I write to you now from one of the Inner Sunset's most charming, long-standing cultural institutions — The Beanery.

Local residents know to ask "Which one?" - there's two locations just two blocks apart from one another.

I'm at the location at the corner of Irving and 7th, although the other location is closer to the site of the coming gallery on 9th Avenue (and smells incredible, as that's where the local roaster preps and packages their coffee beans for resale and use by the baristas). The Beanery has been present in the neighborhood since 1989, and has become one of those neighborhood locations where people share stories, perform inner reflection, create and simply take a break — a cultural institution of the neighborhood. There's regulars, travelers and those that come almost every day from their homes nearby. The local bakery — Arizmendi — hasn't been around quite as long as the Beanery but is most certainly also one of the neighborhood's most cherished community spaces.

We hope to become the next long term, cultural institution in the neighborhood.

This year, we're building the Garage Gallery — a public, curated gallery space for photography and the visual arts. Minutes from Golden Gate Park in the center of the Inner Sunset, the small but mighty Gallery will be accessible from the east-side 9th Avenue sidewalk at any time, with photographic and visual art readily accessible to the general public. Displays will be rotated coinciding with the change of exhibitions, to follow story, intellectual and artistic themes developed by our curation team — we're hiring! We aim for the Gallery to be a platform for visual storytelling — stories observed and "listened to" by the many thousands in the neighborhood, and hope to become a long term presence. Our goal is that the Garage Gallery becomes a long-term, inspirational and creative space for residents and visitors of San Francisco.

We will be launching the Gallery later in 2026. In the coming months, you'll see some activity happening at the coming site of the Gallery and the presence of the first Gallery display case with its own art and story to tell.

We hope you will pause to view, reflect and "listen" to the stories being told at the gallery.

More soon.