Golden Gate Park

Golden Gate Park, in the heart of western San Francisco, is a huge, 1017-acre mixed-use park, designed after Frederick Law Olmsted's Central Park in New York City. The park features over 155,000 trees from all over the world plus a variety of activities and museums, such as the Japanese Tea Garden (pictured at right), authentic Dutch windmills, and the glass-domed Conservatory of Flowers. It is one of the most visited sites in all of San Francisco, both by out-of-towners and residents alike.

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Golden Gate Park was conceived in the 1870s as the city of San Francisco grew and parks became absorbed in new housing and commercial developments. The 1017-acre site, at the time mostly sand dunes and rocks, was acquired and William Hammond Hall and his Scottish assistant, John McLaren, were appointed to oversee the project.

The pair based their design on New York's Central Park and scoured the world for interesting trees and plant life. McLaren succeeded Hall as director of the park and continued to live and work within Golden Gate Park (at McLaren Cottage) until his death at age 90 in 1943.

In additional to a multitude of hiking and biking trails and large green expanses, Golden Gate Park is home to a number of interesting speciality gardens and museums. Among them are:

• California Academy of Sciences - Totally redesigned in 2008, this complex includes the Steinheart Aquarium with the deepest coral reef in the world and about 38,000 animals.

• Japanese Tea Garden - Created for the 1894 World's Fair, this serene oasis within the park is the oldest public Japanese garden in the United States. The five-acre garden features reflecting ponds, intricate bridges and plantings, and an authentic tea house.

• AIDS Memorial Grove - Begun in 1988, this is the only national AIDS memorial in the US. It is dedicated to those who have lost their lives to AIDS as well as their friends, family, and caregivers.

• The San Francisco Botanical Garden - This park within a park, formerly called the Strybing Arboretum, is a 55-acre collection of over 5600 plant species. San Francisco's temperate, Mediterranean climate make it possible to grow plants from all but the most tropical of the world's growing zones. The garden also features a number of exhibits, including a large section on sustainable gardening.

• Bison Corral - This unique section of the park features a small herd of bison, descendents of the bison brought to the park in 1892.

• De Young Museum - This museum, opened in 1895, houses a diverse collection of anthropological exhibits, particularly those featuring Central and South American cultures and a collection of American decorative arts and textiles.

• Conservatory of Flowers - This beautiful wood and glass-pane Victorian Conservatory was opened in 1877, a gift from California industrialist James Lick. The greenhouse, one of the largest of its kind in the world, houses a collection of rare and exotic hot-house plants from all over the world. Amazingly, the fragile glass house survived the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, largely intact.

Golden Gate Park has a horse stable offering trail rides and riding lessons, a nine-hole golf course, 21 tennis courts, a children's playground, and a historic, restored wooden carrousel.

Golden Gate Park is easily accessible via bus and taxi from all over San Francisco. Parts of the park are also within walking distance of popular sites, such as the Haight Ashbury district and Union Street. There is also a free shuttle that operates throughout the park. Printable driving directions from many starting points throughout the area are available here on LoveToKnow San Francisco.

Admission to the park is free, although some of the museums have a separate admission fee. A number of walking tours are offered of the park.

Whenever you go to San Francisco, make sure to include a visit to Golden Gate Park. It's a refreshing spot after days of shopping, museum-hopping, and sightseeing.

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