16th Avenue Tiled Steps

16th Avenue Tiled Steps

Nestled at the foot of Golden Gate Heights Park in the Sunset District are the 16th Avenue Steps put together by neighbors and two artists to bring the idea of community to the neighborhood. The vibrant colors of the steps add beauty to some of the grayest weather in all of San Francisco.

What began as an idea by neighbor Jessie Audette to liven up the gray stairs, turned into an extensive project involving many neighbors and businesses. They not only donated money but got to help work on the stairs as well.

Neighbor Vicki Brenner and her partner, who have an apartment together in the Sunset District wanted to help with the project. “We made a donation because we loved the idea of this community effort to create such a beautiful piece of mosaic public art,” Brenner said.

The mosaic steps really became a part of the community that everyone could enjoy. People not only immersed money into them but got to be a part of them.

“It was important to me that everyone got to work on this,” said Audette of the diverse age group that helped with the steps. “I wanted neighbors to meet each other and for it to be a community project.”

Painted on individual tiles are the names of businesses and neighbors who donated time and money to put the steps together. Flowing together as a beautiful piece of artwork, the detailed tiles are hard to notice unless a closer look is taken.

“The idea was to have a stream, sort of like a waterfall, coming down a hillside,” said Crutcher who worked together with the other artist, Aileen Barr, for the design.

The top of the staircase contains a sun decorated in bright orange, red and yellow tiles. The sun cascades over a moon full of deep blue tiles which flows down as whimsical swirls into the ocean. The vivid colors add energy to the street as the stairs are in a relatively quiet neighborhood.

Adding to the tranquility of the steps, art gazers can enjoy the mosaic all to themselves due to little tourists gawking at the piece. The only occasional presences are people dashing by on their bikes or residents taking a stroll through the neighborhood.

Neighbors were concerned that the steps would cause a lot of commotion, Audette said. Tour buses have been banned from the site, though a few have snuck by in the past. “We are still waiting for signs that do not allow tour buses,” Audette said.
Traffic was only heightened for a short period after construction was finished; however, nearly three years after its completion in 2005, the stairs have become a place of tranquility in that it is so quiet.

An astonishing view of the avenues that make up the Sunset District accompanies the beautiful mosaic that pours down the hillside. The higher you climb the better the view of Ocean Beach and the entire Sunset District gets. At one point, you can even see the top of the Golden Gate Bridge. Of course you would have to go on a clear day in the Sunset—which is notorious for the cloudy weather—to take in the serenity of the moment.

You can’t help but walk slowly up the stairs grazing each step as a piece of artwork in itself. The stairs are an emblem of community in the neighborhood and will forever remind residents and onlookers.

Watching The Sunset

As I stepped off Muni N-Judah, the Sunset District’s main Muni line, the cold, misty air was not the first to catch my attention. The calm street with few cars and small patches of people here and there was comforting in a city so busy and full of life on every corner. As I left the industrialized pavement for something softer, sand, I noticed locals walking Ocean Beach: surfers, dog walkers and the occasional ocean gazer.

I was impressed by the friendliness of the residents and their eagerness to share information about the district like French native and former resident of the Sunset District, Thierry Gove.

Gove, who was there on holiday, explained he just had to bring his girlfriend who was huddled next to him for warmth, to the place he fell in love with two years ago and how he loves how close it is to the ocean.

"I lived here with two roommates and loved it,” Gove said.

Walking back from Ocean Beach, I noticed the sidewalks were barren on the glum weekday afternoon until I got to Java Beach, a small café on the corner of Judah and La Playa Street, recommended to me by a local. People of different ages were crowded inside and out, and were busy typing away on their fancy laptops while sipping coffee and snacking on sandwiches, an idyllic gathering place for nearly anyone.

The café was nestled in the district's residential part of town, also known as part of the avenues (streets numbered 1st through 49th). I noticed some of the homes were bright and eccentric while others seemed desolate and in need of some work. The only thing causing a real stir in the neighborhood was the post man and some occasional laborers doing housework.

Boarding back on the N-Judah -- which picked up more elderly then most parts of the city as well as many parents who were lugging their toddlers behind -- made several stops through quiet residential areas until it arrived in a busier part of the district: Irving Street where many of the passengers dispersed and many more got on to head downtown.

The area -- full of shoppers, tourists and locals -- was lively with boutiques, small businesses and cafes like The Beanery: a hip little coffee house full of friendly locals and baristas which added to the crafty vibe of the street.

Though many locals mentioned the weather could be better and merchants complained about the lack of parking, all of them shared the same positive views on the not so sunny Sunset District and how much they love living there.

Sunset District activist Susan Suval noted that it is one of the safer areas of San Francisco by saying that there are “not a lot of violent crimes like other neighborhoods.”

Though Suval also mentioned another issue includes “filth in the merchant corridors,” many locals claimed the district was clean and are very happy to be residents.