It’s the neighborhood with the highest number of kids in the city. But it has no permanent ice cream shop.
An ice cream social on Thursday in San Francisco’s Tenderloin was a community-led effort to serve frozen treats — and to change the narrative of a neighborhood home to 3,500 children.
This one-time pop-up, held on a stretch of Golden Gate Avenue, was a key moment for organizers working to create safe public spaces for the neighborhood’s youngest residents.
“The vision is: how do we create the conditions necessary to make the Tenderloin truly into a place where the children can walk outside and enjoy the basic luxuries that everyone, every other child in the city, gets to enjoy,” said Supervisor Bilal Mahmood, who represents the neighborhood, and who helped hand out ice cream cones.
The event was the first in a series planned by Mahmood’s office and the Golden Gate Greenway Coalition, a group of local nonprofits led by St. Anthony’s. Every Thursday at 4 p.m. through Oct. 2, the coalition plans to host similar gatherings at 150 Golden Gate Ave., on the street outside St. Anthony’s. Thursday’s social also featured a pop-up soccer field and café seating.
Students from local schools enjoyed the treats free of charge, and Tenderloin residents and school staff received discounted rates, starting at $4.50 per cone.
“It’s wonderful to see all the kids out there enjoying something that they certainly deserve, which is ice cream in their own neighborhood, whether it’s pop-up or, someday hopefully, permanent,” said Sally Haims, a spokesperson for St. Anthony’s.
Haims said the coalition is focused on transforming the street into a cleaner, greener and more permanent community space. Their hope for the Greenway is to create a vibrant “campus” where neighbors can access critical services and community organizations can meet them where they are, according to Haims.
“I think it’s needed, especially for the kids and the community,” said Monique Collins, who attended the event with her 12-year-old son, Khryee Crowder. “A lot of kids and community people in general that don’t live down here are afraid to come down here. So these kinds of get-togethers are good for the kids.”
Crowder, an 8th-grader who had two ice cream cones, agreed, adding that he wants to see more ice cream in the neighborhood. “During the summer, and during the fall and winter, there should be warmer stuff, like hot cocoa.”
St. Anthony currently hosts a weekly pop-up food pantry on the Greenway in partnership with the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank and plans to open a food pantry. The coalition plans to host more positive community gatherings like this ice cream social — including the foundation’s 75th Anniversary Block Party on Oct. 4.
According to Haims, the hope is that by hosting more of these events, the community can begin to “crowd out” some of the challenges that have long plagued the area.
Long-term, the coalition said they aim to add a large, kid-themed mural, additional trees and enhanced street lighting to the Greenway by spring of 2026, though this timeline is dependent on securing funding.
The 50-block neighborhood, with a population that speaks over 112 languages, is incredibly diverse, Mahmood pointed out. He said the city needs to focus on the people who live there, especially the children of immigrants and refugees, to give them the same basic luxuries as other kids in the city. His office, he added, is working in partnership with the Golden Gate Greenway Coalition to bring attention to the urgent need for safe, accessible public spaces.
“I really appreciate them listening to my crazy idea to bring an ice cream store here,” he said.
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