February Neighborhood News

Vol. VII, No 2.

Park Gathering at Merritt/Danvers Park  🎉

Hi neighbors! Join CHN at Merritt/Danvers Park on Friday, February 21, from 5:00 pm to 6:00 pm! We'll gather at the park for good conversation and community bonding. And of course, pizza  will be provided. Just bring your own drinks to enjoy. Whether you're new to the neighborhood or a familiar face, we'd love to see you there!

Survey reminder

Did you complete this quick 5-minute survey?  Share your priorities and help shape our efforts by February 15.

As a thank you, those who provide their contact information will be entered into a raffle for a $50 gift card to Cliff’s Variety, one of our beloved local retailers. CHN thanks Terry Asten Bennett for her generosity. 

The Bailey’s Acacia has been planted at Ord/Corbett Park

This tree replaced the acacia that died due to a fire and damage to the roots by road construction.  A plaque in honor of 101 year old resident June V. Johnson of Ord Court will be placed at the tree, and an event in her honor will be announced in our next issue.

In 1966, the Trees for the City program, planted five trees at Ord and 17^th. Mrs. Ralph K. Davies, president of the program, and Peggy O’Brien were working in conjunction with the city.  The tree you see in this photo was there until it died due to lack of water during a drought.  The city had cut off the water supply.  It took some effort to get is restored, but it was too late for many plants and trees. There is bronze plaque in the park with several names and the date 1966.  The individuals did not live in the neighborhood, but were evidently honored for their support of the Trees for the City program. It is quite possible that the sidewalk acacias were two of the five trees planted in 1966.  Note the proper dress for garden work! 

This is a photo from May 2009, before the loss of so many trees, celebrating the completion of the utility undergrounding project.

Spreading Bark and Beauty at Merritt/Danvers Park

Keeping the park in shape are CHN members John Koelsch, Bill Holtzman, Ivan Dias, visiting from Sacramento, Leslie Koelsch, Mark Ryser, Joey Accordino, and Maryann Dresner. 

And More Beautification at Merritt/Danvers

The trash can and bench at Merritt/Danvers have been repainted.  And we thank 17^th Street resident Ted Teipel for replacing one of the rotten slats in the bench.

A Colorful Early Resident of Corbett Heights—

17 Temple Street

Previous issues of the Neighborhood News highlighted early residents.  See the March and April issues about Denis Kearny, of the 1877 Workingman’s Party, who lived on Ord Street, now the Saturn Street Stairway, whose motto was, “The Chinese Must Go,” or the June issue about Raisa Gorbachev visiting the 130 year old grocery at 4499 17^th Street; or the August issue concerning Ruth Asawa’s Saturn Street residence. 

This month we report that anarchist Alexander Horr (1873-1947) lived at the four room cottage at 17 Temple Street with his wife, Louise Harding from about 1910 to 1919 until the house went on the market ($1800 and $50 down). Alexander Horr, who immigrated from Hungary in the late 19^th century, was a manager and friend of the “Queen of Anarchists,” Emma Goldman.  Alexander was a bookseller and Secretary of the Auto Bus Operator’s Union.  He was arrested several times for inciting the public and unlawful assemblage, jailed at least once, a person of interest in the Steuart Street bombing of 1916 (10 deaths and 40 injuries)—the worst terrorist attack in San Francisco history—ran for Governor under the Socialist ticket (40,000 votes) in 1922 and San Francisco mayor in 1931. He was the author of Fabian Anarchism: A Fragmentary Exposition of Mutualism, Communism and Freeland, 1911. 

The cottage at 17 Temple was proposed for “remodel” in 2014, but not completed until 2019. 

February Book Review by Richie Partington

Richie Partington has recently moved to Corbett Avenue.  He taught children’s library services classes in the San Jose State MLIS program. Richie has served on numerous American Library Association award and selection committees, including the Caldecott Medal committee. Richie generously and willingly agreed to let us print this latest review. 

TREE. TABLE. BOOK. by Lois Lowry, HarperCollins/Clarion, April 2024, 208p., ISBN: 978-0-06-329950-4

“According to recent data, in the United States, the percentage of adults diagnosed with dementia significantly rises with age, ranging from 1.7% for individuals between 65 and 74 years old to 13.1% for those aged 85 and older.”

– Center for Disease Control, National Health Statistics Reports

“Oh well, she used to have a carefree mind of her own

And a delicate look in her eye

These days I'm afraid she's not even sure

If her name is Veronica”

– Elvis Costello (1989)

Back when young New Hampshire resident Sophie Henry Winslow was nine, she was struggling with the recent additions of braces on her teeth and plaid plastic framed glasses on her face. This, in addition to being mocked by her peers for having recently advocated publicly for more nutritious cafeteria meals. 

One Saturday morning, having just had a dust-up with her close friend Ralphie over a board game they were struggling to invent, and thanks to a communications mix-up with her parents, things hit rock bottom: 

“And by the time I got home, both of my parents–each of them thinking I was with the other–were gone and the front door was locked, and I went around and tried the back door and it was locked too. I could have gone back to Ralphie’s house, of course. But we had not parted amicably. Actually, to be honest, I had said as I left, ‘Why don’t you just throw the whole game away, Ralphie, because nobody’s going to want to play it if it’s just a copy of every game they’ve already played a thousand times!’ And he sort of slammed the door behind me. And on top of that my teeth ached because the orthodontist had tightened my braces the day before and my glasses still had hideous plaid frames, and clearly no one liked me, not Ralphie and not even my parents, and so I did what any mature and intelligent person would do: I sat down on the back steps of my house and burst into tears. Next thing I knew, the old lady next door–who had lived there all my life but although I knew her name I had never paid her the slightest bit of attention–noticed me from her porch, and came scurrying across her backyard, opened the gate in the fence, and stood looking briefly at me, then sat down beside me on the step, opened up her arms, and said, ‘My darling girl, my darling girl.’ And I sank right in against her (rather large) chest, knocking my ugly glasses sideways, and I sobbed that I had no home anymore because my parents had abandoned me, and she didn’t laugh. She took a crumpled tissue out of the pocket of her apron and wiped the snot off my upper lip, and she just listened, rocking me back and forth, saying, ‘I know, I know just how it feels.’ She took me to her house, to her kitchen, and gave us each a glass of kiwi strawberry water. Then she told me a really dumb joke about a horse who goes into a bar and the bartender says Why the long face? and my own long face gradually disappeared into a giggling face and before the day was over she was my very best friend and has remained so ever since.”

Sophie’s new best friend, who is seventy-seven years older than she, is also named Sophie–Sophie Gershowitz.

 

Two years after that initial connection, having grown their friendship and developed fun rituals together, Sophie overhears a terribly upsetting adult conversation. Sophie Gershowitz’s accountant son is traveling from his home in Akron, Ohio to see his mom, have her undergo a test because of her increasing short-term memory issues, and anticipates taking her back to Ohio to be institutionalized.

 

Ralphie’s dad is a physician, and Sophie is a bright kid who is familiar with Ralphie’s dad’s Merck medical reference manual. She borrows it in hopes of preparing Sophie (the Elder) for the cognitive test in order to derail the loss of her best friend.

 

In the process of young Sophie telling the story–which includes jaw-dropping tidbits of Sophie-the-Elder’s life story–two-time Newbery medalist Lois Lowry has her young narrator adding insightful asides about the components of successful storytelling. (“I just put together all the ingredients as if I were making spaghetti sauce.”)

This is one time that less is more. Trust me. You need this one. Written by one of our children’s literature greats, perfect for third-through eighth-graders, and timely, with the onslaught of Boomers hitting our seventies and eighties, it's a read-it-in-one-sitting kind of tale, and one of the most notable and memorable children’s books of 2024. 

Richie Partington, MLIS

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Joey Accordino

Leslie Koelsch

CHN Newsletter Committee
February 1, 2025