Foliage Exchange + Wreath Making

Our 5th annual event: Sunday, December 16, 2012, 12-3, Free.

Share in the holiday spirit—and evergreen bounty from your garden—in our restored Conservatory.  It’s a great day of wreath and garland making with a hyper-local twist.  Through a foliage exchange, create a holiday treasure—and tradition—in which the uniqueness and generosity of neighborhood shines through. A big thank you to loyal Friend Sally Ross for organizing us once again.

A variety of greens provided, some with red berries, variegated … Read More

Winter Concert

Winter Choral + Harp Concert

A first-time addition to our Live @ the Conservatory Concert Series and what we hope to be a new holiday tradition.

Join us on Friday December 9th at 8:00 p.m. for a heartwarming Winter Choral Concert celebrating the season of peace, light, and community, performed by the Old First Church Choir under the direction of Dr. Jay A. Pierson.

The choir will feature professional Bay Area soloists and will be accompanied by Ron Valentino, pianist. Come … Read More

Grand Re-Opening

The Grand Re-Opening Day (December 5, 2009) was more wonderful that the Friends dared dream. Over 400 people showed up. We made that morning’s San Francisco Chronicle with a photo on the front page, the sun shone, bagpipes played, the mayor and dignitaries came, family and friends were there, the ribbon was cut, tours were given, the high-tea spread was bountiful, kids made souvenir buttons, and the community came together.

Here’s a three-minute video of Mayor Newsom saluting the Friends … Read More

Ribbon Cutting

The ribbon was cut by Mayor Gavin Newsom and Friends Co-Chairs Arnold Levine and Stacy Garfinkel. We were happy that State Senator Mark Leno, longtime friend of the project, could be on hand as well. See more photos of the Ribbon Cutting.… Read More

The Friends

The Friends of Sunnyside Conservatory began with a few neighborhood residents, each discovering the Conservatory and having that Alice-in-Wonderland feeling of entering another world.

In 1999, with a notice in the Sunnyside Neighborhood Association newsletter, Arnold Levine officially organized the group as the Friends.  He and Stacy Garfinkel have served as Friends’ Co-Chairs since the group’s founding. Our advocacy + stewardship success could never have happened without a dedicated steering committee: Chester Harstough, Andrea O’Leary, Sally Ross, pro-bono landscape … Read More

Before + After…We Did It!

The story of the restoration interweaves the Friends’ decade of advocacy, pilot programming, and inventive, can-do spirit with the Merralls’s original vision.

Friends had to build a coalition of many constituencies (including immediate neighbors, area residents, city employees, elected officials, the design team) and navigate the inevitable trying moments, delays, and bureaucracy that come along with a large public works project.

We had to educate ourselves about the design process–from the drafting of the conceptual design (drawn by Vera Gates), … Read More