Sunday in Golden Gate Park is a wanderer’s dream
Chances are you’ve been to San Francisco. If not, you have probably read about all the great tourist sites the city has to offer: Golden Gate Bridge, Fisherman’s Wharf, Alcatraz Island, Lombard Street. These are must-see stops for the first-time visitor, but sometimes you have to travel like a local. Sunday in Golden Gate Park is one of those journeys.
Stretching from Haight-Ashbury to Ocean Beach, there are over 1,000 acres to explore on foot, by bike, skateboard or Segway. The best day to see Golden Gate Park is on a Sunday, when the main thoroughfare of JFK Boulevard closes to automobile traffic.
We started our tour walking back though time in Haight-Ashbury. The 1960s hippie influence still exists and there are delightful shops where you might want to purchase a tie-dyed bandanna for your walk west through the park. The smell of incense and cannabis permeates the air.
A short stroll leads you to the Conservatory of Flowers, a Victorian landperial mark going back to 1879 and containing over 1,700 species of aquatic and tropical plants, including a 100-year-old Giant Im- philodendron that does not look a day over 80.
A further walk takes you to the majestic de Young Museum, which opened in 1921 and is surrounded by artists, street musicians and hot dog vendors. From 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sundays, Lindy in the Park is there to conduct group dance lessons. The Charleston was the featured dance on my weekend, with over 30 eager participants ranging from teenagers to octogenarians.
Just past the museum and the music concourse is the Japanese Tea Garden, a 5-acre park within a park that contains fragrant paths filled with azaleas, bamboo and dwarf trees.
Our goal was to walk through the park to the ocean, but the trendy bars and restaurants of the Inner Sunset neighborhood beckoned us to detour for a few pints of beer at The Little Shamrock and ceviche, tequila and tacos at Nopalito’s on Ninth Avenue.
After an hour of dining and imbibing, where we wrote depraved anonymous postcards to family and friends, we stepped out into the blinding sunlight and continued west to the beach. There are many other landmarks in Golden
Gate Park, from a municipal golf course to a disc golf course, but we were on a mission to visit the famed Buffalo Paddock, where these mammoth hairy beasts have been roaming the grounds since 1890.
Finally, having satisfied our bison fix, we made it to the wide sands and crashing waves of Ocean Beach. A wonderful day. Annie, please tap that Uber app.