Vol. XLVII, No. 3
March 2023
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THE NOE VALLEY VOICE Should George Christopher Park Get a New Name?
Rudy’s Walking Our Socks Off And the Star Athlete Is Only 99
Panel Member Says Former Mayor’s ‘War on Vice’ Targeted Gay Bars
By Kathryn Guta
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here’s nothing like entering your 100th year to make you take stock and consider what makes life worth living. Noe Valley resident Rudy Stadlberger turned 99 (the one before the big one) on Feb. 5, and he is easing out of his first century still doing the things he loves, with the people he loves, while also staying open to new adventures. One of his more recent ventures has been to join a neighborhood walking group. Stadlberger began walking with Noe Walks soon after Chris Nanda, 28, organized the group in July 2021. Nanda thought it would be a good way to build community. “I put up posters around Noe to get the word out. I wasn't sure if anyone would show up, but after a few weeks the group really took form.” Stadlberger cuts a lean and colorful figure as he crosses the intersection of 24th and Sanchez, where the group meets every Saturday at 10 a.m. On this Saturday, he wears an oversized blue and yellow S.F. ball cap, a bright red South End Rowing Club (SERC) jacket, orange sweatpants, and CONTINUED ON PAGE 5
By Matthew S. Bajko
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Smile As You Stride. Rudy Stadlberger keeps pace with his neighbors (with a slight head start) while moving along with Noe Walks. After decades of athletic achievements, he may have slowed a bit, but he still keeps a stopwatch to record his times. Photo by Art Bodner
member of an advisory body for San Francisco's recreation and park department is calling on the agency to rechristen George Christopher Playground in Diamond Heights because of the late mayor's alleged support for police raids on gay bars during his administration in the late 1950s. Ken Maley, who represents the city’s third supervisorial district on the Park, Recreation, and Open Space Advisory Committee, announced at the oversight panel’s Jan. 10 meeting his intention to seek a new name for the park, located adjacent to the Diamond Heights Safeway and atop a hill overlooking Glen Canyon. Maley, 77, a gay man who has called the city home since 1964, said he had learned about Christopher while writing an article for the Spring 2022 edition of The Semaphore, a publication of the Telegraph Hill Dwellers neighborhood CONTINUED ON PAGE 7
Goldhaft Keeps Dancing Her Activism ’60s Radical Continues to Step Out for Peace and Ecology By Kit Cameron
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isps of morning fog hover around Twin Peaks as quietly focused figures center their attention on a slight, lean woman in the Noe Valley Town Square. Beginning with barely perceptible motions, the woman encourages them to sink their concentration into their bodies as they slowly move through a practice honed over generations. The students appreciate the simplicity of the movements that Judy Goldhaft models. “It seems simple,” says student Rasa Gustaitis. “Then you get into it and realize it’s more complicated.” Those same words could apply to Goldhaft. On the surface, she is a softspoken teacher who volunteers in her Noe Valley community. But if you look deeper, you’ll find an activist who has used her performance gift to bring about dramatic changes in how we view and use nature. Growing up in southern New Jersey during the 1950s, Goldhaft explored the forests and farmlands near her home. When she came to California much
A Breath of Nature: Judy Goldhaft, a veteran of the Summer of Love and countless hours of social and environmental work, is the graceful teacher of a Thursday morning tai chi class at the Noe Valley Town Square. Photo by Art Bodner
later, she was disconcerted to realize she knew none of the local fauna or flora. This was the start of a lifelong passion for the earth and its ecology. Before that, though, there was dance. At age 4, she remembers, “my parents
took me to see a ballet. That’s what I decided to do.” By age 8, she had set forth on her path as a dancer, taking increasingly professional classes until she ultimately enrolled in the graduate program in dance at Mills College.
There she caused consternation by becoming pregnant in her second year. (Son Aaron was born in 1963.) But Goldhaft had already broken out CONTINUED ON PAGE 9