Stockton Street becomes holiday pedestrian plaza — should closure be permanent?

Pedestrians are reflected in a Macy's window display on Stockton St. in San Francisco on Monday, Nov. 21, 2016. Pedestrians are reflected in a Macy's window display on Stockton St. in San Francisco on Monday, Nov. 21, 2016. Photo: Noah Berger, Special To The Chronicle Photo: Noah Berger, Special To The Chronicle Image 1 of / 10 Caption Close Stockton Street becomes holiday pedestrian plaza — should closure be permanent? 1 / 10 Back to Gallery

Food vendors, entertainers and puppies will once again replace jackhammers and wooden walls as one of San Francisco’s newest holiday traditions transforms two blocks of Stockton Street from a cacophonous construction zone into a pop-up pedestrian plaza.

The gathering spot, which opens Wednesday, is a side effect of the city’s massive Central Subway project beneath the street. But whether the shopper-friendly plaza will stick around after the subway tunnel is completed — or be turned back over to traffic — remains unsettled.

The idea of blocking the street to cars, either year-round or seasonally, is certain to generate debate as the city plans for a 2019 launch of the Central Subway to Chinatown. For now, though, Black Friday shoppers crowding into the Union Square area will find a two-block oasis on Stockton Street between Geary and Ellis streets.

The retail-friendly festival will continue through the month of December and end on New Year’s Day, when the street will become a construction zone again.

On Monday, the rumbling of heavy equipment drowned out the holiday music and jangling bells as crews hustled to finish up work on what is known as Winter Walk SF. Workers tamped down asphalt and rolled out yards of fake green grass, planting wires in it for temporary street lamps covered in holiday lights and wreaths in time for the busiest shopping time of the year.

Only two wall-enclosed holes remain, offering a look into the cavernous Central Subway construction below that’s kept the street shut for the past five years.

The project makes the streets too narrow for the throngs of shoppers, so this is the third year that the Municipal Transportation Agency has cooperated with Union Square merchants to turn the site into a makeshift holiday haven. And each year it becomes a little more elaborate.

This year, the site will feature, among other things, food trucks, a beer garden, choirs singing Christmas carols and visits from puppies and kittens temporarily set free from the nearby window displays at Macy’s.

The pop-up plaza has proven so popular among shoppers and store owners that the city started working last summer on plans to keep the two blocks of Stockton Street closed permanently — a potentially profound downtown shift in a city often obsessed with traffic.

On Monday, some Union Square shoppers were excited by the idea. While his wife shopped, 58-year-old Monterey resident Harold Lehon watched as his 2-year-old son pushed toy cars on the edge of the still-blocked off turf.

“I think they should make it for pedestrians all year,” he said. “When you have little kids, it provides somewhere they can walk. It gets busy on the streets around here.”

Another fan was Karl Kreb, 49, a visitor from Southern California who was hanging out where Stockton meets Market Street. “They have it closed in the first place,” he said, “so why not keep it that way?”

Many Union Square retailers find the prospect of a year-round pedestrian plaza alluring, said Karin Flood, executive director of the Union Square Business Improvement District.

“Studies show that if you have a welcoming pedestrian area, it increases foot traffic, which could translate to better retail sales,” she said. “We’re open to the concept.”

But some other businesses — particularly hotels — fear that keeping Stockton Street closed will exacerbate the already difficult task of trying to navigate a vehicle around the Union Square area.

Rula Scoville, a Daly City resident who drives into San Francisco to shop, said she is among those who enjoy the holiday plaza on Stockton. The proposal to make it permanent, though, made her uneasy.

“My big worry is how it changes traffic. It’s an issue. It complicates things when I drive,” she said. “The streets are always changing. It’s bad enough for those of us who live here. It’s much worse for the visiting tourists.”

Before her death in September, Chinatown leader and political power broker Rose Pak called the plan for a permanent walking mall “unacceptable” in a letter to MTA director Ed Reiskin and vowed to ensure its defeat. Pak said Stockton Street was a critical link into and out of Chinatown to the north.

Flood said her organization had met with Chinatown leaders to talk about the future of the street. Efforts to reach neighborhood community and business leaders were not immediately successful Monday.

“I think they have some concerns but would be open to some kind of compromise,” she said, suggesting weekend and holiday closures might be a possibility.

MTA spokesman Paul Rose said the agency is preparing different scenarios for Stockton Street but hasn’t made a decision yet — and won’t “without consulting neighborhoods along the route, including Chinatown.”

William Dubayah, 69, who sells flowers from a stand on Geary Street in front of Macy’s, has lived in San Francisco since he was 10. He’s seen Union Square change from an easy-to-navigate district into the traffic nightmare it is today.

“I remember when these were all two-way streets,” he said. “It was easier to get around — less time, less traffic. But things were less crowded then.”

Dubayah has learned to accept the changes, and making lower Stockton Street a pedestrian mall, he said, won’t throw things too out-of-whack.

“People are getting used to it,” he said. “The stores are really going to like it, but I’m sure the drivers will get irritated.”

Michael Cabanatuan and Evan Sernoffsky are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: mcabanatuan@sfchronicle.com, esernoffsky@sfchornicle.com Twitter: @ctuan; @EvanSernoffsky