I am working on a proposal to upgrade the presence of Twain along the length
of and alongside Mark Twain Alley in San Francisco. Nothing about him is now
there but for the name on the street sign at one end, in SF's Financial
District. (A chunk of Merchant Street was stolen to create MT Alley). The
change is due to a major highrise (high-price) housing development next
door.

The alley was named for Twain after a campaign of publisher/author Lawrence
Ferlinghetti some 3-1/2 decades ago, when he (Ferlinghetti, not Twain)
occupied the literary chair on the city's Arts Commission, and proposed
there be "Authors Alleys" in SF's North Beach. A goodly number of once or
present authors are honored, with Jack Kerouac Alley at the other end of
Columbus Ave being the first to receive a facelift.

Ideas, anyone? Locals, Westerners, MidWesterners, even New Englanders are
welcome to make suggestions. There'll be a cafe and a fancy restaurant on
the alley, a waterfall at the end, with a small Redwood Park with real
redwoods between the waterfall and TransAmerica Tower.

A government agencies joint-hearing is coming up on February 11, and the
development seems destined to be approved. I'd like to promise to have
something to propose to the builder before the ATA Conference in SF in May,
if possible.

Send me your thoughts:
phone 415-239-5345
<[log in to unmask]> or <[log in to unmask]>