So yesterday I ran across those lovely fence hearts from Outdoor Knit. Writing about that reminded me that my friend Rob posted some pics to Flickr of the Alamo Square Shoe Garden in San Francisco that had me totally intrigued!

Alamo Square Shoe Garden. CC photo by Flickr user torroid

It’s apparently just in a little corner of Alamo Square Park, and city gardener David Clifton put it together. During rounds of trash pickup, he kept finding discarded shoes. Rather than send these to the dumpster, he started using them in the garden’s beds.

Alamo Square Shoe Garden. CC photo by Flickr user nullboy

After a while, folks began leaving shoes for him just for the shoe garden! I think the whole thing is sort of magical. If you want to check out the whole story of the Shoe Garden, check out this great piece from SFGate!

You can also check Rob’s pictures of the garden on his Flickr photostream, starting here.

Image Credits: (in order of appearance)
Creative Commons photo by torroid
Creative Commons photo by nullboy

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5 Responses to More Unconventional Beautification: Alamo Square Shoe Garden

  1. rob says:

    very nice becky! i should have added more info about this on my photo page. it’s a really simple idea anyone could add to their own backyard if you want to liven with something unusual.

  2. Becky says:

    Thanks, Rob! The garden has such an awesome story…I love that folks started leaving shoes and whatnot. I’m so glad you posted pictures of it!

  3. jon says:

    The shoegarden (almost certainly) inspired a central object in Wall-E, too. Oh and it’s about 50′ away from the best swingset in SF.

  4. Becky says:

    Beckham, can we please visit the swingset and the garden when I pull it together to get out there and visit you guys?

  5. garden says:

    Now that is my kind of garden!!