It appears that the Castro won't be replacing its damaged rainbow crosswalks in time for Pride this year.

The Castro Community Benefit District's executive director, Andrea Aiello, had told us earlier this month that the plan was to have the crosswalks replaced by June 23rd, at the latest. But after talking to Public Works this week, she said it now won't get done until June 27th at the earliest.

The crosswalks were damaged after being covered up in May for the filming of the '70s and '80s-set ABC miniseries When We Rise, based on Cleve Jones' soon-to-be-released memoir. Though they were cleaned multiple times, black residue from the covering remains on the eastern and northern crosswalks.



Residue remains on the crosswalks.

Photo: steven bracco/hoodline

When We Rise will be picking up the bill for the replacement, but it's been up to Aiello to coordinate the project. Aiello did not know the cost of replacing the crosswalks at this time; we reached out to Public Works to get a number, but they did not respond in time for publication.

The delay is due to the fact that replacing the rainbow stripes has proven to be far more difficult than initially anticipated. Aiello was informed by Public Works that there is also re-grading work and asphalt repaving that needs to be done at the intersection, and the Muni lines running overhead on 18th and Castro streets will need to be de-energized in order to pave—a major undertaking for the busy intersection.

"Many pieces of the puzzle need to be coordinated to accomplish this work," said the SF Film Commission's executive director, Susannah Robbins. It'll take four days to "take out the asphalt, redo the asphalt, paint the white lines and then replace the rainbow walk. All of this needs to be coordinated with different companies which do this work, as well as with Muni, which will need to deactivate the electric bus lines without impeding public transportation."

Once the new crosswalks are installed, it will be up to the CBD to keep them clean. In the past, "we were power-washing them occasionally, but it didn't seem to get them clean," said Aiello.

"The asphalt company that put [the crosswalks] in had told us that this was the best way to keep them clean," but after ABC cleaned the crosswalks in May with a different method, "they did a better job ... I've learned they used an asphalt cleaning product, so we will try this."