REMEMBERING... & LOOKING FORWARD
by Madeline Behrens-Brigham

Later this year, the former John’s Hayes Valley Market on the corner of Hayes and Laguna will be demolished in order to build a senior care facility that has already been through the neighborhood and City approval process. Before that happens, we’d like to share the history of the building, the people and the community that are represented by the market. We hope that the Kharsa family, who were a part of our neighborhood for so long (Sally, Frank, Charlie, Nidal and Gadia), will attend several events so that we can reminisce with them and share wonderful stories of the years. Several other neighbors are being interviewed about the history in general of the area.

We hope to have community groups involved. Each of them would be given a section of the gallery space to present a history of their organization. It’s intended to let people know about our community and see some of the rich history of the area. We hope to have tables and chairs set up in the center so that people can come in and sit and talk during the two weekends and one week that it will be open.

The two events for now are:

Saturday, July 5^th at 9 a.m. Coffee/tea and dough-nuts, and a chance to spend time with your neighbors, ala the market days.

Friday, July 11^th from 5 p.m. to 8p.m. A reception for the community, merchants, and hopefully, the Kharsa family.

If anyone has other sources of historical references for Hayes Valley, please contact me, Madeline Behrens-Brigham at madelinebb@sbcglobal.net or 863-2514.