John McLaren Park is a park in southeastern San Francisco. At , McLaren Park is the fourth largest park in San Francisco by area, after Golden Gate Park, the Presidio, and Lake Merced Park. The park is surrounded mostly by the Excelsior, Crocker-Amazon, Visitacion Valley, Portola and University Mound neighborhoods.

History

John McLaren Park was once a part of Rancho Cañada de Guadalupe la Visitación y Rodeo Viejo, an 1840 land grant which included much of present-day San Bruno Mountain, the city of Brisbane, Guadalupe Valley, and Visitacion Valley. The then-governor of Mexico (including present-day California), Juan Bautista Alvarado, granted what is now known as John McLaren Park to the local authorities in 1840.

thumb|right|350px|Daniel Burnham's proposed plan for San Francisco from September 1905.

In 1905, subdivisions of the land grant were drawn up and Daniel Burnham issued the Burnham Plan for San Francisco, which recommended that the land where John McLaren and Bayview Parks are today should be reserved for park use, as residents in the southern part of the city were considered inadequately served by access to park space. Burnham's Report called for several parks near Visitacion Valley, including one he named Visitacion Park, which would become Bayview Park and Candlestick Point State Recreation Area; and one he named University Mound Park, which occupied part of the land that would later become John McLaren Park.

The Board of Supervisors adopted Resolution No. 26241, New Series on October 4, 1926 (approved Oct 15) directing the purchase of for a park planned to be named Mission Park, with plans for an 18-hole golf course, equestrian trails, playing fields, and a possible relocation of the City Zoo.

However, a bond measure to raise funds for the full area of the park failed to pass in the November 1928 election, Additional recommendations for final park size in 1944 varied from , and the land acquired by the time the Master Plan was published in November 1944 was the Lick Home (later known as the University Mound Ladies Home, which opened as the Lick Old Ladies Home in a different location in 1884 and housed "elderly women of modest means" until 2014), the University Mound reservoirs, the Sunnydale Housing Project, and the Crocker Amazon Playground. The McLaren Park Vision Plan was approved by the Recreation and Parks Commission in 2017. Improvements associated with the plan include building the Redwood Grove Playground, Jerry Garcia Amphitheater improvements, renovation of McLaren Park Community Gardens, and adding a restroom at the Group Picnic area. after Golden Gate Park (the largest park within city limits, the Presidio, is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area).

Public safety

In 1981, a San Francisco Examiner article headlined "McLaren Park: great potential, much trash" highlighted its crime statistics, which had included two murders, six rapes and 18 car thefts in 1980. In 2013, the Chronicles urban design critic John King discussed community efforts to revive the park, which "not long ago was known within the city primarily for crime". Perhaps due to its past infamy and resulting discouragement of visitors, the park boasts the largest grasslands left in San Francisco.

Amenities and features

Coffman Pool, McLaren Park's first recreation facility, was constructed in the southeast corner of the park in 1958.

Even in San Francisco, a city considered hilly, McLaren Park stands out with some of the hilliest terrain in the city. Only 19% of its area consists of slopes of 0-10% grade, considered easily buildable. Slopes of 10-25% grade occupy half its area, and slopes over 25% grade occupy the remaining area (more than one-third of the total area).

Herz Playground

Herz Playground, near Coffman Pool in the southeastern corner of the park, was completed in 1965. In 2005, it was renamed the Jerry Garcia Amphitheatre, after the member of the rock band the Grateful Dead, who had grown up not far from the park, at 87 Harrington Street. It was built in 1956 and stands tall. The trail, funded as a public art set-aside by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, offers views of Mount Diablo, Mount Tamalpais, Angel Island, and the Pacific Ocean on a clear day. and features fourteen stone markers by mason George Gonzalez intended as "musing stations" to stimulate contemplation. One side of the road was rebuilt as a dedicated pedestrian and bicycle path, and crosswalks with bright flashing beacons were added to major intersections,

Mansell Street through McLaren Park is significantly wider than the city streets it connects with on the western and eastern edges of the park. It was designed and constructed as a segment of the planned Crosstown Freeway which never came to fruition in the wake of the San Francisco Freeway Revolts. The Wilde Reservoir was used to store tap water for the City of San Francisco, but after its abandonment, was used as a nocturnal dumping ground for trash. The old walls of the reservoir were retained as a viewing platform and a tall tower was built in the center of it.

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File:View west to Excelsior and beyond from blue water tower in McLaren Park of San Francisco.png|View west to the Excelsior from La Grande Tank, with a "musing stone" from Philosopher's Way in the foreground.

File:Workingman's Dead - Jerry Day 2008 - San Francisco (2879167171).jpg|Jerry Garcia Amphitheatre hosting Jerry Day 2008 (3 Aug 2008).

File:John McLaren Park (2276674340).jpg|McLaren Park sign

File:Sunrise in San Francisco from John McLaren park (16400177495).jpg|Sutro Tower from McLaren Park at sunrise, from La Grande Tank

File:Bioblitz- McLaren Park- May 11, 2013 (10357691563).jpg|View down to McNab Lake and Louis Sutter Playground, with Sutro Tower in the background.

File:Sun (2204680391).jpg|Stairway near Excelsior

File:McLaren Park (2275900933).jpg|Beyond McLaren Park, a view to Candlestick Point

File:McLaren Panorama (2766083245).jpg|Panorama from McLaren Park, showing the view to San Francisco Bay.

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References

Bibliography

  • McLaren Park (unofficial site)
  • Video tour of park and amphitheater (2007)
  • Official site of McLaren Park Groups events news Friends of McLaren Park SF