SF Zoo / Other Parks, San Francisco

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Landmark 226, this park was designed by W. Eddy in 1850 and is the 3rd original park of San Francisco.
Saints Peter and Paul church faces the square on the north. Joe DiMaggio was a North Beach boy, and his funeral was held in this church in 1999.

LOCATION: Stockton Street, Filbert Street, Columbus Avenue, Union Street.
NEIGHBORHOOD: North Beach.

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Located between the Pacific Ocean and Lake Merced, in the southwest corner of the city, the San Francisco Zoo isn't remotely as stellar as many other cities' zoos because it's not particularly well organized, is ever lacking in funds, and seems generally tired ( i admit, I am not a Zoo Person).

Founded at its present site adjacent to the ocean in 1929, the zoo is spread over 125 acres, with 100 acres currently developed and housing 950 mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and invertebrates. The 6-acre Children's Zoo offers kids and their families opportunities for close-up encounters with domestic rare breeds of goats, sheep, ponies, and horses in the Family Farm. Touch and feel small mammals, reptiles, and amphibians along the Nature Trail, and gaze at eagles and hawks stationed on Hawk Hill.

Admission to main zoo and Children's Zoo $8 residents, $11 nonresidents for adults; $4.50 residents, $8 nonresidents for seniors 65 and over and youth 12-17; $2.50 for residents, $5 nonresident for children 3-11

Address: 1 Zoo Road, San Francisco, CA. 94132

We happened by Corona Heights and Buena Vista Parks quite by accident. We were walking through the Castro, half hoping to find Twin Peaks Park when we saw a rocky outcropping in the distance. We made out way up to the top, where we met a nice English expatriate who explained where we were, Corona Heights and how to make it to Buena Vista. There were great views as you can see though our views of the Bay from the latter park were fogged in.

I found this picture in my old file of SF and I thought I misplaced this one as it should have belonged to my Amsterdam file. I now remember that it is indeed in San Francisco but can't quite remember where in San Francisco it is. I will be back in SF in April 2006 and will try and take another photo.

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To many visiting San Francisco, Cayuga Park would not be high on the priority list. To me, it represents a significant part of the development of who I am today. From when I was in 7th Grade until in my third year in college, I lived in the Cayuga Terrace neighborhood located in the south part of San Francisco near the Daly City border.

For those of you who BART from the airport to downtown, you will see this park between Daly City and Balboa Park Stations.

This is where I grew up. Many important "historical events" happened here in the context of my life:

1. I learned how to pitch here.
2. I had my best Basketball games here.
3. This was where I learned the game Stationary.
4. Where I played softball
5. Where I played football, where our friend Jay suffered a concussion after he fell on his head. And during the next play he just standing there staring off to nowhere.
6. Where I accidently knocked out two front teeth from my friend Al because he was trying to steal the basketball from me from behind when my head turned into the direction and smacked him.
7. Where I did my only grafitti tag which still stands there as I look up at it at the Bart line that passes by this park every 5-15 minutes.
8. Where my friend Martin stole champagne from his parent's church on Alemany and we got smashed after two bottles.
9. Where I smoked my first cigarette, and last one after throwing up after the third one when I was 19.
10. Where Joe toppled down the hill when one of us hit a fly ball and all we saw were his legs in the air as he tompled down the hill.

It's a wonderful park to walk your dogs now and the landscaping done here is relatively new, fresh, and eden-isqe.

Throughout San Francisco are little parks that serve a magnets for the urban dwellers and workers, particularly on a beautiful day. Huntington Park is located across the street from Grace Cathedral.

This park is the site of the mansion built by railroad baron Collis P. Huntington. The mansion was destroyed by the fire following he 1906 earthquake. Mrs. Huntington then donated the land to the city of San Francisco to serve as a park in perpetuity.

Across from the park is the exclusive Pacific Union Club (brown brick building). Formerly, it was the residence of James Flood, another railroad magnate. While the other wooden mansions burned in the 1906 fire, the Flood mansion, built of brick, survived.

To the right of th Pacific Union Club in this picture is the Mark Hopkins Hotel. It was built on the site of the Mark Hopkins residence. Mark Hopkins was also a railroad baron and the original residence was also destroyed in the 1906 fire.

The San Francisco Zoo is located on the southern edge of Sunset neighbourhood. I remember a few of the exhibits, like the Lemur Forest with Madagascar lemurs, the Gorilla World with gorillas housed in a cageless habitat, the rhinos, the Flamingo Lake (where the picture was taken), the Penguin Lake (this one was really fun with the penguins swimming back and forth together), the elephants. The one that I liked the most (mainly because I've never seen one before) was a little koala sleeping in a tree. Maybe this is not the greatest zoo in the world, but it can make for a nice afternoon in the city.