Axios San Francisco

August 04, 2025
🐓 Rise and shine, it's Monday.
🌤️ Today's weather: Mostly sunny with a high of 68 and low of 56.
🎧 Sounds like: "Back to the Groove" by Justin Jay and Coldsweat.
Today's newsletter is 828 words — a 3- minute read.
1 big thing: ✊ A hub for healing
Every inch of San Francisco's first restorative justice center is designed for healing — from the cozy reading nooks and colorful communal spaces to the comfy lounge-style chairs and art displays telling stories of survival.
The big picture: Community Works' new 6,000-square-foot space in the SoMa is one of the nation's few hubs focused on providing support rooted in restorative justice to youth affected by the legal system, survivors of domestic violence and formerly incarcerated people.
What they're saying: "It's important to have good quality furniture and furnishings, so that when you come here, you can feel like you belong, that this is a space for you," Adrienne Hogg, co-executive director of Community Works, told Axios.
Between the lines: The space, which officially opened last week, offers reentry assistance for adults, therapy for teens, a youth diversion program and support for children of incarcerated parents, with the capacity to serve 1,500 to 2,000 people annually.
- More than 80% of participants are people of color and 75% of staff have lived experience with system involvement.
- The goal is to curb incarceration rates and the criminal justice system's toll on low-income communities of color through a process rooted in resolution and accountability rather than punishment.

The latest: The Bay Area-based organization partnered with the architecture firm Designing Justice + Designing Spaces to establish its first brick-and-mortar in the city, expanding upon programming offered at jails, prisons and their longtime Oakland headquarters.

Follow the money: Getting the center up and running cost $600,000 — down from $1.2 million — thanks to pro bono work from Turner Construction and donations from furniture vendors, Hogg said.

Zoom in: Jakaela Foster, a 26-year-old east Oakland native, started as a Project What! participant — which supports children of incarcerated parents — when she was 15 years old before later becoming a coordinator in the program.
- "'The most common way to give up your power is by believing that you don't have any,'" Foster said, quoting poet Alice Walker. "I feel like that's a great summary of what Project What! did for me — they taught me that I do have power."
2. 🫶 New "Heart SF" art
Downtown San Francisco has a new shutterbug zone.
State of play: The "Heart SF" sculpture, inspired by Tony Bennett's hit song "I Left My Heart in San Francisco," joins iconic placemaking signs like "Fabulous Downtown Las Vegas," "Indy" in Indianapolis and Austin's "ATX."
- Standing at 7 feet tall and 16 feet long at the end of the California Street cable car line, the artwork is the centerpiece of the newly dubbed Downtown Gateway at Robert Frost Plaza.
- It debuts alongside new public seating, plaques detailing the history of SF's cable cars and updated landscaping.
The big picture: The attraction is part of Downtown SF Partnership's plan to revitalize the city's core with improvements to public spaces and community partnerships.
What makes you ❤️ SF? Hit reply and let us know!
3. The Wiggle: 💼 $145 million Philz sale
☕ Philz Coffee is reportedly nearing a deal to sell the company to Los Angeles-based private equity firm Freeman Spogli & Co. for $145 million. (Mission Local)
🏈 San Francisco 49ers defensive end Nick Bosa is joining President Trump's council on sports, fitness and nutrition as an advisor on college athletics and women's sports. (SF Chronicle)
🍗 Brasa Bro, a new Peruvian chicken restaurant, opens its location at 1001 S Van Ness Ave. in the Mission this Thursday. (Eater SF)
4. 1 chart to go: 🍄 Mushroom boom


Mushrooms are sprouting up all over in coffee, soda, chocolate and meat blends.
Why it matters: Mushrooms have gone from ancient medicine to modern brain food.
- They're today's go-to "functional" ingredient — prized for cognitive perks and sustainability appeal.
Zoom in: Sales of food and drinks with functional mushrooms in San Francisco have nearly tripled in four years — hitting $9.4 million in 2025, up from $3.2 million in 2021, per NielsenIQ.
The big picture: Specialty mushroom varieties have doubled in sales in the past decade, according to Mushroom Council president Amy Wood.
Caveat: We're not talking about "magic" mushrooms.
- "Functional" mushrooms include lion's mane, chaga and reishi.
Between the lines: Mushrooms are a good source of the antioxidant ergothioneine and B vitamins, a growing body of research showcases mushrooms' cognitive health benefits.
Yes, but: Mushroom products — particularly those featuring mushroom powders and mushrooms low on the ingredient list — can oversell their mood-lifting effects, which haven't been widely studied.
Zoom out: Functional mushrooms in food and beverage sales are up over 450% in the U.S. since 2021, with mushroom coffee being one driver of that growth, NielsenIQ reports.
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5. 📍 Where in SF was Shawna?

A lot of y'all wrote in for the last edition (Mission Chinese). Let's see if you can identify this intersection — you'll have to correctly guess both street names.
👀 Hint: One of them is named after the inventor of a particular type of sea vessel.
💭 My thought bubble: I always love the view down this street, with City Hall so perfectly centered along the horizon.
😎 Bonus points if you can guess the park adjacent to this street.
💤 Shawna is recovering from socializing so much this past week.
🍽️ Nadia took her friend and colleague Kim for her first taste of Peruvian food in San Francisco on Saturday — and had a blast.
🦗 Claire is obsessed with this giant new stick insect species that Australian scientists recently discovered in Far North Queensland. Australian bugs are just on another level.
Want more of what's happening in SF? Check out our Instagram for stuff to do, behind-the-scenes photos, videos and more!
This newsletter was edited by Geoff Ziezulewicz.
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