Welcome to the Tompkins Stairway Garden

Once a trash-covered hillside, San Francisco’s Tompkins Stairway Garden is now a safe and welcoming street park, featuring a drought-tolerant garden in year-round bloom and a colorful tiled stairway. Dedicated attention from surrounding neighbors has transformed the site into a community greenspace and pedestrian corridor serving the Alemany Farmers’ Market and nearby schools and shopping districts.

We finished our garden implementation in spring 2019 and celebrated with a ribbon cutting on June 8 (see our news page). The San Francisco Chronicle calls our new garden “stunning,” “gorgeous,” and a “cheerful splash of public art that will probably become a photo hot spot.”

In addition, San Francisco Beautiful honored us with the 2019 Placemaking Award for creating a sense of identity in a public space. We are grateful to Andre Rothblatt, Tompkins Stairway Garden founding member, for our multicolored, zigzag tile design, inspired by the Steps to Peace painted by youth in the Syrian town of Deir Atiyah. Arterra Landscape Architects generously provided our landscape design.

The stairs link Tompkins Avenue between Nevada and Putnam Streets in southeast Bernal Heights. The next time you’re in the neighborhood, stop by!

First Annual “Explore Bernal”

Tompkins Stairway Garden’s Fundraising Walk