From Filbert to Francisco Street, dull expanses of concrete were transformed into living, flowering sidewalk gardens. These landscapes now provide critical habitat for pollinators like bees and butterflies while creating softer, more inviting pedestrian corridors for residents and visitors alike.

Using native and climate-adapted plants, these gardens cool the streets, support stormwater absorption, and reflect the local aesthetic with natural stone edging, thoughtful design, and community care. Every planting site is different—some nestled between historic apartment buildings, others outside schools or public buildings—but all share the common purpose of restoring nature to the neighborhood’s hard edges.

In a district known for its narrow sidewalks and small frontages, every tree matters. North Beach Green added 33 new street trees to the community’s canopy, offering shade, bird habitat, air quality improvement, and long-term environmental benefit.

Species were selected not only for their ecological value, but also their alignment with North Beach’s existing streetscape—balancing seasonal interest, sidewalk compatibility, and neighborhood charm. These trees are already reshaping the walking experience and will continue to grow into defining features of the streets they now line.

From day one, North Beach Green was built by the community, for the community.

CAN! hosted a dozen hands-on workdays throughout the spring and early summer, bringing together neighbors of all ages to plant, mulch, water, and beautify their blocks. These events generated hundreds of volunteer hours, forged new friendships, and instilled a sense of collective ownership over the public realm. Residents stepped up with buckets, shovels, and wheelbarrows—watering new gardens by hand, laying cobblestone edging, and helping transform their sidewalks from grey to green.

Biodiversity Hubs:

A hallmark of the project was partnering with Francisco Middle School and New School, two vital neighborhood institutions that together serve nearly 1,000 students. At SFUSD’s Francisco MS, the main campus and school’s Annex building became living labs for biodiversity, with students helping design and install native gardens and tree basins along their block. New School students and their garden educator helped plant two street trees and a pollinator garden right in front of the charter school’s campus.

This intergenerational work didn’t just green the streets—it wove ecology into the fabric of daily life in North Beach, empowering young people to become caretakers of their environment and stewards of neighborhood health.

We also collaborated with North Beach Neighbors leadership past and present, built relationships with nearby business owners, and presented the project at various North Beach Neighborhood and Business Owner Meetings—deepening connections across sectors and ensuring broad community support.

To share this story, CAN! developed and installed educational signage at every site that links to this website. Each sign connects passersby to this digital hub, highlighting project benefits, native plant species, and ways to get involved—ensuring that every garden is also a public learning space.

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Want to Green Your Sidewalk?

Inspired by what you see here? If you’re a neighbor, school, or business in San Francisco interested in transforming pavement into pollinator habitat or adding street trees to your block, we want to hear from you!

Complete our short intake form to let us know you’re interested in a similar improvement—and help us grow the next North Beach Green, one sidewalk at a time.