Braceros, known better as Demi, began to transform this 11-acre park into a magical sculpture garden more than twenty years ago, and didn't stop until his retirement at 68.

When the Philippine-born gardener was first assigned to the city park, located under the BART tracks and bordered by Interstate 280, its playfield was flooded and littered with trash, there was virtually no landscaping, and gang members were a more common sight than children. Twenty-two years later, every corner of the park is filled with Braceros' quirky, hand-carved wood sculptures and overflowing with carefully landscaped fruit trees, flowers and bushes.

"The gangs took over in 1979, 1980," recalled Chris Dillon, 60, a longtime neighbor. "Then this little, tiny man showed up - he's maybe a little taller than my shoulder. And one day we started seeing this change. Demi said he knew the history of the park, that he knew he could bring peace here. He knew what it should look like."

*Excerpted from the San Francisco Chronicle. Read full article here.

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