Living Wall Garden Bringing Tranquility To Historic Downtown San Bernardino
'This green area will be somewhere people can go and breathe fresh air,' Viva La Boba owner David Friedman says
By BRIAN WHITEHEAD | bwhitehead@scng.com
San Bernardino Sun
A garden is being planted in San Bernardino, but not where you might expect.
Here, there is no lush green space, no playground nearby for children to burn off energy. The spot gets, at most, four hours of sunlight a day and can easily be missed by even the most observant passersby.
And yet, San Bernardino-born-and-raised sisters Adrienne Thomas, Vanessa Dean, and Nedra Myricks could not have found a better place for their nonprofit’s latest community project.
Thanks to a grant from the Arbor Day Foundation in conjunction with BNSF, SistersWe and Viva La Boba owners David Friedman and Tansu Philip are planting a living wall garden on the side of a vacant brick building near the Breezeway in the heart of downtown San Bernardino.
David Friedman, Viva La Boba owner, right, looks back while mounting vertical wall planters to a 100-foot-long, 18-foot-tall brick wall with SisterWe sisters, from left, Nedra Myricks, Vanessa Dean, and Adrienne Thomas during The Historic Downtown San Bernardino Living Pocket Park Project in downtown San Bernardino on Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2020. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
“Bringing San Bernardino back to life (with this project) is what I’m looking forward to, making it a little more people-friendly,” said Thomas, SistersWe president. “I’m really excited to see the wall coming in and things happening around San Bernardino. It’s been too long without anything to do or places to go.“This wall will bring and attract people to San Bernardino.”Pitched in 2018 as an environmental beautification project, “The Historic Downtown San Bernardino Living Pocket Park Project” and a second SistersWe project in Muscoy received grant funding last year, in part, for their health and environmental benefits.
On Wednesday, Jan. 15, a handful of volunteers and about two dozen fifth-grade students from nearby Jones Elementary School helped Thomas, Dean, Myricks, and Friedman bolt vertical planters to a 100-foot-long, 18-foot-tall brick wall near Fourth and E streets.
In the coming weeks, a hydroponics system will be woven through the felt planters and succulents and other plants will take their place in the living wall garden, a stone’s throw from the Rosa Parks State Memorial Building.
And keeping with the art theme permeating the area, local artist Nathaniel Gelston plans to paint a mural in the alleyway.
Friedman, who owns several buildings downtown, sees such investment in the once-bustling entertainment corridor as the catalyst for the revitalization of San Bernardino.“My generation, we want to live in an urban culture, one that’s more sustainable,” he said. “We want to walk, bike. You see the youth rallying around downtown, and with the preservation of historical artifacts, historical buildings, comes a sense of art, and artists seem to want to congregate around this area.“
This green area,” Friedman added, “will be somewhere people can go and breathe fresh air. Somewhere they can take a break and go back to work or go back to their house. That’s important to have in any urban environment.”
In addition to their work this week, Thomas, Dean, and Myricks will add 15 more trees to green space at California and Nolan streets in Muscoy at 8 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 22.
The trio’s “Muscoy Pocket Park Project” includes plans to add 20 raised-bed family garden plots, a farmer’s market, movie nights and other family activities throughout the year.
Myricks, the oldest sister at age 71, joked Wednesday she and her siblings are busier now, in retirement, than they ever were as professionals.“These are things all of us need to really embrace,” Thomas said. “San Bernardino really needs something. It needs a spark of life, and with all the young people involved in this, I’m really looking forward to the future.”