Shaping San Francisco

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Shaping San Francisco Shaping SF is an affiliate project of Independent Arts & Media.

Recovering overlooked history and sharing the story of daily life in the City by the Bay...through FoundSF.org, an online wiki archive; bicycle history tours; and a public talk series.

Join us for next week’s conversation about AI. With Wendy Liu , Elizabeth Travelslight, Alex Hanna, and Tamara Kneese ...
05/21/2026

Join us for next week’s conversation about AI. With Wendy Liu , Elizabeth Travelslight, Alex Hanna, and Tamara Kneese all sharp critics of the hype machine that has long characterized the internet and our successive tech booms, currently blowing up in the AI bubble. Lost in the hand wringing over the more exaggerated claims of boosters and doomers is the ongoing reproduction of a colonial seizure of what should be our common wealth. This process has long historic roots and in some ways it is thanks to our amnesiac culture that the current crop of billionaire investors and tech bros have gotten away with doing it all again.
7:30 PM Wednesday, May 27 FREE
partially underwritten by and

Our small but enthusiastic group of photo takers and Ocean Beach time travelers yesterday moved from the Beach Chalet to...
04/27/2026

Our small but enthusiastic group of photo takers and Ocean Beach time travelers yesterday moved from the Beach Chalet to Cliff House (TM) then down through Sunset Dunes all the way to Taraval to look at historical photos, complete a number of treasure hunt activities, and learn about everything from surf culture to lifesaving to windmills to beach engineering to sand science to waves to dune restoration to Carville remnants in the 21st century! Whew! It was a lot and it was a great way to spend the day at the edge of the continent!
Thanks to Problem Library and Bob Battaglio

Join us for our Shaping San Francisco Ocean Beach Then & Now Photo Hunt this Sunday, April 26: NOON–3 PM, with gathering...
04/21/2026

Join us for our Shaping San Francisco Ocean Beach Then & Now Photo Hunt this Sunday, April 26: NOON–3 PM, with gathering afterwards from 3:30–5 PM.
PS The Plover Fest has been also moved to the same date, so if you were hoping for music along with the phototaking, you’ll still get it.
Also the Problem Library Conviviality Cohort has designed and created a special keepsake collection booklet to document your journey along with your photographs!
Let us know if you would like to join us: shaping [at] foundsf.org

This past Saturday, our small, but engaged, group enjoyed the flora, fauna, and history of Candlestick Point State Recre...
04/21/2026

This past Saturday, our small, but engaged, group enjoyed the flora, fauna, and history of Candlestick Point State Recreation Area. It was glorious weather giving us the opportunity to wander this well-used park (fisher people! families celebrating birthdays and other occasions! crosstown trail walkers!) at the SF Bay rim.
Did you know: Candlestick Point SRA was the first CA state park created within the limits of an urban space?
Pictured: The group getting a history download at one of the many picnic areas with windbreaks, the fishing pier at the southeastern tip of the park, a view of San Bruno Mountain to the southwest, a view of the Hunters Point Shipyard crane, a Pacific Gopher Snake on the path, a CA Ground Squirrel eating grass seeds, a lizard (ID needed!), a Gray Buckeye butterfly, and what this made-land park looks like on the map!

Thursday, April 16 at 7:30 PMShaping San Francisco FREE Public Talk518 Valencia Street (near 16th)New tech oligarchs hav...
04/16/2026

Thursday, April 16 at 7:30 PM
Shaping San Francisco FREE Public Talk
518 Valencia Street (near 16th)
New tech oligarchs have thrown their money around to shape city politics for the past decade. We now have a billionaire bluejeans heir for mayor. We explore how organized money and corporate power managed to steer San Francisco going back through the post-WWII cold war, the long decline of Catholic morality, and the explosion of social movements and the sexual revolution the city is known for.
Join historian Lincoln Mitchell, former supervisor and Mayoral candidate Tom Ammiano, and neighborhood activist and writer Romalyn Schmaltz for a spirited romp through the tangled and conflicted histories of the past few decades.

Well, a storm rolled in this weekend! We didn’t think it will be very pleasant to be on the edge of the continent taking...
04/13/2026

Well, a storm rolled in this weekend! We didn’t think it will be very pleasant to be on the edge of the continent taking photos on Sunday, so…
…We are rescheduling our Shaping San Francisco Ocean Beach Then & Now Photo Hunt for Sunday, April 26. Same time: NOON–3 PM, with gathering afterwards from 3:30–5 PM.
PS The Plover Fest has been postponed to the same date, so if you were hoping for music along with the phototaking, you’ll still get it.
Also the Conviviality Cohort has designed and created a special keepsake collection booklet to document your journey along with your photographs!
Let us know if you would like to join us: shaping [at] foundsf.org

Explore Ocean Beach in an historical treasure hunt and photo-taking exercise this coming Sunday, April 12.We welcome you...
04/09/2026

Explore Ocean Beach in an historical treasure hunt and photo-taking exercise this coming Sunday, April 12.
We welcome you to join us in an exploration of the human and environmental changes along the Pacific seashore.
Historic “Then” images will be posted from Sloat Boulevard to the Cliff House (TM); you are encouraged to find them and match them with your own photographs to act as “Now” views of the City and present ecology. Imagine yourself as a “future historian” when documenting the present landscape.
Participants will receive a keepsake specially designed for the event conceptualized and created by the Problem Library youth members of the Conviviality group.
Knowledgeable local guides on various topics such as sand science, dune restoration, waves, beach engineering, and local human history, as well as contemporary photographers will be on hand at designated sites to address your curiosities and offer a deeper dive into life at the edge of the continent.
Presented by Ocean Beach Institute, Western Neighborhoods Project, and Problem Library
The Friends of Sunset Dunes are producing the Plover Fest on the same day, a community music festival, so come help tilt the City into the ocean and fill up the park!

WEDNESDAY! TOMORROW!!A Shaping San Francisco Public Talk at 518 Valencia3/11 at 7:30pm—FREE! No RSVP necessaryCity of Re...
03/10/2026

WEDNESDAY! TOMORROW!!
A Shaping San Francisco Public Talk at 518 Valencia
3/11 at 7:30pm—FREE!
No RSVP necessary
City of Redwood
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.

en febrero !
02/11/2026

en febrero !

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