Yerba Buena Gardens opened in 1993, adding valuable public space to a neighborhood that once had very little. The Yerba Buena Gardens Festival hosts wonderful, free performing arts programs from a wide array of cultural traditions. But the space also includes public art that can be the catalyst for interesting discussions.

We'll discuss artworks that evoke the memory of Martin Luther King and San Francisco's maritime past. We'll visit a gathering space created by two Native American artists and see a beautifully restored relic that has moved and delighted generations of children. And we'll encounter and share thoughts on a sculpture created by an artist who is also a successful composer of country music.

Before it became the lively park we know today, for more than a century the area was a vibrant, densely populated area crammed with residences, lodgings and a wide variety of businesses.  The site between 3rd and 4th, Howard and Mission Streets, included a brewery with a critical role in the city's history and factories producing paint, sausages and popcorn.  Its residents included retired longshoremen, military veterans and a large Filipino community.  But this neighborhood stood in the way of the postwar plans of Justin Herman and his Redevelopment Agency.  We'll talk about how all that turned out and hear the words of people who were displaced .

This in-person tour is FREE and open to all. We meet in front of the Martin Luther King waterfall in the center of Yerba Buena Gardens (between Mission and Howard, 3rd and 4th streets).

Our route avoids stairs and should be fine for people who use a walker of wheelchair. Registration is optional but enables you to receive communications relating to the tour.