History is happening!  The historical footprints that led up to this groundbreaking exhibit show how strong, alive and blessed the Bayview Hunters Point neighborhood is at its heart.  And each day new footprints are being put down (including yours!)...footprints that will shape the years to come.

The history of the Bayview is one of struggle for immigrants, African Americans, working class folks and others who came here to make a life for themselves and their families.  It is also a history of those same adventurous and hardworking people succeeding.

As you look at the images in this exhibit, you can almost feel the ground vibrate with a Southern Pacific train steaming through the center of the neighborhood, hear the laughter of children running to catch a movie at the Bayview Theater, smell the live shrimp Chinese fishermen are dumping into open-air market beds on the waterfront, feel the vibrancy of African Americans doing business alongside immigrants from Malta, Italy, Ireland, and Germany....

* The Bayview Hunters Point neighborhood was, at the beginning, one of the most diverse in the world...

* It was the source of food for the entire City of San Francisco, literally feeding the City's growth...

* It was a place of refuge after the Great Quake and Fire of 1906...

* It was a destination point for African Americans looking for opportunity during World War II...

* It was a focal point for leadership as the nation's political, social, and cultural landscape changed shape in the middle of the 20th century...

* It was safe place, a family-friendly place, a place where contributing to the community was part of the daily life of residents...

The Bayview Hunters Point neighborhood is changing now as much as ever.  But with history as our guide, we will remain diverse, strong, peaceful and proud.  Together we will write the next chapter of our history and set a new standard for what a neighborhood can be.