CHN served as co-sponsors of the forum, which featured the four leading candidates vying for San Francisco’s U.S. House seat: Saikat Chakrabarti, San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan, Marie Hurabiell, and State Senator Scott Wiener.
Eleven neighborhood groups across District 8 hosted the debate, which
addressed issues that matter to neighbors and households across the Castro, Noe Valley, Glen Park, Duboce Triangle, and Cole Valley.
If you missed it, you can watch the 90 minute debate here.
Pride March with Supervisor Mandelman
March with
Supervisor Mandelman in the Pride Parade 2026🌈! This year is President Mandelman’s final Pride Parade as your supervisor🥳. The goal is to have a very large contingent to show our District 8 Pride.
There will be a DJ on a pickup truck, neighborhood signs/clusters, and thousands of beads to hand out to viewers! Friends, family, kids (even four-legged ones 🐶) are welcome!
When: Sunday June 28, 2026 at 10:30
AM Where: TBD but near Salesforce Tower Attire: Festive and colorful attire are welcomed and encouraged.
Everyone will be provided with a Rafael Mandelman shirt to wear. Don’t forget to wear comfortable shoes, a hat, and bring sunscreen.
Let’s make President Mandelman’s last Pride Parade as YOUR Supervisor one to remember!🏳️🌈
The Slope Update
We want to thank neighbors Colin Hughes and Paul Allen for the temporary repair on the back side of the planter to hold it all together
until repairs can be completed.
The latest we have heard from Sophie Marie of Supervisor Mandelman’s office regarding our request of repair the boxes is that the project was funded by an addback, or one-time funding, from the Board of Supervisors in 2014/15 that no longer exists. DPW maintenance funding is reserved for safety hazards in the right of way, and this project does not qualify for that funding. That leaves the repair to CHN.
A
minimal, but a sufficient repair, consisting of replacement of some of the 2 x 12 clear heart redwood and labor will cost approximately $1000, not including the plants. If you can contribute anything for materials and labor for this specific project, please do so here. In the notes, section, please indicate your donation is for
planter box at the Slope. Many thanks.
New Garden Maintenance Company
For the last year and a half, For Your Garden Needs (in addition to neighborhood volunteers) has
serviced Al’s, Ord/Corbett, and Merritt Danvers parks once a month. The owner has moved to Italy, and we will be working with Giant Landscaping beginning June 2026. The cost of the service has increased $170 a month and CHN will now pay $900 a month.
Spanish Style Mediterranean Houses at 123 and 127 Corbett
The Spanish Style Mediterranean houses at 123 and 127 Corbett are unusual architecture for the Park Lane Tract
initially developed in 1885. Spanish Mediterranean Style combines Spanish architecture with Mediterranean influences. Key exterior characteristics are white or light-colored stucco walls contrasted with red clay barrel tiles on a low pitched or flat roofs; rounded arches, wrought iron trim and ornate carved wood doors with metal accents, and enclosed courtyards. Interior features have exposed wooden beams, tile or stone flooring and high ceilings, warm earth tones with
jewel-toned accents, and textured stucco walls, handmade tiles, and wrought iron fixtures. The exterior paint for Spanish Mediterranean homes traditionally emphasizes earthy, sun-drenched tones that mimic aged plaster, warm whites, ivory, soft beige, pale tan, cream, terracotta, sand, muted ochre, and deep brown, paired with dark wood trim and black wrought iron.
Neither 123 or 125 were designed by an architect, but the contractor, Arthur Quinn, of A & B Quinn
of 229 Dolores Street successfully created the intended affect. (A & B Quinn built several buildings in the neighborhood, including 4301 17th (1931 remodel); 4310 17th, and 90 Ord Street.)
123 Corbett Avenue
The first owner of the 1937 house at 123 Corbett Avenue was Dennis O’Halloran (1881-1959) and his wife, Susan Keating (1881-1965). Dennis O’Halloran took out a permit on February 22, 1937, four months after
the permit was issued for 127 Corbett. The stated cost to build was $4,000. The contractor was Arthur Quinn; there was no architect. Dennis O’Halloran was a janitor at San Francisco School District’s Douglass School on 18th and Collingwood. In 1954, the house was sale by owner at $15,950. The previous owner of the lot was Dennis, Jr., and Joseph McCarthy. (Dennis McCarthy was a grocer at 131 Corbett.) In 1940, the owner valued the house at $6,000
(Federal census). They had three children, one of whom, John (1928-2023), was a Korean War veteran, who became a highly respected member of the Mountain View city government.
127 Corbett/ Avenue/9 Hattie Street
The first owner of the 1937 house 127 Corbett Avenue/9 Hattie Street was John Henry “Jack” Schubel (1902-1944) and his wife, Valois (1902-1981). On July 12, 1936, Marjorie (Mary) Alden sold the lot at 127 Corbett to John H.
Schubel. On October 26, 1936 Jack Schubel applied for a permit and estimated the cost of the new building at $4500. There was no architect for this building either; and no contractor is listed, but most likely it was Arthur Quinn who built 123 Corbett months later. In 1940, the owner valued the house at $10,000 (Federal census). Jack was a musician and owned a restaurant, the Old Mission Lunch at 3091 16th Street. (It is now Panchitas’s #2, a pupuseria.) Valois
remained in the house after her husband’s early death until 1961.
San Francisco Assessor’s Photographs, 1976
San Francisco Call, October 26, 1936
John Henry Schubel First owner, 127 Corbett Avenue
Remaining Notice at 127
Corbett
William Magner’s Grocery & Saloon and Magner’s Hall
If you ever wondered what predated these two 1937 Spanish Style Mediterranean houses on the southeast corner of Corbett at Hattie (125 and 127 Corbett and 9 Hattie), here’s the story. In 1880, William Magner established a grocery store and saloon at the southeast corner and a meeting hall in the basement at Corbett and Hattie. Magner’s Hall was the meeting place
of the Eureka Valley Improvement Association, the Park Lane Tract and the 17th Street Improvements Associations during this period. (It was the only meeting hall in this area until Mr. Stevens opened his grocery and meeting hall at 4499 17th Street in 1895 (See July 2024 Neighborhood News). Many important issues of the day were debated here that included electric street lighting, street grading, sewers, macadamization, opposition to a proposed animal pound at
18th and Eureka Streets, extension of 17th Street through to Park Lane (Clayton), Spring Valley water, a new school, and fire house. These meetings were very well attended by neighbors, many were well-known such as Adolph Sutro and Denis Kearney. Discussion was lively at times.
San Francisco Examiner, March 30, 1889, p. 5
San Francisco Call Bulletin, September
27, 1889, p. 8
On July 7, 1890 Magner’s store and meeting hall came to an end. It burned to the ground, taking with it the homes of James Henshaw on Hattie and the house occupied by J. T. Lewis on Corbett. Nothing was built again on 123 and 127 Corbett Avenue until 1937.
There are a few references of note regarding the houses on Hattie Street at this time. Soon after the 1890 fire on Corbett & Hattie, there was
another fire—this time at 17 Hattie (currently 35 Hattie). It was September 3, 1897, when sparks flew from the chimney. This was successfully extinguished with only a loss of $20. Miss Nancy Henshaw purchased Lot 12, Block A, Park Lane Tract (now 17 Hattie) in 1889 and sold it in 1892. In 1892, Miss Henshaw is identified as the wife of John Henshaw, a laborer, who was reported missing for two months from his home at 4 Hattie (San Francisco Examiner, August 3, 1892). On October 28,
1893, Douglass and Margaret O’Connnor applied for a building permit for alterations and additions to a cottage at 5 Hattie Street (probably now 17 Hattie). In 1898, 7 Hattie (now 17 Hattie) was a gift from her mother to Julia Staples, wife of Lyman Staples. On February 28, 1897, 17 Hattie (now 35 Hattie) is offered for sale as “almost new.” In 1905, Julia Staples of 7 Hattie (now 17 Hattie) obtained a warrant for the arrest of the same John Henshaw mentioned above, her
father-in-law, for threatening to blow up the house with dynamite. In 1957, an ironworker living at 123 Corbett set fire to his ex-wife’s home in San Jose. And of course, another Hattie fire of note was that in 2016 at Hattie and Market in which 29-31 and 35 Hattie were lost and 25-27 Hattie damaged.
Street numbers on Hattie changed between 1905 and 1913-14. The Sanborn maps below show that 7 Hattie is now 17; 11 Hattie is now 25-27; 15-15 ½ Hattie is now
29-31; and 17 Hattie is now 35. Lot numbers changed as well. The two photographs from 1919 below show the entire length of Hattie Street before the removal of several houses for the Market Street extension. One photograph looks north from Merritt Street (now Market) and the other looks south to 18th Street from Merritt Street. The buildings on the south side of Merritt were moved back 20 feet on their lots.
The San Francisco Examiner, July 7, 1890, p.1. (Note: Harriet Street mentioned here is Hattie)
June 23, 1905 San Francisco Examiner
Sanborn Map, Vol. 6, pp. 683-684, 1905 This map shows the old street numbers.
Sanborn Map, 1950 With the Market Street Extension Current house numbers
on Hattie
A Reader Asks: Who writes the history stories?
Beginning with the September 2023 issue, the newsletter history stories are researched and written by CHN Board member Leslie Koelsch. Original materials with citations are the main source. The sources include: Ancestry.com; San Francisco Planning records; San Francisco Recorder records; Family Search; San Francisco Probate
records; Newspapers.com; Sanborn Fire maps; San Francisco Block Blooks; photographs from private sources; SFOpen History; the San Francisco Public Library historical photograph collection.
Pet Pics
Meet Bruno. “Bruno” signifies brown or dark colored and has secondary meaning of strength and resilience. Seems just about right!
Blooming Now at Al’s Park
Geranium Rozanne is in the foreground (blue); St. John’s Wort is the yellow.
Richie’s Picks: STYX AND STONES by Gary D. Schmidt and Ron Koertge, HarperCollins/Clarion, May 2026, 240p., ISBN: 978-0-06-338097-4
“I'll give you anything you want pretty girl
You could rule over the
underworld
A coal mine full of diamonds and a string of black pearls
I'll make you
I'm gonna crown you as the queen of the dead
Gold-capped teeth in a ring on your head
You can hear the river from my burial bed
Listen”
– Parker Millsap, “Hades Pleads” (2016)
“‘Listen,’ said Zeke, ‘I can’t be late, and you can’t stay in this bathroom forever.’
‘Forever,’ whispered Simon.
‘So you’re gonna hang out with me. You’re my cousin,
okay? You lost your luggage on the flight here from…where’d you say?
‘Lacedaemon.’
‘...Las Vegas. Now let me look at you.’
‘I am no longer cold,’ Simon said.
‘No kidding. You put everything on.’
‘Of course I put everything on. Did I misunderstand?’
‘Take off like three pairs of sweats. Those.’ Zeke gestured at Simon’s legs. ‘And let’s stick with one hoodie.’
Simon began peeling off layers. ‘Everyone in Hades is naked and miserable,’ he said. ‘Now I am
clothed and serene.’
‘Just like the Buddha. Good for you.’ Zeke pointed toward the hall. ‘Time to go, okay? If somebody asks, who are you?’
‘I am Simon of Lace–’
‘Vegas. Let’s go.’ And Zeke pushed open the seventh-grade boy’s bathroom door.
Simon stepped out, then froze. The halls were crowded and smothering, a little too much like the newly dead milling around on the banks of the River Acheron, waiting for Charon and they-didn’t-know-what.
But they were far from
dead: laughing, jostling, pointing, fretting, flirting, trudging, bustling.
‘Clamor,’ whispered Simon with a grimace. Then, ‘Spartans,’ he muttered with hate.”
Those middle schoolers are, in fact, Spartans. (It’s their mascot.) But having just arrived here–naked, in the boy’s seventh-grade bathroom–from the underworld, having pulled off an impossible escape from Hades after thousands of years of sustained, unimaginable torture, Simon misses such fine
distinctions.
Fortunately, when Simon shows up in that bathroom, the much-bullied seventh grader Zeke is there to help this odd, even-less-fortunate-than-himself individual. With neither paperwork nor clothes, Simon scores a place to live with Zeke and his grandmother, and begins to shadow Zeke through his classes. With his firsthand knowledge of the underworld, Simon soon secures a favored position with Zeke’s Classic Studies teacher, Mr. Savalas.
STYX AND
STONES is absolutely hysterical and very satisfying. It’s the perfect read for middle schoolers who are studying, or have studied, Greek mythology. It’s the product of two guy authors I’ve read, loved, and written about for a generation now.
Beneath the tale’s layers of the real world and the underworld, there are two underlying, universal stories here: a boy-and-his-(three-headed) dog story, and a two-best-guy-friends story.
And then there’s
Persephone:
“Hades leaned forward. ‘Come sit beside me.’
Persephone settled back into her throne and peered up at him. ‘Sometimes I would like to sit beside you, Hades. Right beside you. Sometimes I would like the shades to see not him and her, but us.’
Hades scowled and combed his beard with all ten fingers. ‘But I’m the king. You are the queen.’
‘Two together are stronger than two apart, my darling.’
‘So I should have your throne moved right next to
mine?’
She nodded.
‘Anything else?’
‘If I were next to you, and on the same level–’
‘The same level?’
‘A dream of mine, yes.’
‘And you would sit there sometimes, not out on the portico?’
‘All the time. So I could look into your eyes. And listen. Even advise if you see fit.’
‘I will think on this.’
Her hand–pale and young and flawless–covered his. ‘Of course. You have been more than patient. But may I suggest one more thing?’
He nodded
warily.
‘You’ve heard of badminton?’ she asked.
He shook his head, and his crown slipped a little bit. ‘But I like the “bad” part already.’”
STYX AND STONES is a serious LMAO hoot. Do. Not. Miss. It.
