Neighborhood Guide: Hayes Valley
Even the street art makes you feel happy in Hayes Valley.
Looks like beige, feels like gold.
If the Marina were made of organic materials and on a spiritual journey, it would bring you to Hayes Valley. You would never guess that just 30 years ago this neighborhood was mostly a freeway underpass. The destruction of the Central Freeway in the big earthquake gifted us a blank slate that became trendy Hayes. Looking for some higher end goods without the flash of the Union Square stores? Or a big salad or wood-fired artisan pizza chased by a craft cocktail? Hayes Valley is your enclave.
The back patios of Arlequin and Birba are casual and fancy at the same time – the perfect surroundings for a glass of wine or an aperol spritz. You can fist bump at Anina or the Biergarten, but you don’t have to. You can read a book over some Ritual Coffee from the shipping container park in Patricia’s Green or walk around with it and cozy up in the art garden. It’s just a really good neighborhood to be outside in, perhaps making up for years of being shadowed from the sun by the freeway.
My secret spot is the back “patio” at San Francisco Wine & Cheese where you can select a bottle to drink onsite and have a custom cheese board made up for an affordable price. But please don’t go there, I want there always to be a table available for me.
Boutique shops filled with soothing colors and natural fabrics but with high craftsmanship (that set you up for a hefty pricetag) line the streets. Homegoods stores with architecturally sculpted vases and candles scented like evergreen neighbor San Francisco-born wool shoe stores. You can still get your San Francisco staple – workout gear – but from more off-beat brands. Roll the dice on a Marine Layer $20 mystery tee. It’s interesting to shop in Hayes, even if you’re not buying.
Hayes Valley seems like it should be pretentious and elite, but it’s strangely comfortable and open. It’s surrounded by a bit of grit here and there, so it’s a neighborhood that lets you know where its boundaries are. Worlds co-exist and even seem to pass by each other undetected. Hayes is somehow peaceful yet busy, everyone is there but no one and no one thing is shouting.