United Irish Cultural Center

03/04/2025

Look who else is celebrating 50 years in 2025, just like us! The Fitzpatrick-O’Connor Wedding Reception was a grand affair in the newly opened UICC on May 17, 1975. The lovely bride is Mary Fitzpatrick who wed Donald O’Connor. Best Man Brian O’Connor (RIP) can be seen offering a toast to the happy couple from the stage. It is believed that this was the second wedding reception to happen at the UICC. What a happy day! The UICC wishes, Dawn and Mary Fitzpatrick a very happy golden anniversary! 

We would love to hear your story! We are planning some special displays for our 50th Anniversary events this year and would love to include these special memories. As we plan for our future, it is memories like these that keep us connected! Send your memories to [email protected].

03/04/2025

Congratulations to the Marin Irish American Club on celebrating 45 years this year, as mentioned in the March bulletin. Members of the organization gathered for their annual St. Patrick’s Day party and enjoyed live music and Irish dancing from the Healy Irish dance school.  As you read about the origins of the club, you’ll learn that UICC founding members Claire and Charlie McBride played an integral role in establishing the club. Their daughter Cheryl McBride Laughlin and daughter-in-law Christine McBride are MIAC Board members. Today the club is led by another UICC longtime member, Rose Feeney, who is also serving on our 50th anniversary Gala committee and working to put together a historical walking tour in San Francisco focused on our Irish roots. Stay tuned for more! 

03/03/2025

Mark Gorman from Mountrath has been selected as the Grand Marshal for this year's St Patrick's Day parade in San Francisco

03/03/2025

Our 50th anniversary season and Irish American Heritage month are off to a great start! We look forward to seeing you at the Irish Center very soon! Check our calendar for a whole host of opportunities!

03/03/2025

Did you watch the Academy Awards? Here’s a little Monday morning trivia that you may or may not know, but could certainly add to your water cooler conversations this fine work week! It is month after all!

The Oscar was designed in the late 1920s by an Irish American—MGM Studios art director Cedric Gibbons. The design was meant to represent a knight standing on a reel of film, holding a crusader sword. Gibbons would go on to win 11 Oscars himself, and there is a lovely display about him in Dublin’s EPIC Museum.

Multiple Oscar winners have exclaimed that the trophy is surprisingly heavy. In reality, the Oscar statue weighs 8.5 pounds – roughly as much as a newborn baby. It also stands 13.5 inches tall.

The film reel at the base of the statue features five spokes, which were meant to represent the five initial branches of the Academy: actors, directors, producers, technicians, and writers. (The Academy now has 19 branches, but the base of the sculpture is unchanged.)

Irish Americans have been making their contributions in every sector of life for generations and we are so grateful.

03/02/2025

Celebrations of our Irish heritage are well underway! Some fine Irish piping and dancing… and singing…  at the annual Saint Cecilia‘s St. Patrick’s Day party! So delighted to see the young Pipers in our youth music program. Take center stage!

Do you have photos of celebration celebrating our Irish heritage? We would love to add them to our album.
Send photos to [email protected]


Pipers Band of San Franciscoco

03/02/2025

Thanks to Paddy Cullivan for bringing not one, but two, brilliant shows to the UICC. From Friday’s co-sponsored matinee performance with the IIPC about the life of Michael Collins to Saturday night’s performance called “I Can’t Believe it’s not Ireland”— audiences were riveted!

03/02/2025

Celebrating the Irish language this month! Have you been to one of our Saturday Pop-up Gaeltacht gatherings? Be sure to watch our calendar and sign up for our weekly emails to be in the know and join us! 

Today marks the start of Seachtain na Gaeilge (1-17 March) ☘

It is the biggest Irish language festival in the world, celebrating Gaeilge through music, culture and community events – both in Ireland and across the globe 🇮🇪 🌎

From ciorcal comhrá (conversation circles) to céilithe (Irish dance nights), there are countless ways to get involved.

To learn more, or join in the celebrations, click here 👉 https://www.ireland.ie/en/visit/seachtain-na-gaeilge/what-is-seachtain-na-gaeilge/

03/02/2025

Ooooohhh . . . can you just smell this post?! Join us on the 15th after the parade and/or on the 17th St. Patrick's Day—for a tasty plate with all the fixings!

03/02/2025

Oh, if those basement walls could talk! Perhaps in some ways they have through the stories that pour out on the pages of “The Ballroom of Romance”. Of course the famed basement to which we refer is the home of Elizabeth and Patrick Piggott on Harrison Street. 

The former San Francisco St. Patrick’s Day parade Grand Marshal and fixture of Irish society is indeed the source of many fond memories and some with more recent connections. Her grandson Dave Piggott is one of the UICC’s newest members and had some photos and stories to share. But let’s start with a bit of history…

Elizabeth Agnes Piggott was born in county Leitrim, Ireland. In 1912, she emigrated to America and lived six years in Rochester, New York. In 1918, she moved to San Francisco, where she met and married Patrick James Piggott from County Cork at St. Peters church.

They lived at 23rd and Kansas Street - a predominantly Irish neighborhood. In 1933, they moved to 2865 Harrison Street and lived their happily married life in this home until 1975 when Patrick Piggott passed away.

After her arrival in San Francisco, Elizabeth immediately became active in the Irish community joining the Ladies Auxiliary of the Father Yorke Division of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, the Drishane Sisters and the Connaught Ladies Auxiliary.

The Piggott‘s became very involved in promoting Irish welfare and contributing to charitable causes. The name Piggott became a household word in every Irish home in San Francisco.

The basement of their home was the scene of frequent dances and fund raising activities.

Proceeds from those activities were given to missionary priests and nuns and to many local Irish suffering from sickness or hardship. These Saturday night dances were a meeting place for the young Irish men and women where they found their little bit of Ireland so very far from home. Many an Irish American family had their beginning there. Elizabeth and Patrick Piggott never charged for the use of their home.

The unusual thing about the house was that you could arrive there around midnight (usually on our way home from the KRB) and it would appear that its occupants were sound asleep. When one, however, opened the side door by the garage, one would be met with a blast of hot air, Irish music and dancing or someone singing "the old bog road" or some other Irish song and the delicious aromas of Irish currant bread and tea.

The many recipients of the Piggott‘s hospitality can state with great pride and admiration that Elizabeth Piggott was the Mother Theresa or our Irish community, she was like a mother to so many of us. She passed away in 1987. The basement at 2865 Harrison is now silent but it was indeed the forerunner of the United Irish Cultural Center and remains for many of us a very nostalgic memory that reflects the spirit and heart of this great lady Elizabeth and her husband Patrick Piggott.

Connecting this bit of nostalgia to the present day, of course involved dancing. This time connections were made at the UICC at a feis, and perhaps our Keepers of the Steps display was a bit of a catalyst for conversation. Indeed our walls were actually “talking” and sharing stories. 

Elizabeth Piggott‘s sister Molly has a granddaughter named Susan Kellogg. Susan and her brother Frank Lohmeier were at a recent feis at the UICC and enjoyed taking in some of the exhibit panels from Keepers of the Steps hanging in the upstairs hallway. They were at the feis because Susan‘s granddaughter Cassidy Howard is a champion dancer with the Rohan Murphy School and was competing. By chance the two got chatting with Eileen Mize about some of the Irish dance history and preservation efforts and shared that they were related to Miss Elizabeth Piggott. Eileen shared that she was interested in learning more about the famed after-hours dance hall on Harrison Street, so Susan connected her with her cousin Dave Piggott, Elizabeth’s grandson.

SF native and longtime Marin County resident, Dave Piggott was eager to share some of his family history and made a visit to the Irish cultural center is Dowling Library with a bundle of photos and memorabilia from his dear grandmother, Elizabeth Piggott. He met up with Eileen Mize and Anne, Cassidy Carew and recounted stories of childhood memories in the basement and the kinds of parties and events. As the years went by they had some of their family Thanksgiving dinners at the United Irish Cultural Center where they could have a big enough table to fit everybody.

In 1978 she was honored at a special dinner at the United Irish Cultural Center at an event called “An American Irish Salute” and the Pat Gibney's Orchestra played. Then in 1982 Miss Elizabeth Piggott was honored by being named the Grand Marshal for the San Francisco St. Patrick’s Day Parade. She passed away several years after that grand occasion leaving a legacy of generosity and hospitality within the Irish community The dinners and festivities and the parade day itself are the basis of many happy memories for Dave and other family members. Dave is glad to be reconnected with the Irish Center and became a new member. He has shared many photos and news clippings for the library to scan and has donated his grandmother‘s Grand Marshal ribbon for the archives— sure to be a treasured item for many years to come.

03/01/2025

The United Irish Cultural Center is proud to play a role in preserving the rich, cultural characteristics that make San Francisco the unique place that it is. President Liam Reidy connected with Maggie Smith, Senior Preservation Planner for the Citywide Cultural Resources Survey & Landmark Designations with the SF Planning Department to participate an offer an Irish perspective for their research and data collection. Given our location in the Sunset District for the past 50 years, the UICC was invited to participate at the SF Survey Sunset Workshop held on Saturday, March 1, 2025 from 1-3 pm at Wah Mei Irving. Thanks to Liam for representing the UICC— a wonderful way to kick off Irish American Heritage Month by sharing a bit of our culture and intersecting with the other rich cultures found in our neighborhood.

SF Survey is a multi-year effort supported by the SF Planning Department to identify and document places and resources of cultural, historical, and architectural importance to San Francisco's diverse communities. Our team has been doing fieldwork and community
outreach in Neighborhood Commercial Districts in the Sunset neighborhood.

SF Survey Findings will help facilitate the historic resource review process for future building permit applications, developments, and area plans. Outcomes will also include identifying sites that are eligible for the California Historical Building Code, Legacy Business Registry, historic tax incentives, or local landmarking.

For more information, visit:
https://sfplanning.org/sfsurvey

03/01/2025

The Whelan Academy Irish dancers put on a great show at the 2025 Grand Marshal Dinner at the UICC and featured many dancers who are headed to Dublin next month for the world championships… Including San Francisco’s own reigning, senior ladies world champion, Hannah Logar, who will be competing to defend her title. Hannah is featured second from the left.

03/01/2025

UICC Construction Volunteer Shares Time Capsule Memories and More—Jim Murphy, stonemason and former member of Local 2 of the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers, has lived in San Francisco most of his life. Born in 1937 in Uddingston, Scotland, Jim left Scotland in the 1950s and arrived in San Francisco in 1962.

Murphy and the UICC's Origin a 1/2 Century Ago
In 1973 Jim lived across Wawona Street from the site of today's United Irish Cultural Center. When the facility's construction commenced toward the end of that year, "My mother-in-law looked over there. She went and asked Pat Brosnan (one of the two project foremen), 'What are you building?'" Brosnan told her the United Irish Cultural Center would operate on the site. For Jim, history was made: He joined the team of volunteers who built the UICC.

Jim worked among some 1,000 San Francisco trade-union and other volunteers whose collective efforts constructed the building at 2700 45th Avenue in advance of the Center's grand opening on March 8, 1975. He remembers the Irish community's effort launched after the building's foundation had been laid, and recently shared a special personal tale relating to the building.

Construction of the architecturally unique facility ran through 1974, with interior work and other final touches completed during the first weeks of 1975. It's a remarkable San Francisco story. Benjamin Kline, author of the book Irish Dream Accomplished, relates:

There were as many as 160 men any Friday or Saturday donating their time to the project.
The unions okayed it because it was for cultural purposes.

Jim tells of working with the stonemasons and other trades during the construction. "Wed get a mid-day break, with coffee and snacks brought in by the Ladies Auxiliary. After they completed the bar upstairs, we'd knock off at 2:30 or 3:00 in the afternoon and head up to the bar."

The UICC's "Time Capsule"
In addition to brickwork, tiling, and working on the roof, Jim played a key role in laying the stones that make up the building's street-level exterior along 45th Avenue and eastward along Wawona. As construction was nearing its end, Jim and fellow stonemason Mike Coyne were tasked with installing the historical plaque to the left of the UICC's main entrance. Before they did so, they created an unofficial "time capsule."
"Mike and I each took an empty Budweiser beer can, and filled it with written notes: our names, where we were from, kids' names, grandparents' names..."

Mike Coyne died soon afterward. The "time capsules" remain embedded behind the plaque.
Jim still resides out by the UICC. He values the Center to this day, and noting its many contributions to San Francisco and the Irish community. "It has provided a place for the young ones. They have camps and programs. The kids come and find others like them, building friends and learning about themselves in ways they might never get around school and around town."

By: Christopher Donnelly,
Dowling Library Volunteer

Copies of Benjamin Kline's book, Irish Dream Accomplished: Building a Cultural Center, can be found in the UICC's Patrick J. Dowling Library on 45th Avenue.

See, https://irishcentersforg/programs/library.

03/01/2025

Wonderful celebration to kick-off our 50th Anniversary St. Patrick’s Day Season at the Grand Marshal Dinner heralding the 174th Annual San Francisco St. Patrick’s Day Parade! Congratulations to our own UICC Board Member and pillar of the Irish community, Mark Gorman, on being named the 2025 Grand Marshal and special recognition to our honorary Grand Marshals Jerry Cassidy, Marie Gavney, and Sr. Edith Hurley whose families were with us in abundance to speak on their behalf. From the grand entrance of our Irish Pipers band of San Francisco and the beautiful anthem singing of Hannah O’Connell to the masterful MC, Roger Gargano and the high energy dancing of the Whelan Academy of Irish dance, the evening set the perfect tone for a wonderful St. Patrick’s Day season ahead. We are grateful to be able to pack the St. Patrick’s Room at this sold-out event and celebrate our heritage together!  Thank you to the Board and leadership of United Irish Societies for their partnership over the years and their commitment to upholding these cherish traditions and kudos to all the event coordinators for making the evening so special. We look forward to seeing everybody at the parade on March 15! 

03/01/2025

St. Patrick's Day at the UICC—our March 17th Entertainment Line-Up is now available. Don't miss the best party in town. UICC members are FREE.

DETAILS/REGISTER: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/st-patricks-day-celebration-tickets-1245557819969?aff=oddtdtcreator

BECOME A MEMBER: https://irishcentersf.org/get-involved/membership/

03/01/2025

We are all about —join us!

Have you ever thought about learning more about the Irish heritage? Membership is affordable at only $12.50 a month, unlocking access to countless opportunities for discovery. Our event opportunities for all ages are endless . . . there has never been a better time to be a part of the United Irish Cultural Center.

START HERE: https://irishcentersf.org/

03/01/2025

Now airing on PBS and available on Aer Lingus’ transatlantic entertainment—the latest "Ireland with Michael" episode featuring Michael Londra at the 2024 Iowa Irish Fest, and highlights our Keepers of the Steps efforts among the sights and sounds of the festival in Waterloo, Ireland. (Keepers starts around the 11 minute mark)

WATCH: https://www.pbs.org/video/iowish-jvechz/

Keepers of the Steps was represented in Iowa last summer in a unique cross-state collaboration of cultural preservation efforts—and we hope this is just the beginning. The Emmy®-nominated program producer and host and Wexford native Michael Londra interviewed Keepers creators Anne Cassidy Carew and Eileen Mize about the program, and as a former Irish dancer himself with a passion for sharing the richness of the Irish culture with viewers far and wide, he was struck by the concept of Keepers of the Steps and was enthusiastically supportive of their efforts. Michael’s soft spot for Irish Dance also goes to the fact that he was part of the early cast of Riverdance as lead tenor alongside Jean Butler and Colin Dunne and continues to work on Broadway productions when not filming his TV series. The UICC hopes to get Michael and his crew to San Francisco in the not-so-distant future for a deeper dive into our local Irish history and cultural programming efforts and to learn more about all of the exciting plans at the UICC as we hit our 50th Anniversary milestone!

The Iowa Irish Fest Ireland with Michael episode will air in 49 states and 182 TV markets over the next few years with a 97% national household pe*******on. From April it will stream on Amazon. It will also air on all transatlantic Aer Lingus flights (those traveling to the World Championships in Dublin in a few weeks—take note!).

More on his hit TV series here:
https://www.michaellondra.com/

📷🎥🎙️Special thanks to Katherine Beu Schildroth, who heads up the impressive cultural programming efforts for Iowa Irish Fest, for instigating the collaboration and for including Keepers of the Steps in Michael’s production schedule. We look forward to future ventures!