SF’s Secret Garden Oasis, Kapwa Gardens, Closing After 5 Years
After five years of serving as a vibrant outdoor gathering space in the heart of SoMa, San Francisco’s Kapwa Gardens is officially shutting down at the end of the month.
Tucked into a transformed parking lot at 967 Mission Street, the Filipino-led garden opened in 2021 as a response to the isolation of the pandemic. The space grew into a lush urban hideaway, filled with swaying bamboo, trees, living walls, and plants native to the San Bruno Mountains. It also featured a bright technicolor courtyard designed for yoga classes, live performances, food pop-ups, and socially distanced hangouts.
Over the years, the garden hosted more than 200 public events, many of them free and open to the community. It became a rare refuge downtown — a welcoming, outdoor gathering place in a neighborhood where green space is scarce.
The closure comes as the site makes way for a senior housing development, a project that’s been in the pipeline since the beginning. While the new housing brings needed services to the neighborhood, the loss of Kapwa Gardens is still a disappointment to the SOMA Pilipinas Cultural Heritage District and the many locals who relied on the space for connection and creativity.
A free farewell event, “Yum Yams,” will take place July 26, celebrating ube with music, food, and local vendors. After that, the space will permanently close. Plans for a new version — Kapwa Gardens 2.0 — are already in progress, with a potential site at 4th and Folsom. But for now, San Francisco is saying goodbye to one of its more unique community spaces.
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H/t: SF Chronicle
