When I moved to Potrero Hill in 2002, the entire block of 17th Street between Kansas and Rhode Island was a pit, 40 feet deep at one end and strewn with graffiti. The site was once a service center for S&C Ford. But for a few years, the block had been a void — an open wound in the neighborhood, ripe for some sort of plan or development, waiting for someone to do something.
That pit was a metaphor for the neighborhood at the time. Twenty-five years ago, Potrero Hill was an overlooked district, isolated from the rest of the city by Interstate 101 on the west, 280 on the east, and the Caltrain yard to the north. Vestiges of its industrial, working-class past were scant and fading: the Basic Brown Bear factory sewed teddy bears (alas, gone today), the Wo Chong Company produced tofu (and still does), and Anchor brewed beer (and might again, someday). But the paint factories and sugar refineries and shipyards were long gone, leaving fading memories and empty lots. Potrero was sleepy, sunny, and, compared with other parts of the city, relatively cheap. That’s why we liked it.
But change was on the horizon. In 2001, the city had begun a process of formulating the Eastern Neighborhoods Plans (opens in new tab), an effort to rezone industrial portions of Potrero, Dogpatch, Showplace Square, southern SoMa, the Central Waterfront, and parts of the Mission for development…