If you’ve visited the open space over the past few months, you may have seen the beautiful mural of our state flower, the California golden poppy, on the southwest side of the hill near De Haro Street. Many neighbors asked us “where did the mural come from?”, followed by “who is the artist?”.
We’re glad you asked!
Several months ago former Starr King Open Space board member (and neighbor) Dan Fineman and a friend were conversing at 24th Street deli Wise Sons about the need for a mural along the large wall on the side of his property adjacent to the open space.
A neighbor overheard the conversation and suggested reaching out to local SF street artist fnnch and put Dan in contact with the artist (you might recognize his images of honey bears around the city).
fnnch was game, and the project took a couple of months from initial idea to finished mural.
Property owners and neighbors Gary Hirsch, Les Hanson, Jennifer Stebner (another former SKOS board member and active supporter of the open space), and Dan commissioned and paid for the mural.
Jennifer says she came up with the idea to do golden poppies in alignment with the state flower found naturally all over the open space.
We think it is a perfect representation of the open space–thank you Gary, Les, Jen, and Dan for gifting this beautiful mural to your neighborhood!