Kapwa Gardens

Beautiful community space celebrating the Filipino culture! There are always fun events going on. It’s a rejuvenating oasis in the middle of SoMa.

I attended the United States of Asian American Festival there today. Such a community-minded space that I enjoyed!

It was a great outdoor spot to enjoy, especially after shelter in place. Clean, chill space that was kind enough to let a punk nonprofit event happen. Much appreciated in every way. 🙏

Don’t go - garden is closing now. Went for the yam festival - was an absolute disaster- poorly organised - left in under 10 mins

I went here with myself and two of my kids. It took no longer than an hour. The staff was nice. I appreciate what they do. Highly recommend going there for shots or to get a covid test. .

Warm, festive, community-vibes... this psychedelic garden demonstrates resilience, hope, and grit through culture-sharing, street-food+conversations, immersive art and music displays, and real stories of past, present and future, not just for the Filipinos, but for everyone in the city that shares common life stories. This place is just one of the amazing series of Filipino tourist spots in SF! A must-visit place while in San Francisco! You have got to try balut, lumpiang shanghai and Sisig Empanada!!!

Beautiful Scenery,lots of colors and photo opportunities. flowers, art. Super groovy bus in the middle .its awesome and they post events on their site at kapwagardens.com and their instagram @kapwagardens check it out a bunch of time its bound to be a good time

It's a great Filipino space. Everything is in a vibrant blue and purple, and there's a nice collection of plants and trees like Bamboo, succulents, and even potted calamansi tress. It's a couple blocks away from the Filipino bookstore, Arkipelago .

Two years since I been back for the Yam Yams Ube festival. They have expanded to the new 5m park in the back and the alley way, so now more room to explore the 25 vendors some food and some merchandise. Enough variety to keep everyone entertained one way or another. I try not to come too often because I always spend a lot on my favorite thing in the world called "UBE"! Why are all the Ube stuff outside of SF which is an hour away. It's so depressing when you think about it. My favorite food vendors I was able to explore were Purple Mix born from the 2020 pandemic and family run. The Baked Lab makes an excellent scone and I was impressed with the peanut butter one. Bunso Breads was the surprise highlight because I talked with the worker and she told me the owner will close this business and move back home in east coast Maryland! So I had to order the Ensaymada balls because Yelp ranked this place in 8th place! And boy did it not disappoint! Everything is freshly made. Why are all good Filipino bakeries and restaurants outside of San Francisco? Such a sad state we in. The one non-food stand I was drawn to was Fog Cats, because everything was so cute from notebooks, cards, stickers, jewelry, wooden postcards and etc. Very friendly owner and female designer of the cute cats. Kapwa Gardens is a nice small oasis to bring some Pilipino community into this south of market district. They have various event throughout the year and people should go out to support all the good works they do. :) Their events also celebrate Filipino singers as well. I shall return next time, since I am addicted to Filipino Ube!

Mija and I attended an Ube Festival on 5/13 put on by Yum Yams and KOHO SF. The event was titled: Ube meets matcha. The event was free, but I donated $10 in support of the organizer's efforts. They had food and other vendors selling their wares. I sampled a bunless sausage fr Jungle Dog, lumpia & dumplings fr Street Stix, a calamansi margarita and Magnolia ice cream (of course the flavor was ube). Mija bought some ube cookies and there were other ube pastries as well. All of the food & drink were very tasty. People were chill, and the space was very cute. There were places to sit and eat, and enjoy the vibe. I thought the organizers did an excellent job. I hope to attend an Ube Festival near home soon.

Great community space! Love the greenery and the design. Lots of places to dance, to chat, to sit, and to enjoy the day. Came here with my partner for Be Real Fest and had a great time. Looking forward to more events in the future :)

This space is great for a Saturday afternoon to enjoy a fun positive experience in SOMA. Cool space for events such as the Ube one I attended. Awesome vendors and cool vibes along with performances.

Today is the day that many of us have been waiting for. Kapwa Gardens, an open space featuring a garden and a gathering space for all to enjoy opens later today with the first of two community receptions. The second one is scheduled for tomorrow afternoon followed immediately by a friends and family reception. Opening weekend culminates on Sunday with a thank you gathering for some of the many volunteers who helped to transform this vacant spot which sat for many years into a space hopefully loved and used often by the community. Kapwa Gardens officially opens to the public on Wednesday, April 14, with a temporary schedule of 10 AM to 6 PM Wednesdays to Sundays. Because San Francisco is still in the orange tier based on the state's Blueprint for a Safer Economy the maximum capacity for the site has been set at 75. I first learned about the project, a collaboration between SOMA Pilipinas and Kultivate Labs, about a month ago. I was looking for community volunteer opportunities and somebody brought this project to my attention. I've now volunteered for the past three weekends and this afternoon I'll be on site to help out at the opening reception. Kapwa Gardens is made up of several sections. One of the first things you'll notice when you walk onto the gated site are the cutouts in the living walls in the shape of the Filipino sun (some refer to it as a star) and a Crescent Moon. Both of these are filled with beautiful succulents. You'll come up to a greeting stand which will be staffed at all times. For now anyway RSVP's (available through their website) are required to gain entry and face coverings are mandatory. At the greeting stand you must agree to have your temperature taken using a no contact thermometer, and you must agree to submit personal information as it relates to COVID-19 into the Kapwa Gardens contact tracing app. Finally you will be asked to sanitize your hands before entering. On either side of the greeting stand you'll find two more living walls featuring artwork to be unveiled soon created by local artists. Welcome to the garden section filled with an amazing variety of succulents and flowering plants. There is bamboo in big metal containers and there are lots of potted Filipino calamansi trees, a tribute to the vast Filipino community in this neighborhood. There is plenty of sitting area to sit back, relax and enjoy the garden. A transformed school bus that has received a lot of exterior love with amazing artwork painted throughout sits at the center of the site. For now anyway some additional work is required inside the bus, but sometime in the near future that bus, Jeepney as its referred to by the staff, will serve as the site's headquarter. For now it's a place to store supplies and a place for volunteers to drop their jackets and water bottles into. On the opposite side of the space is a huge gathering space and a performance stage built in. The gathering space is highlighted by it's eye-opening bright blue artificial turf built on top of a super springy (bouncy) surface. Long colorful benches surround the turf area. I imagine this will be where their outdoor yoga sessions will take place as well as other activities being planned out. I can't wait to see it finally in use as it has mostly sat empty each time I've volunteered here. Welcome to the neighborhood, Kapwa Gardens!!

Kapwa Gardens is a great new event space in SoMA and I'm so glad the Filipinx community is represented here. The staff does a great job partnering with organizations on their events - I've been to a music/dance showcase, a film screening, a lecture, and one-act play showcase there. I appreciate that the staff has safety protocols in place with COVID-19 such as temperature checks and contact tracing at the door.

I recently helped to host a private event in this space. It's definitely an incredible community built space and something great to have in this area. There are often community events held here, there is beautiful plants, and it's amazing the community came together to build this in a once abandoned lot. However, I would not recommend using as a private event space. Unfortunately, we dealt with delay in communication, last minute changes to the space, and mixed messages from staff. Some staff also were not very approachable during day-of set up. It's unfortunate because we were very excited to use the space and work with the venue. It could be they are still figuring out how to run the space - hopefully it will only get better!

This is an awesome event space. Lots of history in this neighborhood with the Filipino community and great to see the community make an effort to revitalize the area. Need an outdoor space? Check out Kapwa Gardens

We recently had our 14th anniversary fundraiser event for our organization in Kapwa Gardens last June 23rd. This is a very beautiful space for such an event. There are nice planters, repurposed bus (good for staff to store personal belongings), plenty of chairs, benches and tables, and very spacious! We chose this area because it's an open-space, affordable and community oriented. The admin staff has been accommodating and patient with our organization in answering questions re: logistics. During the event, the staff were supportive in our set-ups and in our closings. They were also helpful and accommodating to our musicians who were performing re: their preference in sound system. Also, portable toilets are clean! All the staff and security are friendly and I hope they had fun as well in our event. I highly suggest Kapwa Gardens for general and community events and even parties! It's great to have this space in SOMA.

This is a magical space, sprinkled with all kinds of vegan food, jewelry, and excellent music. It feels really safe, and it is incredibly well decorated. Such a wonderful place to spend a Saturday afternoon. I wish it the very best. The only thing I would have liked is a big tip jar somewhere, or somewhere to make an online donation. It's community places and events like this that make San Francisco a magical place to live in -- despite everything going down in SF.

This is a cool spot in SoMa being used for cultural events. I stopped by for some Filipino food and cocktails and although it was freezing (they definitely need some heaters one day) it was great still a great time. The space is modern, feels safe, and they take COVID precautions very seriously. I could certainly see this being the spot to be post-pandemic, but even in one it is still well executed. Here's hoping for more soon from Kapwa Gardens.

I attended the best food festival here! It was an Ube festival full of a bunch of sweet treats and delicious foods. The decor was gorgeous, with a big colorful bus, and everyone was extremely friendly. Beautiful garden and wonderful place to have an event!