It started with trash. San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie tributed wife Becca Prowda with the idea to kick off his Inauguration week festivities with service. Street cleanups took place in eleven neighborhoods. I joined the Fillmore effort with organizations RefuseRefuse and Civic Joy Fund, walking down Webster Street in a neon vest grabbing trash (cigarette nubs! We still smoke?), making way for new leadership.
Inauguration festivities were many and mighty as befits the new leader of the world’s greatest city. I was calling it, “Inaugurash,” but my friend Tyler Gregory did me one better: “The Inaug.”
Monday, January 6th, kicked off with Team Lurie Appreciation Night at famed Bimbo’s on Columbus Avenue. I was part of his Inaugural Committee, and I said I’m new to the group, and strategist Mather Martin wisely said, “That’s the thing. We’re all new.” That was a kernel of the excitement, the heightened vibe: Outsiders embarking on a fantastic journey into city politics. Even Mayor Lurie said, “I’m new to government…but my wife isn’t.” Indeed Prowda has served as California’s Director of Protocol. Bimbo’s was so Bimbo’s – the surprise musical act? Third Eye Blind frontman Stephan Jenkins! Of course Sharon and David Seto and I tore up the dance floor singing along. How’s it gonna be? Under Lurie? Awesome!
Tuesday night I attended the beautiful Interfaith Service at Temple Emanu-El where all San Francisco’s clergy were there to put in a good word with the administration Upstairs, to set the tone with a sense of reverence and responsibility. A rabbi, a priest and an imam walked into the sanctuary, and it was glorious. We all cried joyful tears when Lurie’s own father, Brian Lurie, a former rabbi at Emanu-El, blessed his son. Then the Dean of Grace Cathedral bade all clergy put hands on Mayor-Elect Lurie and bless him together. We cried again.
Wednesday, glorious Wednesday, January 8th, was the official Inauguration, the Swearing In itself, outside City Hall in Civic Center Plaza. It was a gorgeous day. We were all stunned by the warm sunlight dappling through the trees. I wore a sun hat. Ain’t I smart? In attendance was everyone, including outgoing Mayor London Breed right up front. She was honored throughout the ceremony as befits this extraordinary leader who steered our city through some of its most challenging and also most promising years.
It was my first Inaug! Can you believe it? Inspirational speakers included Warriors Coach Steve Kerr and Grammy-Award winning musician Michael Franti. Then all of us were invited inside City Hall for a lox and bagel reception. Kvelling! The best part were the commemorative glass coffee mugs we got to keep with the city seal and Inaug date in gold. Treasure! A quick run upstairs for some of us to join the newly minted Mayor in his chambers, then it was off to pass out for a couple hours before all the Inaug parties.
What was the last Inauguration celebration you attended? Few could remember. Mayor Breed was elected during Covid, and before that it was second termers. A big celebration for a brand new mayor hasn’t happened in at least a decade – another kernel of the electricity in the air. San Francisco was ready to party!
I dashed over to Telegraph Hill for an SF Ballet pre-Gala Benefactors Party before rushing to Chinatown, the center of the Inaug party universe. I was wearing a shimmery berry blouse by Zac Posen’s BR. Chinatown dazzled. Absolutely no one made more appearances than lion dance company LionDanceME. They performed at City Hall, through the streets of Chinatown, and at all the District Supervisor Community Inaugurations, sacred scrolls dropping out of their mouths, our jaws dropping watching their acrobatic antics. BeChinatown hosted a free Night Market on a couple blocks of Grant Street with an auspicious 100,000 firework display and a huge DJ party with DJ Ruckus and EDM star Zhu. My favorite performers, The Grant Avenue Follies, were there, too. Exuberant!
There was an invitation-only reception at Jessica Silverman Art Gallery where I saw Olympian Kristi Yamaguchi, famed Chef Martin Yan, DA Brooke Jenkins, all the Supervisors, DCCC’s Lily Ho, nightlife impresarios Doug Dalton and Adam Swig, the founders of neighbor hood org Discover Polk, Kathleen and Ted Janus, Alison Pincus, Sausalito Mayor Melissa Blaustein with Dave Saxe, SFMTA President Lydia So, SF City Attorney David Chiu, Manny’s owner Manny Yekutiel, designer Jad Racha, CA Representative Matt Haney, Xochi and Michael Birch, legendary reporter Carolyn Tyler, documentarian Antonio Contreras, former SF Pride President Nguyen Phan, Giants‘ CEO Larry Baer, the broader family Lurie, and of course Da Mayor Willie Brown.
Finally, banquets. I snaked down crowded Grant Street, festooned with not only festive red lanterns but also bright yellow banners lauding Mayor Daniel Lurie. There was a staggering 800-person banquet at Far East Cafe, and there was the Consular Corps Banquet at Empress by Boon. I was invited to the latter, an astonishingly lavish affair on their private floor. The wide red carpet had just been laid and held a vast horseshoe-shaped table array plus a head table. Around the room proudly stood many flags of nations. The tables and the room’s pillars were generously bedecked with red roses. AND, get this, every seat had a wooden box with every person’s nation’s flag painted on it. I was amazed to find my place card at the head of one table with my red, white and blue box. To my left were Brian Lurie and his wife Caroline Fromm Lurie, and to my right, Consular Corps from Luxembourg (a major tech hub!), Vietnam, Greece, the Honorary Consul of San Marino, and Mark Chandler, Director of the Mayor’s Office of International Trade and Commerce. Fabulous!
Our generous hosts were the Mayor and his new Chief of Protocol, Penny Coulter. I am on the SF Office of Protocol Host Committee and worked with outgoing Protocol leader Maryam Muduroglu, who was the first new appointment since the indomitable Charlotte Shultz. Congratulations to a successful tenure, Maryam!
Rounding out Inaug Season, I attended two Community Inauguration events for two brand new Supervisors, District 2’s Stephen Sherril and District 3’s Danny Sauter. And congratulations to the new President of the SF Board of Supervisors, Rafael Mandelman!
Exciting, thrilling, promising, hopeful. The VIBE is positivity, it’s shiny and new, come aboard, we’re expecting you! Yes, San Francisco was so look out we’re back, baby!, under Mayor Breed, and it is launching into the stratosphere atop that foundation under Mayor Lurie.
Adam Swig said it best: “Put San Francisco on your 2025 itinerary.” See you soon.
XOXO Citizen Stephanie @howdyblock PS all photos taken by me