Alioto Mini Park + Community Garden

July 31, 2026

I was not planning to visit a park, but while walking to pick up my key at Miro Studios, (hooray, my lease starts today!) I saw something incredible. 

I had just started reading San Francisco native Amy Tan’s The Backyard Bird Chronicles. It’s great. Maybe because of some cosmic alignment, or perhaps just sheer dumb luck, I paused my book while passing the Alioto Mini Park. I was early for my appointment, and enticed by the deliciously overgrown nature of the community garden, so I stepped in. As I rounded the corner past the overgrown gate, I felt an unmistakable sense of awareness. I didn’t know what it was, but I knew there was something worth paying attention to happening nearby. 

I looked at the other park visitors - a woman listening to a podcast on a nearby bench, a small group talking on the other side of the park, some people sitting together, nothing unusual. Then I looked up. (Was this because of Tan's book?) 

Less than ten feet away, perched on a wooden pergola with a fresh kill clutched in its talons, sat an enormous red tailed hawk. 

It literally took my breath away. I stared at the hawk. He stared back at me. I believe I uttered an involuntary ‘holy shit’. My heartbeat quickened. I stared at him unblinkingly, trying to absorb every moment of our shared time in the small park. I think I freaked him out. He snatched his prey and flew off through the garden, out of sight.