About

Friends of Penny Lane formed in 2008 to make improvements to the public alley known as Penny Lane. FOPL is a Community Partner of and fiscally sponsored by The San Francisco Parks Alliance. It is one of four lanes in the Glen Park neighborhood. The project goals are to Green the Lane with native plants when possible, retain surface water with terracing or other means, and improve pedestrian access while fully accommodating the handful of cars and service vehicles that currently use the Lane for access.

The project consists of a mid-block lane that ends at two branching pedestrian paths, one up to Sussex Street, and the other down to Surrey Street. The major effort since inception has been the construction and planting of the latter, called Surrey Steps, which is nearing completion. Meanwhile, many neighbors have independently improved the planting strip that runs along their fence and borders the path for vehicles and pedestrians. Sometimes this is done entirely by neighbors, and sometimes with the assistance of FOPL; providing native plants, preparing the ground and planting. Possible future projects include improving the footpath up to Sussex St.; improving the traffic surface at the Lane entry at Diamond Street and adding soil verges where concrete verges currently exist.

The Lane is a much-appreciated green open space in the neighborhood. It was featured in Gary Kamiya’s Cool Gray City of Love, and on various published hiking routes including San Francisco Stairway Walks, and is the subject of neighborhood tours.