The Ocean Avenue Association installed string lights on five blocks of Ingleside's stretch of Ocean Avenue in late September. | Anne Marie Kristoff/Ingleside Light
A few blocks of Ingleside’s stretch of Ocean Avenue just got brighter.
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The Ocean Avenue Association installed string lights attached to streetlights from Plymouth Avenue to Jules Avenue on Sept. 28 using funds from two citywide philanthropic projects.
The association is a community benefit district, a nonprofit charged by City Hall to clean and beautify Ocean Avenue using funds from property owners. The organization hired San Francisco Holiday Lighting, a family-owned lighting company, for the installation. Power is drawn from nearby small businesses.
“We hope the additional lighting makes merchants, community members and visitors of Ocean Avenue feel safer at night,” said Gabe Cory, the association’s deputy director. “We also hope it increases foot traffic and makes Ocean an even more enjoyable, festive place to visit, shop and spend time.”
Funding from this project came from Avenue Greenlight, a San Francisco-based initiative promoting post-pandemic economic recovery and revitalization and the Civic Joy Fund, a project of the Civic Space Foundation to revive the city’s commercial corridors.
In March, OAA shared a plan to hang lights from Fairfield Avenue to the City College Terminal by the end of April.
Some merchants said the lack of string lights near their businesses was a missed opportunity. After seeing the lights for himself, Ocean Cyclery owner Jeff Taliaferro said he may put up some of his own.
“You don’t get the full effect unless it’s on the whole street,” Taliaferro said. “I’m not going to take it personally but [the lights] may come down this way. I’ll find out. I’ll talk to OAA.”
Cory said there is no plan to extend the lights to the remainder of Ocean Avenue as originally planned but the organization would be happy to fundraise and get it done should the community and merchants want.
“I’m excited,” said Jeannie Psomas, owner of The Plant Lady SF. “I think that it’s awesome.”
Anne Marie Kristoff (she/her) is a recent graduate from San Francisco State University's journalism program. She enjoys writing about the arts, entertainment and nature.
