San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park
August 30th, 2007 | by antoine |
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What’s larger than New York’s Central Park, once consisted of sand dunes, is now covered with more than one million trees and is bison-friendly?
Golden Gate Park — the ultimate haven away from urban chaos — was deeded
to the people in 1870 out of the prescient notion that San Franciscans would one day feel overcrowded. This foresight proved invaluable, as 75,000 people now visit the park on an average weekend.
Finding the land was the easy part. Someone still had to make grass and trees grow out of sand dunes blasted by harsh oceanside winds.
The person to do it was John McLaren, a brazen Scotsman and ardent nature lover. He arrived in San Francisco in the 1870s, and by 1890 he had established grass, trees and numerous plants in an environment most thought too barren for lush foliage.
The first buildings came with the Midwinter Fair, a sprawling expo and carnival meant to boost the economy and increase tourism. S.F. wanted to prove that it had culture — so a fine-arts museum was built. To prove that outdoor activities could be pursued, horse stables and vast, unlandscaped greens were preserved. And to showcase the exotic and quirky atmosphere of the city, several theme areas were developed, including Cairo Street, Japanese Village and an Eskimo habitat.
The fair succeeded at what it set out to do. Millions of people visited San Francisco, business boomed and locals found renewed pride in their formerly sand-covered park.
The Park Today
Though the park has seen changes over the years, what remains today is a testament to the will of the city to preserve a place to play, relax and grow culturally. The new de Young museum is sure to bring a new wave of visitors, as the re-opening of the Conservatory of Flowers did in 2003. The music concourse is being improved and should open in early- to mid-2006, perhaps around the same time the Murphy Windmill returns from repairs in the Netherlands. The California Academy of Sciences is due to re-open in 2008. The old horse stables, closed in 2001, may be renovated starting in 2007. And a new, temporary disc golf course is being evaluated in late 2005 for long-term feasibility.
Getting There
Muni offers convenient connections to the park from transit stops throughout the city. Muni riders with Fast Pass or transfer receive a $2 discount to the de Young Museum.
The de Young museum’s Web site has fairly thorough directions to the park. Note that John F. Kennedy Drive is closed to automobile traffic Sundays from Transverse Drive to McLaren Lodge. Parking: The Music Concourse Garage is open 7:30 a.m.-10 p.m. every day, and costs $2.50 an hour during the week, $3 an hour on weekends (bicycle parking is free). The entrance is at 10th Avenue and Fulton Street. There’s also time-limited parking along JFK Drive, MLK Jr. Drive and side streets within the park.
