GATHERING SPOT

Not far from the 25^th Avenue gate of the Presidio on California and 21^st Avenue is a quaint café filled with musical instruments, artwork and friendly employees. Bazaar Café during the day offers locals a place to drink coffee, grab a bite to eat, socialize or do work via wifi. At night the café offers a wide range of artistic events that draw people in from all over the bay area. “The evening and the daytime are just different dynamics,” said owner Les Wisner.

Wisner and his wife Makiko opened the café in 1998. “My wife is really the heart and soul of the place; she runs it in a business sense and the daytime sort of community aspect of the place. I handle the nighttime and the entertainment aspect,” said Wisner.

There are several unique aspects to the café. All of the music that is played must be original, therefore the café gets a lot of singer /songwriters performers. The Café also puts on a classical series and a cello series. “Cello night is really cool, that is my favorite,” said employee Greg Ivonov.

A creative writing professor at the University of San Francisco lives in the neighborhood and holds her class in café a few times during the semester, allowing the students to read their recent work and things that they are currently working on.

The café also hosts political and fundraising events. “We support candidates for office when they are running,” said Wisner, “not only supporting individual candidates but we will also have debates among a group of candidates.” Fundraising events for causes such as breast cancer treatment, an AIDS walk or raising money for someone in the community are sometimes held in the form of an art auction or musical event.

“Our food is not a typical café fair, it's eclectic,” said Wisner. The menu offers chicken curry, unagi bowls and teriyaki bowls, among other things. Some of the sandwiches are the owners’ own creations.

Outside is a beautiful garden that is the creation of the owners. The area provides a place of patrons to sit on a nice sunny day or to smoke. “We stripped it down, it was bare dirt and we put in everything,” said Wisner. “I don’t think there is garden to match this one.”

SOME IMPORTANT THINGS ABOUT THE PRESIDIO

Presidio is a Spanish word meaning garrison or prison. The area got its name, “El Presidio,” when Spain's Lieutenant Colonel Juan Bautista de Anza arrived there and formed a military base in 1776. According to the Presidio Trust’s website presidio.gov, before the Spanish arrived the indigenous Ohlone/Costanoan people lived in villages in what is now San Francisco.  From 1776 to 1821 the area was a Spanish military outpost founded around the same time as the Mission Dolores. After Mexico gained its independence from Spain the news took one year to reach the Presidio. The area then became part of the Mexican Frontier from 1822 to 1846. In 1846 during the Mexican –American war the U.S. army occupied the post and took over the following year. In the later part of the nineteenth century the army began foresting the area and in 1876 it became an “open post” accessible to civilians except during wartime. In 1994 the military transferred the Presidio to the National Park Service and in 1996 congress formed the Presidio Trust, “a federal agency charged with preserving the natural, cultural, scenic, and recreational resources of the Presidio.”

Because the Presidio is part of the national park service and because it was formally a military post its boundaries are easily defined. Visually it is easy to see where the Presidio ends and the rest of San Francisco begins, the trees and open areas disappear and are replaced with blocks of houses and businesses. The architecture also changes dramatically. The coast offers a natural boundary. Gates also mark entrances into the park. 

The major MUNI lines crossing the neighborhood include the 29 line, the 28 line and the 43 line. MUNI line 76 and Golden Gate Transit also go to the Golden Gate Bridge. Within the Presidio there is another transportation system called the PresidiGo. The PresidiGo shuttle operates Monday – Friday departing every 30 minutes from the transit center. There is also a service that goes downtown. On weekends the PresidiGo shuttle operates with different hours and at certain times is only available to residents and employees.

There is a police station located at 1217 Ralston Avenue. The police in the Presidio are run by the United States Park Police (USPP). There is not much crime in the Presidio. According to Linda Moses of the United States Park Police, “the most common crimes are resource violations such as pets being off leash in the park. There are also traffic issues such as people speeding, and people trying to camp in areas where it is not permitted. There is no major crime. The police presence is there mostly as a preventative action.”

The Presidio offers many events however not in a similar fashion to other San Francisco neighborhoods. There is not for example an annual street fair like those that you would see in many other neighborhoods. The Presidio does have an annual Memorial Day ceremony because of its military history. There is also an annual event, “Pasados del Presidio,” that commemorates the founding of the Presidio in 1776. Some of the events that will take place this month include free Shakespeare in the park, concerts at the presidio and an ongoing exhibit about the Treasure Island 1939 exhibition.

For more general information about the area presidio.gov is a good place to start. 

*Maps from presidio.gov 

 

First Impressions

The bus climbed steadily out of the Richmond district and into the Presidio. Immediately the landscape changed, the houses thinned, and the busy city of San Francisco seemed to vanish. Looking to my left the view of the entrance to the bay was spectacular, small sailboats dotted the deep blue waters under and around the glorious expanse of the Golden Gate Bridge. 

I jumped off the bus around the Main Post area of the Presidio and began to explore. The area seemed more like a museum then a neighborhood center with mostly vacant buildings and very few people milling about. At the Presidio Bowling Center I spoke with Darrell Herbert, the general manager, who informed me that there are still plans for redevelopment of the area. “We were almost closed as they were going to put a new contemporary museum right in this spot,” he said. “Now we are trying to sign a long-term lease.” He described the bowling center as being, “a place for the community” and “great for kids.”

The Presidio is part national park and part San Francisco neighborhood and is truly one of the city’s greatest gems. When the military left the area in 1994 the Presidio became part of the National Park Service. The National Park Service Presidio Visitor Center has been temporary moved to the historic Officer’s Club, an event space. Inside the Visitor Center I spoke with an enthusiastic seasonal interpretive park ranger, Chris Norman, who told me about how great it is to work in the Presidio. “Everyone comes up to me and says, ‘you have such an amazing job working here.’” He continued to talk about how fantastic it is working in such a beautiful spot with so much history, “ it is like being a part of something bigger then yourself.”

I walked across Crissy Field and out to Torpedo Warf to admire the view of the bridge. Reagan Cua, who was out crab fishing for the day said he comes out to the Presidio whenever he gets the opportunity and that he likes “the peace and quiet, the view of the Golden Gate and that the area draws all types of different people.”

Chita and Dave Edlund, a couple visiting from the South Bay, came to the Presidio to celebrate their wedding anniversary. “We wanted to see some parts of San Francisco that we had never visited before,” said Mrs. Edlund. “It’s beautiful here,” Mr. Edlund chimed in, “we are amazed at all the people and things, there is so much to see.”

I hiked up a trail leading to the entrance to the Golden Gate Bridge and then hiked beyond that past Batteries Godfrey and Crosby and along part of the California Coastal Trail toward Baker Beach. I took in the awe inspiring views and the smell of fresh air excited to learn more about this oasis of nature and history within the bustling metropolis of San Francisco.