A long, dark staircase between two buildings, overhung with trees, will soon be covered in oversized, bright poppies, butterflies, and a winding salamander spanning two flights of steps. Graffiti and litter have been cleaned away weekly by volunteers, and passersby no longer leave behind unwanted marks, lingering instead and enjoying the area. Inner Sunset plans to transform the staircase, tile by handmade tile, into a 148-step statement about the community.
This “Hidden Garden” project held its first mosaic tiling workshop on Saturday, where residents of the Inner Sunset District helped piece together the design that will eventually brighten up the stairs.
The project is based on the “16th Avenue Tiled Steps,” a 163-step staircase on Moraga Street, which was started in 2003 and finished in 2006 with the help of 300 neighbors and various groups. The Moraga Street steps were inspired by the Santa Teresa Steps in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
“I love the original steps,” project co-director Paul Signorelli, who lives just doors away from the current project, said of the Moraga Street staircase.
“I fell in love with the idea of trying to do something like they’ve done on the Moraga steps, and I ran into the artists. In a crazy moment, I looked at them and said, ‘Well, have you thought about doing another one?’ and they said, ‘Oh, we’d do it in a heartbeat.'”
