Diners and restaurant owners agree: Parklets are the silver lining of pandemic dining. But they certainly don’t build themselves. And while some Bay Area restaurateurs may be handy with a hammer, building a structure in a public space can be a long and complicated process involving permits, safety regulations and $10,000 or more in labor and materials.
Early on in the pandemic, architects, contractors and artists from Oakland’s ArcSine,San Jose’s Local Color and other agencies were looking for ways to lend their skills, often working for free to erect these parklets quickly.
In Berkeley, architects Rudabeh Pakravan and Kristen Sidell of Sidell Pakravan Architects worked with the city of Berkeley to create a free guide simplifying code criteria, permitting process and construction strategies. They created a webinar and offered their services pro bono, averaging 30 to 80 hours per parklet to help with everything from construction plans to string lights and murals — an ocean-evoking blue and white design for Elmwood’s La Mediterranee, for example.
Q: What are the basic elements of a parklet?
Pakravan: City regulations vary, but basically a parklet is a way of legally occupying a public parking space. It’s a partnership between the city and private business to allow them to use this space. It must have a street enclosure, seating and tables and a base, although some parklets just put their tables on the ground.
Q: What are the biggest challenges?
A: The biggest challenge is that streets are not even. They are actually curved and have really complex shapes to deal with water runoff. So unlike creating a deck in your backyard, where you start with a level surface, creating a parklet is trickier. There is also the varying width of the sidewalk to consider, parking meters, trees, lights, post boxes and driveway curb cuts.
Q: Tell us about the variety of parklets you’ve worked on. How are they different?
A. These parklets are really a reflection of the restaurant owner’s vision, effort and skill. If a restaurateur or someone on staff is handy, they may just need a design from us and be able to build it on their own. Other parklets become these huge community efforts and draw upon experts across a range of professions.
With La Mediterranee, owner Trevor Ledergerber told us he and his staff were super handy. We sketched it out, and they built it in three days. We also designed the graphics on the enclosure — a sweeping blue M based on the restaurant’s logo — and came out and painted it for him.
Vanessa’s Bistro was different. Owner Vi Nguyen was close to going out of business and had no money for a parklet. We were able to find her a contractor, graphic designer and muralist to work pro bono on the parklet, which takes up three parking spots and has four tables. One of her customers helped, too. The materials alone cost $3,000-$4,000. And the labor was close to $10,000. At the end she held a big thank you dinner for all of us in the parklet.
Q: Do you think parklets are here to stay?
A: That’s up to each city, but once something is there it’s a lot harder to take away. If they are durable, they have longevity. I think people are seeing their value. They see how much they enliven the street and add to the cityscape. We foresee a future where the convenience of cars is not the first priority. We believe that the public realm should contribute positively to our social, cultural and economic experience.
Q: Any upcoming parklets that you are particularly excited about?
A: We are really excited about a parklet for Fellini Coffeebar, a cafe on University Avenue. It ended up turning into a large, fun project with a special canopy that attaches to one edge of the restaurant and lets in partial light. Plus, according to the owner, we get free coffee for life.
