For years, South of Market residents Jeronimo Coelho and Thomas Stevens have walked by an ominous and overgrown wall of shrubbery and trees along Howard Street at Seventh, not knowing what was on the other side. Then one Sunday in May, a gate on Langton Street was open and Coelho was bold enough to poke his head in and inquire, “Can we come in?”
The answer was “absolutely,” because they had unknowingly stumbled into the monthly cleanup day for the Howard Langton Community Garden, and before they knew it they had gloves on and steel rakes in hand and had discovered a new passion.
“It’s great to have a nice peaceful place to come and enjoy,” said Coelho, 63, a nurse transitioning to real estate. “We were just amazed by this place of water and plant life in the city.”…