Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
1
Golden Gate Park
Panhandle
Map
9 C1.
@
5, 6, 21, 31, 43, 66, 71.
v
N.
This one-block-wide, eight-
block-long stretch of parkland
forms the narrow “Panhandle” to
the giant rectangular pan that is
Golden Gate Park
(see pp144-
57)
. It was the first part of the
park to be reclaimed from the
sand dunes that rolled across
west San Francisco, and its
stately eucalyptus trees are
among the oldest and largest
in the city. The Panhandle's
winding carriage roads and
bridle paths were first laid out in
the 1870s, and the upper classes
came here to walk and ride.
They built large mansions on
the outskirts of the park; many
can still be seen today. In 1906
the Panhandle was a refuge for
families made homeless by the
earthquake
(see pp30-31)
. Today
the old roads and paths are
used regularly by large crowds
of joggers and bicyclists.
The Panhandle is still
remembered for its “Flower
Power” heyday of the 1960s
(see p131)
, when bands gave
impromptu concerts here.
reclamation of Golden
Gate Park
(see p148)
and
the opening of a large
amusement park called
The Chutes, the area was
rapidly built up in the
1890s as a middle-class
suburb - hence the
dozens of elaborate
Queen Anne-style houses
(see p77)
lining its streets.
The Haight survived the
1906 earthquake and
fire
(see pp30-31)
, and
experienced a brief
boom, followed by
a long period of decline.
After the streetcar tunnel
under Buena Vista Park was
completed in 1928, the middle
classes began their exodus to
the suburbs in the Sunset. The
area reached its lowest ebb in
the years after World War II. The
big Victorian houses were
divided into apartments and
the low rents attracted a mixed
population. By the 1960s the
Haight had become host to
a bohemian community that
was a hotbed of anarchy. A
component of this “hippie scene”
was the music of rock bands
such as the Grateful Dead, but
the area stayed quiet until 1967.
Then the media-fueled “Summer
of Love”
(see p131)
brought some
75,000 young people in search
of free love, music and drugs,
and the area became the focus
of a worldwide youth culture.
Mansion built for Richard Spreckels
Today, the Haight retains
its anti-establishment
atmosphere, but there are
problems of crime, drug abuse
and homelessness. However,
from the congenial cafés to the
second-hand clothing shops,
you will still find the aura of
the past here.
3
(Richard)
Spreckels Mansion
737 Buena Vista West.
Map
9 C2.
@
6,
37, 43, 66, 71.
Closed
to the public.
This house should not be
confused with the larger and
grander Spreckels Mansion on
Washington Street
(see p72)
. It
was, however, also built by the
millionaire “Sugar King” Claus
Spreckels, for his nephew
Richard. The elaborate Queen
Anne-style house
(see p77)
,
built in 1897, is a typical late-
Victorian Haight Ashbury
home. It was once a recording
studio, and later a guest
house, but is now
in private hands.
Guests have
included the
acerbic journalist and
ghost-story writer
Ambrose Bierce, and
the adventure writer
Jack London, who
wrote
White Fang
here in 1906.
The mansion is
situated on a hill near
Buena Vista Park.
Rows of Victorian
houses, many of
them well preserved
and some palatial,
View of Haight Ashbury and the Panhandle
2
Haight Ashbury
Map
9 C1.
@
6, 33, 37, 43, 66, 71.
v
N.
Taking its name from the
junction of two main streets,
Haight and Ashbury, this
district contains independent
book-stores, large Victorian
houses, cafés, and hip clothing
boutiques. Following the
The Cha Cha Cha restaurant on Haight Street
