The 50th Anniversary Buchanan Street Mall Celebration is Saturday, June 2, and Sunday, June 3, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day at Japantown Buchanan Street Mall between Post and Sutter Streets.

The celebration is sponsored by: Japantown Task Force, Inc., Nihonmachi Parking Corporation, and Japantown Community Benefit District, Inc.

Kimochi is having a table with cookbooks and Kimochi jerseys available for sale. They will sell raffle tickets, $5 for one (1) ticket or $25 for six (6) tickets. Grand prize is two roundtrip tickets to Hawai’i!

Raffle prize winners will be announced at the 25th Anniversary of Kimochi’s Old Timer’s Fun Basketball Tournament on Saturday, July 7, 2018, at The Center (JCCCNC) Gym on 1840 Sutter Street in San Francisco. Free admission. You do not have to be present to win.

CaliforniaJapantowns.org describes the history of the mall: During the mid-1960s, the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency created a plan for the Buchanan Plaza that included a sculpture at the entrance of the Buchanan Mall. The sculpture design was changed to a gate-like structure. The gate and the rest of the Buchanan Plaza were completed in 1976.

Artist Ruth Asawa was commissioned to design the origami sculpture/fountains that join the cobblestone “river” which flows toward the Peace Plaza. The flat concrete pathway on both sides of the “rock river” was created to provide a corridor along the “river” edge. The cobblestones “river” is a reference and a reminder of the early San Francisco streets.