\u201cI couldn\u2019t date certain girls in high school because my father shined shoes for a living and cleaned hats. I never got over that,\u201d says Agnos, now 87. \u201cSpringfield was a good city, a nice city to grow up in. But I came here to look for a better life. Our family did not belong to the right class: I could never have been mayor of Springfield.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
At mid-day on the corner of Connecticut and 20th, just outside Loard\u2019s Ice Cream, a friends, family and awho\u2019s who of San Francisco\u2019s political\u00a0 yesteryear cheered as Agnos yanked a strand of twine. A small, silver sign was unveiled reading \u201cArt Agnos Way.<\/a>\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n San Francisco is a place to reinvent yourself. It\u2019s a place to be who you are<\/a>. And it\u2019s a place to do big things<\/a>. Ten years after stepping off the bus, Agnos was elected to the state legislature. Eleven years after that, he was elected mayor. And, 39 years after that \u2014\u00a0today, in fact \u2014 his name went up on a street sign.\u00a0<\/p>\n The sign is here because of the things he did after stepping off that bus in \u201966: Among them, shepherding San Francisco through the weeks and months after the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989<\/a> and making the politically fateful \u2014 and damaging \u2014\u00a0decision to raze the Embarcadero Freeway <\/a>and re-open San Francisco\u2019s waterfront.\u00a0<\/p>\n In San Francisco, said Agnos, \u201cNobody asked me where I went to school.\u201d (For the record: Bates College undergrad, Florida State for the master\u2019s in social work; all three of Christ and Mary Agnos\u2019 children went to college<\/a> or beyond).\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cPeople asked me who I was and what I did and how I was going to get involved in the city,\u201d Agnos continued. \u201cMan, I loved that.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Potrero Hill, and Connecticut Street, said Agnos, \u201chad people on it who were my teachers about San Francisco and the West Coast. They oriented me, exposed me to so much, taught me so much about this city. I was propelled by them into public service. When I got married, they celebrated with me. When I got shot, they looked out for me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Yes, shot. \u201cArt Agnos Way\u201d is a stone\u2019s throw from both where Agnos has long lived \u2014 and where he nearly died.\u00a0<\/p>\n On Dec. 13, 1973, Agnos, a field representative for Assemblyman Leo McCarthy, was finishing up a community meeting near Wisconsin and 23rd in Potrero Hill. And while he was talking to a group of women he heard \u201cfirecrackers going off.<\/a>\u201d People scattered.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe women started running away \u2026 and asking me to come with them,\u201d Agnos recounted <\/a>in a TV news interview shortly after the incident. \u201cI started chasing them to calm them down and reassure them that no one was going to hurt them. At that point they told me the man was trying to kill me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Agnos turned and saw a man standing eight or 10 yards off and staring at him, blankly, still holding a gun. \u201cHe probably was trying to figure out why I didn\u2019t fall,\u201d Agnos said at the time. \u201cMainly because I didn\u2019t know I\u2019d been shot.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The \u201cZebra Killers,\u201d a group of fanatical extremist Black revolutionaries targeting random white people across the city, murdered at least 15 San Franciscans. Another seven were gravely wounded. Of those, Agnos said, he was the only victim who wasn\u2019t permanently disabled; had his shooter held the gun level instead of pointing down, the bullets would\u2019ve pierced Agnos\u2019 heart and he would\u2019ve died at age 35, just up the street from his street sign.<\/p>\n Many years ago, Agnos told me that being shot felt a bit like taking an elbow to the chest when you\u2019re going up for a rebound. He didn\u2019t, at the time, mention the year of medical hardships and a deeply unpleasant recovery<\/a> that followed his attempted murder When asked by a 1970s TV interviewer if the experience would keep him from going out and working with the people in his neighborhood, Agnos immediately replied \u201cNot at all. Not at all.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIf anything it\u2019s gonna just put me back on the street working as hard as I can to continue developing programs that the community thinks they need,\u201d he said. \u201cSo that we can establish the services that people need to put an end to the kinds of conditions that would lead a man or two men or a group of men to hate somebody so much to do this kind of thing.\u201d<\/p>\n Remember, what was important was where you were going.\u00a0<\/p>\n The unveiling of Art Agnos Way was\u00a0 something of a hot ticket. Rep. Nancy Pelosi was there. So was Mayor Daniel Lurie. Mayor Willie Brown \u2014 who, like Agnos, got his start shining shoes<\/a> \u2014\u00a0RSVP\u2019d but apparently did not show. \u201cWillie Brown is late as usual,\u201d Agnos told the crowd, which laughed knowingly.\u00a0<\/p>\n The legislation to, in Yogi Berra\u2019s words, make this day necessary<\/a>, was carried by Potrero\u2019s home supervisor, Shamann Walton. Former Board President and longtime Agnos ally Aaron Peskin<\/a> was the master of ceremonies.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n It was, as so many San Francisco political f\u00eates tend to be, an extremely tight-knit affair. At one point Pelosi pointed into the crowd at Agnos\u2019 son, Steve. \u201cI babysat you!\u201d she said. \u201cI remember!\u201d Steve replied.\u00a0<\/p>\n Agnos was honored, he said, but, in a discussion last week, seemed a bit sheepish at all the fuss. He\u2019d just wanted to have a neighborhood affair in his longtime neighborhood. \u201cThis isn\u2019t worth your time!\u201d he protested. \u201cSend an intern.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The unveiling of a small sign is indeed a small affair, albeit a pleasant one. But there are larger issues at play, which is why Agnos is still politically involved generations after last holding elective office. When Christ and Mary Agnos\u2019 son stepped off the bus 60 years ago, he could land a two-bedroom apartment (with a deck and a fireplace) for $150 a month ($1,532 in 2026 dollars<\/a>). He could wander through a blue-collar neighborhood that reminded him of home, and just bump into and befriend folks like Jim Herman<\/a>, who\u2019d go on to be national president of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union.\u00a0<\/p>\n Agnos could tell you better than most that present-day San Francisco is far safer than its prior iterations. Crime, particularly violent crime, is at near-historic lows. The notion of a racial terror operation preying on indiscriminate victims is now near-incomprehensible; Fox News would surely cover it the way networks covered the Iran Hostage Crisis.\u00a0<\/p>\n So, that\u2019s for the good. But Agnos could also tell you that Potrero Hill is no longer the affordable blue-collar haven that nurtured him when he needed it the most.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s why I fight so hard, in part, to keep this city the way it is,\u201d he says. \u201cThis is a city that lets you be who you want to be.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n This has been Agnos\u2019 fight for the past 60 years. \u201cThe same fight that sustains my Dad,\u201d Steve Agnos said today, \u201cis the fight necessary to sustain San Francisco.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cLook at the view,\u201d Art Agnos mused today. \u201cI love it every time. It\u2019s changing \u2014\u00a0not just the skyline. But I still love it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n As a social worker and a cub politician, he\u2019d head down the hill and wonder \u201cWhat can I do today down there to make that place a little better?\u201d As mayor, he\u2019d think \u201cWhat are they going to do to me today?\u201d<\/p>\n Art Agnos will be 88 in September. Steve Agnos sends him material about centenarians like Mel Brooks<\/a> and Dick Van Dyke<\/a> who remain lucid and active into their 11th decade. But we are only immortal for a limited time.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI hope one day,\u201d said Agnos, addressing the crowd, \u201cwhen I\u2019m no longer here and someone is here eating an ice cream and says \u2018Who was that guy?\u2019 some of you will respond: \u2018He was one of us.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Agnos paused and tightened his jaw. He took a deep breath and composed himself. So did everyone else.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cHe was a neighbor. Who lived with us while he fulfilled the Ancient Greek promise of the Athenians when they became citizens of their city. They said \u2018I promise to leave my city better than I found it.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Art Agnos kept this promise. And now he has the sign to prove it.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"Older](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/072026_ZM_ArtAgnosWayReveal-032-930x620.jpeg\")
Former Mayor Art Agnos at the reveal of the Art Agnos Way street named after him on July 27, 2026. Photo by Zoe Malen.<\/p>\n![\"Two](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/072026_ZM_ArtAgnosWayReveal-010-930x620.jpg\")
Former supervisor Matt Gonzalez and former mayor Art Agnos at the \u2018Art Agnos Way\u2019 event. Photo by Zoe Malen<\/p>\n![\"Two](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/IMG_5363-853x640.jpeg\")
Lisa Ryers (left) and Pamela Pastrana display the 40-year-old campaign sign treasured by Pastrana\u2019s mother, Lucy, at the unveiling of \u2018Art Agnos Way.\u2019 Photo by Joe Eskenazi<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Art Agnos stepped off a Greyhound Bus in San Francisco on Labor Day weekend in 1966 as the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":414433,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[101,103,102,104,106,105],"class_list":["post-414432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=414432"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414432\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/414433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=414432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=414432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=414432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}