"The idea is not to rock the plaza." That's Gil Guillermo, who books the music at Noe Valley Town Square, explaining what changed this year. For years the Sunday concerts went by the name Acoustic Sunday. Guillermo told the Noe Valley Voice the name came from working under San Francisco Recreation and Parks, which "did not give us a sound permit." In January, the department granted the Square a permit for amplified sound equipment.
That makes this October the first fall the plaza at 3862 24th Street, between Vicksburg and Sanchez, has run with a sound system. The change sounds minor. In practice it widens what the Square can book, it changes who gets booked, and it makes the plaza work as a front porch for the businesses around it.
The booking job started on a porch at Sanchez and Duncan
Guillermo had recently moved into a house at the corner of Sanchez and Duncan when the pandemic hit. "It was about a month into the pandemic, and I started going out onto the front steps of the house with a guitar and a little speaker and a set list that I hung up at the gate," he told the Voice. Passersby picked songs off the list. Within a few weeks he was calling the sessions Tiny Porch Concerts, a nod to NPR's Tiny Desk.
The location helped. His block sat on a Slow Street, closed to through traffic. For nearly six months, crowds of 30 to almost 100 people spread across the sidewalk and street with picnic baskets, blankets and sometimes folding tables.
Rich Hildreth was watching. He was the longtime booker for Saturday mornings at the Noe Valley Farmers Market and for other Town Square events, and when he decided to step back, he asked Guillermo to take over. Guillermo is a retired public school teacher, and he called the role "a kind of perfect marriage of my passion, which is music, and enhancing and building community."
He doesn't run it alone. Leslie Crawford is the Square's overall event organizer, and Guillermo calls her his "work spouse." The two sit down every year to set the calendar. Sylvia Vientulis handles promotion. Debra Niemann handles funding, which includes public and private grants routed through the Noe Valley Association, the park's fiscal agent. The Square also credits the SF Office of Economic and Workforce Development for supporting its events.
The permit came out of this team too. Guillermo says he "kind of pushed Leslie to approach the parks department eventually, a few years into my job," and calls the result "a huge game changer."
What "gentle amplification" actually changes
Guillermo says the sound system is mostly about musicians performing better, not louder. Singers no longer spend two hours straining to project. Bands can balance their instruments, adding "a little more guitar, a little less this." He says the system "fills the plaza with nice, ambient music," and the team is trying to stay on good terms with "the immediate neighbors across the street."
The bigger change is who can play. Guillermo says the permit lets him "cast a wider net," and he's trying "to diversify in every sense of the word," bringing in more people of color, younger performers and women. The Voice reported he has already booked Afro-Indigenous music from Puerto Rico, Afro-Peruvian music, Cuban music and music from Brazil.
You could already hear it in the spring calendar:
- Saturday, April 11: "April in Paris" with the Au Contraires
- Sunday, April 12: the Cabernet Quartet on classical, then guitarist Luke Schwartz on jazz, rock and funk
- Sunday, April 26: a "Community Music Hangout" where neighbors brought their own instruments
- Saturday, May 2: "A Night in Mexico" with the all-female group Mariachi Femenil Orgullo Méxicano
- Sunday, May 10: the Trikonaut jazz trio
The format stays informal. Sunday Music in the Square runs roughly every two weeks. Every event is free and family-friendly, pets are welcome, and the musicians get paid. Booking happens mostly "by word of mouth," Guillermo says. Musicians can reach out through the Square's website or find him near the microphone.
October at the Square, in order
The fall schedule shows how the program has grown since spring. Here's what the Square and the merchants' association have posted for this month, starting today:
- Sunday, October 4, noon to 1 p.m. A Good Neighbor Week coffee-and-donut-holes get-together, right after the free Sunday morning yoga class with Yoga Flow SF.
- Sunday, October 4, 1 to 3 p.m. Sunday Music in the Square with Projeto Novo, one of Guillermo's own bands. The set covers songs in Portuguese, Spanish, Japanese, Tagalog and English. Erika Onuma sings, Guillermo plays guitar and Cuban tres, Nathan Ladyzhensky plays fiddle, keyboard and melódica, and Luke Schwartz joins on bass.
- Tuesday, October 6, 6 to 7:30 p.m. The 1st Marine Division Band returns for its annual Fleet Week performance. San Francisco Fire Credit Union is marking its 75th anniversary with treats, games, a vintage fire truck and a raffle of prizes from local merchants.
- Sunday, October 18, 10 a.m. to noon. S.T.E.A.M. in the Square, hands-on projects plus music and movement for kids ages 2 to 6, hosted by SF Tikes Academy and SF S.T.E.A.M. Academy.
- Friday, October 23, 5 to 6 p.m. Fridays at 5 with Noe Music presents Le Jazz Hot. The Hot Club of San Francisco plays Manouche jazz, the café-and-courtyard style of 1930s Paris.
- Tuesday, October 27, 4:30 to 8:30 p.m. The Noe Valley Merchants and Professionals Association Night Market, held in the Square and on the adjacent street. It usually falls on the last Tuesday of the month.
The Noe Valley Farmers Market runs every Saturday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., with live music. The Voice reported in June that the market was full at 21 vendors. Hildreth booked those Saturday morning sets before Guillermo took them over, so the farmers market is where this whole music program started.
All Town Square events depend on the weather and on final permitting from Rec and Parks. The Square posts rain dates and changes on its website.
The plaza sends its audience down 24th Street
Guillermo has said outright that the music is meant to do more than fill an afternoon. "Part of the vision is to help promote the local businesses as well," he told the Voice. The fall listings follow through. The Fleet Week listing tells people to "bring take-out from a local restaurant & make an evening of it." The Le Jazz Hot listing suggests a drink from the Vibe Truck and a slice from Haystack Pizza.
Several of the places you might pick up dinner from have changed this year.
Bonita Taqueria y Rotisserie opened at 4063 24th Street on Wednesday, July 8, in the space Tacolicious used to occupy. Co-owner JJ Sweidan runs it with his sister, Jenna Salah. Brunch runs daily until 3 p.m., so it works for a Sunday concert. Its website takes online orders for the Noe Valley location.
Fresca at 3945 24th Street was set to return on Monday, August 24. Brothers Ivan and Jose Calvo-Perez have taken over day-to-day operations from their father. It's taking reservations through OpenTable.
Grand Lake Kitchen opened at 1199 Church Street in March, run by May and Dave Wasem. Since April 6 it has been open 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily, which covers both the Friday 5 p.m. jazz and the Tuesday evening Night Market.
One long-running option has gone. Alice's Restaurant at 1599 Sanchez Street was set to close on August 31 after 30 years, as owners James and Sharon Sung retired.
The street itself has been prepared for this kind of foot traffic for a long time. In September, the Noe Valley Association marked 20 years of public-space work on 24th Street: flowers, benches, parklets and banners. The same association is the Town Square's fiscal sponsor, so the group that maintains the benches also handles the money behind the concerts.
What hasn't been posted yet
The holiday season at the Square isn't on the calendar yet, so plan November and December loosely.
- Holiday Market: The merchants' association lists it as "Date TBD."
- Tree lighting: One outside events page lists a Town Square holiday tree lighting for December 1 from 5 to 7 p.m., but marks it "Event TBC." The Square's own site hasn't posted it.
- Noe Music in December: The Elizabeth Joy Roe well-being concert on Wednesday, December 16 is at Noe Valley Ministry, not the Square.
- Permit terms: The details of the Rec and Parks permit, including its hours and any volume limit, haven't been published. Guillermo has described it only as permission to "gently amplify."
The Square's email list on its events page is the most direct way to hear when these dates are set.
If you live within earshot of the Square and want to know how its new calendar affects what your home might sell or rent for, I'd love to talk it through. I can tell you what buyers and renters are asking about on 24th Street these days. Reach out to Stephanie LeBeau and Name Your Price.
