Jerry Garcia Museum for SF’s Excelsior In Early Stages

Legendary Grateful Dead frontman Jerry Garcia may soon have a museum in San Francisco’s Excelsior District.

The Jerry Day Committee, volunteer organizers behind the annual Jerry Day celebration that honors Garcia in John McLaren Park, is in the early stages of planning a museum dedicated to the musician’s legacy in San Francisco and the world.

“We're excited and optimistic about this,” Jerry Day co-founder Tom Murphy said. “Also, next year marks 20 years of [Jerry Garcia Amphitheater] and the 60th anniversary of the Grateful Dead so we think the timing is good.”

Murphy wants broad community support for the project.

“We're slowly building a case and support for the museum,” Murphy said. “I feel that once the idea comes to fruition it would be a huge asset to the Excelsior corridor.”

The goal is to open the museum in the Excelsior although the cultural center of gravity is the Haight Ashbury.

“Jerry Garcia represents San Francisco’s definitive counterculture spirit that has inspired and drawn visitors to the Bay Area for decades,” San Francisco Travel’s Cassandra Costello said. “A dedicated museum would be a welcome addition to our city, and its location in the Excelsior would offer visitors the opportunity to explore a neighborhood that may not have been on their radar.”

Garcia, who died in 1995, has a legacy that reaches across San Francisco like at his band's famous house in Haight and Ashbury but the Excelsior was where his creative ambitions started to take shape. 

Garcia grew up on Harrington Street where he lived with his grandparents, Tillie and William Clifford, for five years after his father Jose Ramon Garcia died and his mother Ruth Marie Garcia took over the family bar on Mission Street.

Garcia attended Monroe Elementary School where his artistic talents blossomed. In “Harrington Street” he wrote that his grandmother introduced him to country and bluegrass music like the Grand Ole Opry. He also attended James Denman Middle School and spent 10th grade at Balboa High School and was continuously learning different instruments as he grew up like piano and accordion, for a brief moment before convincing his mother to exchange his 15th birthday present for an electric guitar.

Murphy and his co-organizers plan to include Garcia’s family in the museum’s development. 

To get the project going, they’ve been applying for grants to kickstart the museum and recently secured $2,500 from the Excelsior Collaborative.

They’ve also sought guidance and support from the Office of Economic and Workforce Development.

“OEWD is committed to the economic health and vitality of the Excelsior District,” OEWD said. “Our office funds a variety of events and activations through the Excelsior Community Benefit District (CBD), or Excelsior Action Group. These events include this weekend’s Jerry Night, SF Beer Week in the Excelsior, Excelsior Fight Night and Chow Fun SF, to name a few. Last year, our office supported around 20 events. Lastly, we provide technical assistance and grant support so that the community can access more resources to support their priority initiatives.”

The Jerry Day Committee members weren't the only ones thinking of a museum for a homegrown rock hero.

Patricia Barraza, head of the YMCA's Urban Services James Denman Beacon Center, thought of the idea after a trip to the Babe Ruth Museum in Baltimore, Maryland. She sees the museum as an opportunity to inspire neighborhood youth, especially those interested in music.

“I took it straight to the Jerry Day organizers who had already been thinking of ways to grow Jerry Day and a more sustainable year-round Jerry presence,” Barraza said. “I envision a space that could help us bring folks to visit our little neighborhood and support our local businesses.”

While the museum incubates, Garcia is commemorated in the Excelsior with two sidewalk plaques near his homes on Harrington and Mission streets.