Volume XXXIX, No. 8
October 2015
THE NOE VALLEY VOICE Drones Drive Home-Marketing Innovation
Neighbors Tame Their ‘Jungle’ Steps The Guerrilla Gardeners of 22nd Street
But Some Fear the Fly-By
By Matthew S. Bajko
By Matthew S. Bajko
A
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he roughly three minutes’ worth of footage begins over the bay and the Palace of Fine Arts before swooping into upper Noe Valley’s leafy confines and into the living room of 147 Day St. Viewers, after exploring the home’s interiors, are once again taken outdoors for an aerial view of the surrounding blocks. Douglas Thron, a Los Gatos resident who owns Real Estate Cinematography, filmed the video using his DJI Inspire and Phantom 3 drones. While this was his first time filming drone footage of a house for sale in Noe Valley, Thron has used the flying cameras to capture video for more than 200 homes on the market in the Bay Area this year. “The footage you can get from them is just amazing,” said Thron, 45, a former seaplane pilot. “It looks like a Hollywood movie when filming these houses. What you can capture is amazing and beautiful.” Realtor Kevin Ryan Pickett, with Keller Williams Realty in Burlingame, hired Thron to capture the indoor tour of the Day Street property. Pickett started working with Thron this summer after seeing how drones can provide a unique way to market a house for sale. “I feel like in San Francisco, in particular, there are a lot of people who don't know the neighborhood they may be buying into,” said Pickett, who pays for the drone videography himself. “They didn't grow up there. A lot of people moving to San Francisco are transplants, so I think it shows the neighborhood in a really cool way.”
Ghoulish Guerrero: The window is open but guarded by a duo that may not be as friendly as their grins indicate. But don’t be afraid.You can keep on walking and be reminded that candy-filled Noe Valley is only steps away. Photo by Jack Tipple
s with most do-it-yourself gardening projects, the 22nd Street Jungle Stairs re-landscaping efforts began with a small patch of open space at the top of the steps where Collingwood Street turns into 22nd Street. In 2011, roughly six months after moving into his home, accessed through a gate that fronts the west side of the stairs, Ken Fisher decided to transform the plot facing his front door into a garden featuring drought-tolerant plants. “It was totally neglected. It was just dirt CONTINUED ON PAGE 13
Costume Changes: A Halloween Tradition Still Wondering What We’re Wearing Where By Olivia Boler
L
The Day Street property is not the first Noe Valley home to be shown off by drone footage. Last year, a property on the 600
ast year, Halloween was all about “letting it go” as Frozen’s Elsa or battling the forces of evil as a Ninja Turtle. This year, will it be embracing Joy from Inside Out or perhaps strapping on some overalls like a goggle-eyed Minion? And what about making the costumes, versus buying online or heading to the Spirit Halloween pop-up store? With the results of my kids’ informal survey just in, it looks like the neighborhood is evenly matched between do-ityourself and store-bought costumes. There’s a slight edge for homemade, among my 10-year-old daughter Lulu’s friends. Several of the girls are taking sewing classes at Walkershaw Clothing
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Popularity Grows
Brick Layer: Noe Valley Association Executive Director Debra Niemann stands for keeping the streets of our fair neighborhood clean and tidy. Photo by Beverly Tharp
Bricks and Bulb-Outs: NVA Turns 10 Group Celebrates a Decade of Spiffing Up 24th Street By Corrie M. Anders
N Bird’s-Eye-View Tools. Videographer Douglas Thron holds two of his favorite drone options for putting your eyes in the sky. Photo by Art Bodner
ot all property owners along 24th Street were on board at first—in fact, it took some serious arm-twisting to persuade the skeptics to pay higher taxes to finance a new organization with a clunky bureaucratic name. A decade later, the Noe Valley Community Benefit District (CBD) has helped transform “Downtown Noe Valley” from a tired and frumpy shopping strip to an at-
tractive commercial corridor that draws locals and tourists alike. The Noe Valley Association, the public face that operates the CBD, celebrated the organization’s 10th anniversary at a September gathering hosted by Le Zinc restaurant. Debra Niemann, the association’s executive director, exulted in the fact that the group had carried out its primary CONTINUED ON PAGE 11
How About Some Cat Ears? Lulu BolerMarshall spends some quality time with her reporter mom as they investigate the wares offered by Church Street’s One Stop Party Shop. Photo by Olivia Boler