August 2008

Nearby Residents Used to Occasional Sounds and Smells from Anchor Brewing Company

By Noah Arroyo

Some Potrero Hill residents have recently complained about midnight sounds of clanging bottles and screeches emanating from Anchor Brewing Company’s Mariposa Street facility. However, a casual survey found that most of the brewery’s neighbors are accustomed to its occasional noises.  According to Keta Selvin, who’s lived on Rhode Island Street for almost two decades, when the brewery recycles old bottles, sometimes twice a month, “It’s noisy, but we all know it won’t last too long.” She likens the sounds to other disruptions inherent in city life; such as when the nonprofit Friends of the Urban Forest “jack-hammered the sidewalk next door to install a new tree this weekend.” Anchor Brewing Company’s weekly disposal of used hops causes what Keta affectionately termed a “charming” smell.

Though Dave Tricamo, another Rhode Island Street resident, finds the brewery-induced noises notable – particularly the screeching caused “when mechanical devices on their roof have had a fan belt or ball bearing wear out and the result was metal on metal” – he hasn’t been alarmed by them. Tricamo recalled when an Anchor worker was dry-cutting concrete with a walk-behind saw at 6 a.m. in violation of City regulations, which only allow this type of work to be conducted between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m..  Before Tricamo, who works in construction, had the chance to tell the worker to stop what he was doing another Anchor employee had already told him to do the same. Tricamo was impressed by the quick response.

Tricamo echoed a number of other Hill residents’ support for what he described as one of the few remaining suppliers of “well-paying blue collar jobs.”  Potrero Hill used to be home to a large number of manufacturing facilities.  Hills Brothers Coffee, Inc’s roasting and packaging factory relocated from Harrison and Second streets to 1501 Mariposa Street in 1986, shortly after it was purchased by Nestle, as part of an agreement between the company and then Mayor Dianne Feinstein to retain blue-collar employment in San Francisco.  The company’s South-of-Market building was converted into offices, condominiums, and retail stores.  In 1997 Hills Brothers left their Potrero Hill facility and moved to Southern California.  Four years later Live Oak Elementary School refitted and moved into the Mariposa building.

Founded in 1849, Union Iron Works moved to Potrero Point in 1883.  The machine shop built ships for the Spanish-American War, and during World War II constructed 30 of the largest torpedo boats used in the world.  The shop closed its doors just four years ago.

Although not a manufacturing facility, the San Francisco Food Bank, located at Pennsylvania and 23rd streets, has been concerned that increased concentration of housing, and associated complaints from residents, would make it more difficult for them to maintain their operations. These concerns were heightened by the development of nearby live/work lofts a decade ago. But, according to Marguerite Nowak, the Food Bank’s Advocacy and Education Manager, “We haven’t had any problems.” The Food Bank’s trucks move in and out of the warehouse between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m.. “Even though it is a residential area, I don’t think we’re making too big an impact on the live/work lofts,” she said.

Nowak thinks that Hill residents generally support the few remaining factories, wholesalers, and warehouses in the community.  “We’ve worked with [residents] on a couple of things, like zoning laws for parking, and they’ve been incredibly supportive,” she said. When asked if she’d consider living next to a noisy factory, Nowak laughed. “Looking for an apartment, that was probably the least of my worries. You know, honestly it just depends on rent. And I’d probably be more concerned with living next to a freeway than a factory.”

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