Next Three Events:
Download the Spring 2026 calendar as a pdf here.
Saturday, March 7, 12-3pm
Noe Valley History
A Walking Tour
SORRY, THIS WALKING TOUR IS FULL!
Explore the southeastern edge of Rancho San Miguel. This walk highlights the agricultural and industrial history of Noe Valley and its heights, from Billy Goat Hill through Fairmount Heights to the east side of Twin Peaks. We walk along sites of former dairies and quarries, through early and modernist residential developments, along Slow Streets and up and down staircases, and more. Be prepared for steep slopes and great views! With SFPL Noe Valley Branch
We welcome donations. Donate now!
Wed., March 11, 7:30pm
City of Redwood
Public Talk at 518 Valencia
James Michael Buckley’s 2024 City of Wood: San Francisco and the Architecture of the Redwood Lumber Industry reconnects us to the built environment from San Francisco all the way up to Eureka in the far north of California, past and present. David Schmidt’s brand new majesterial San Francisco Bay Area: An Environmental History contains a close look at the historic forests of the Bay Area and how they were cut down to help build the region. Together these speakers will help us see how profoundly the iconic trees of the west coast literally undergird our everyday lives even today.
We welcome donations. Donate now!
Saturday, March 21, Noon-3 pm
Another Way Urban Bike & Talk: Pier to Pier
An Urban Bike & Talk
Starting at the north end of San Francisco's bay waterfront, we'll weave along the public shore by bicycle moving from pier to pier. Our ambitious goal will not be to achieve a particular destination, rather explore the sights, sounds, smells, and stories of life at the edge. On this immersive bike ride we provide some historical context for our present views over the seawall and from the far end of these historic structures, and engage in individual and collective thought experiments about an utopian future.
Bring notebooks for sketching, writing thoughts, poetry, songs, etc. or perhaps record sounds and make photos or videos to share with each other.
RSVP to shaping@foundsf.org
We welcome donations. Donate now!
Explore Shaping San Francisco:
Ecology Emerges
Discussions and reflections on the history of Bay Area ecological activism, based on oral histories documenting the past 50 years.
Ecology Emerges is an oral history gathering project to explore the past 50 years of ecological activism in the Bay Area and the role that individual and institutional memories play in the development, policy proposals, and interrelationships that together make up the existing networks of ecological politics. We document the living ecological activist movement, in their own words, but also in a larger context of urban growth and globalization.
Oral Histories
Shaping San Francisco, as part of our ongoing work, sits down with people who have stories to tell and conducts oral history interviews.
Check them out here.
"Editor's Pick Tour" from FoundSF.org
Comprised of over 1,400 pages, and 2,500 historical photos, the wiki-based archive FoundSF.org is the product of hundreds of contributors, regular people who were compelled by the chance to investigate some piece of this City's past.
Shaping San Francisco is fiscally sponsored by Independent Arts & Media, a California non-profit corporation.