Coffee and donuts in the driveway

The most humble neighborhood hangout

For a while now, I’ve been wanting to get to know more of my neighbors. I want them to know I care about them and I’m interested in what they care about. I can imagine it becoming normal to say hi and look out for one another – becoming a more familiar community. So, we decided to give something simple a try: coffee and donuts in the driveway!

We created a little flyer and tucked copies into doorways and mailboxes up and down the block about a month ahead. My daughter taped one to our front window — “so everyone knows about it,” she said.

The response was really heartening. One neighbor told me later that the flyer sat on their fridge for weeks and made them smile. Another dropped off a handwritten note the day after the flyers went out, just to say how much they appreciated it.

The morning itself was lovely. We had coffee from Sunset Roasters, donuts from Twisted Donuts, mini babkas from Val at Braid Bakery — all local favorites. Neighbors showed up across generations — 20-somethings, 70-somethings, families with little kids. Some folks who’ve lived next to one another for years ended up having their very first conversation. One of my favorite moments was just watching people walk up and thinking: are they coming over to say hi? (They were!)

Dozens of people came through, and 25 of us joined a new little group chat to make future hangouts even easier to coordinate. By the end of the day, a sweet neighbor had already volunteered to host the next one. Our new block nickname, Cozy Corner, is inspired by our pocket of the neighborhood between Ocean Beach and Golden Gate Park.

We also learned some things for next time: closing the street would make it a little easier for parents with kids to relax; 60–90 minutes is probably the sweet spot (3 hours is a long time to host!); and the contributions from others – like family members bringing the poster and extra tables – made a big difference.

Mostly, though, it just felt good to have space for people to show up and say hello. We’re already looking forward to the next one.