By Richard Ivanhoe, HANC Board Member
We are distributing the April issue of the Haight-Ashbury Voice more widely than usual, and anticipate reaching some who are unfamiliar with HANC. Therefore, we are providing this description.
HANC, the Haight-Ashbury Neighborhood Council, is a neighborhood group whose mission is to aid and encourage the people of the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood to work through democratic means and in a spirit of neighborliness, mutual respect and goodwill toward the improvement and enrichment of life and living conditions in their neighborhood. Formally, we are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation, overseen by a Board of Directors.
HANC’s first meeting took place in October, 1959, and our bylaws were adopted in March, 1960. Our boundaries, per our bylaws, are roughly Arguello to Divisadero, and Fulton to 17th Street. We are a membership organization. Membership is open to anyone who resides or owns property or a business within our boundaries, and to individuals who work, live, or provide a service in the Haight-Ashbury. You can clike the "Join Us" link at the top right of this website to join.
When we are not sheltered in place, we hold monthly meetings on the second Thursday of each month (except August), beginning at 7 pm at the Park Branch Library. We also print this newsletter, the Haight-Ashbury Voice, every month. If you would like to receive our newsletter by email, please let us know at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. This issue of our newsletter and back issues are also available for download at our website, www.hanc-sf.org (click on “The Voice & Docs” along the top menu).
HANC has always been a strong advocate for the Haight-Ashbury Neighborhood. In our early days, we led the fight against the freeway that was planned to run through and destroy the Panhandle and surrounding streets. Some of our other accomplishments include being a key participant in the Golden Gate Park Master Plan, helping to convert the former Polytechnic High School to Parkview Commons, helping convert the former Southern Pacific / Harkness Hospital to senior housing, helping to downsize Kezar stadium and rebuild it as a community and youth facility, and helping to create the Haight Ashbury Neighborhood Commercial District. More recently we advocated for repaving the Panhandle pedestrian path (which was repaved in 2017), helped prevent the re-route of the #6 bus line in 2013-2014, and helped to form and participated in the coalition that is planning for interim and long-term uses for the former McDonald’s site at 730 Stanyan.
We encourage you to explore our website at www.hanc-sf.org, and to send any questions to us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., or by mail to HANC, P.O. Box 170581, San Francisco, CA 94117.