parks

A collection of 15 posts

Stern Grove

Trocadero Rebirth

San Francisco's last roadhouse is resurrected in Stern Grove.

Paid-members only

Grab Bag

Grab Bag #47

Portsmouth Square in the 1850s, old photos found, and memorializing motherhood.

Panhandle

Wheelmen’s Panhandle Palace

The 1890s rise and quick fall of the Velodrome bicycling track next to Golden Gate Park.

Yerba Buena Island

Torpedo Point

An explosive point of interest tucked under the eastern span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.

Paid-members only

Grab Bag

Grab Bag #41

World Series parade, gas stations, and Great Highway history—a San Francisco grab bag.

Paid-members only

Grab Bag

Grab Bag #36

Animalia of San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, a Richmond District dairy, Willie Mays, and more of my favorite things.

Embarcadero

The Legend of Lois Jordan’s White Angel Jungle

Thoughts on a famous San Francisco soup kitchen.

Russian Hill

A Park is Born

The 75-year journey to turn a Russian Hill reservoir into a San Francisco park.

Paid-members only

Grab Bag

Grab Bag #34

I come to praise San Francisco, not bury it, plus news on old stuff getting older.

Golden Gate Park

Riding the Windmill

In the early 1920s, riding one of the blades of Golden Gate Park's Dutch windmill was kind of a thing.

Mission District

A Day Trip on the Mission Road, Part 2

Sunday pleasure resorts like Woodward's Gardens made San Francisco's Mission District more family-friendly in the 1860s and 1870s.

Paid-members only

Grab Bag

Woody Grab Bag #006

Strange adventures of young men in San Francisco, market memories, a walnut elephant, and recognizing City Cemetery.

Crocker-Amazon

The Temple on Naples Street

Solving the mystery of the mini Greek temple that once stood in San Francisco's Crocker-Amazon neighborhood.

Golden Gate Park

10 Highlights from the 1894 Midwinter Fair

The good, the bad, and the ugly from the 1894 fair which made Golden Gate Park's Music Concourse.

Paid-members only

Grab Bag

Woody Grab Bag #005

A Woody LaBounty salad bar of child pyramids, feminist art, poetry, sandlot baseball, and Mr. Fixit.