Urban blight is interrupted by bucolic splendor on one of the Tenderloin's grittiest blocks. Once littered with hypodermic needles and garbage, dead-end Cohen Alley has been transformed by a nonprofit artists' collective. A grove of trees is taking root, concrete walls are covered with bright murals, and asphalt has been replaced with mosaic pathways and coi ponds. If you feel so inspired – and really, who wouldn't? – garden tools are available to help maintain SF's scrappiest natural wonder.
This forest is a project of the nonprofit Luggage Store gallery in cooperation with the city of San Francisco, which allows the nonprofit to lease the alley for $1 a year. See the Luggage Store's website for upcoming events in the Tenderloin National Forest, including free clothes mending by artist Michael Swain on the 15th of each month (weather permitting) and occasional community pizza-making in the garden patio pizza oven.
