"I like to see places converted from abandoned or under-used, into something that serves people," said Marc Kasky, who with his wife Cat Carr just celebrated living in the Presidio for 18 years. The anniversary makes the couple the longest term residents of the park. Kasky was the Executive Director of the nearby Fort Mason Center, and helped the Presidio transition from defunct military base to national park. In 1995, Kasky and Carr approached the National Park Service and asked if they could move into a vacant house and do some repairs. The NPS agreed, and the couple moved into a former Company Officer's family quarters on Funston Avenue that was built in 1889. "It was just like living in the country for the first several years," Kasky recalls. Coyotes, skunks, raccoons, and blue herons were their only neighbors. "Occasionally, the street lights would not work at night, and that was fabulous – to walk outside in San Francisco, and be in the dark?"
Kasky and Carr have embraced their role as ambassadors for the Presidio housing program, "We felt that if we were living here, particularly in a house like this, it was important to make it available – not just for us to live in, but to make it a home that serves a broader purpose," Kasky recalls. The couple has long welcomed friends and curious visitors into their home, and they have hosted hundreds of functions. They opened their doors to 700 guests during a day-long open house that the Presidio Trust organized to allow the public to view the inside of the Funston Avenue buildings.
Kasky and Carr originally only planned to stay in the Presidio for a few years, but eighteen years later, they've accepted it as their home.
· Less Than a Year After Opening, the Inn at the Presidio is Already Expanding [Curbed SF]
· Take a Photo Tour of The Presidio & Crissy Field [Curbed SF]
· So, You Want to Live in The Presidio? [Curbed SF]