Hidden Gems Photo Contest!
Thank you to all those who submitted photos to the contest. Congratulations to winner Paul Yamada and his picture of the 16th Avenue Tile Steps. He attended our Fall Fundraiser: Music Concourse 2007 with his wife Jane, and chose to distribute his $1,000 award to the 16th Avenue Tile Steps, Conservatory of Flowers, and Strybing Arboretum.
Also congratulations to honorable mention recipients Barbara Alexander and Grace Ruth, who received SFPT gear and a gift bag.
SUBMISSIONS
To me, Sutro Heights/Lands End is one of the most calming and picturesque places in busy San Francisco. All that is left of the estate of Adolph Sutro are two lions that border the entrance to the area and a circular wall that encompassed the house. From the west wall, the view overlooks the new Cliff House, bike riders traveling around the path of the walls, as well as a view of the ocean that completely removes a person from the hectic city life. It is as if you are on a resort beach. -Marilyn Dalton
Koshland Park is a hidden gem. Many people are surprised when they stumble upon it. At eight-tenths of an acre there is a welcoming entrance on Buchanan Street, near Page. Walkingpast a basketball court and play-structure, one reaches the top of the hill. This is where the surprise begins. With sweeping views of City Hall and Civic Center one is beckoned down a winding landscaped path to a beautiful community garden marked by a yellow picket fence. In the garden is an orchard, and fifty-four plots for community residents and students from many nearby schools. Surrounding the park is a tall retaining wall with recently installed peace tiles, created by the children and residents of the Western Addition. This is definitely worth a trip if you're from another neighborhood. Koshland Park is a hidden gem of a park‹one that more locals and visitors to San Francisco should know about. -Barbara Wenger
Brooks Park first came to my attention on a field trip taken as a recreation student at San Francisco State University. Community was the driving force behind Peter Vaernet’s mission to turn a vacant lot into the neighborhood’s hidden gem that began 17 years ago. As he spoke to my class about the arduous task of transforming the space from a wasteland into a vibrant utopia where native California flowers grow alongside planted vegetables in the community garden plots, I was inspired by his vision of using open space in urban locations as a way to foster community. - Emily Goodman
My hidden gem is Lloyd Lake in Golden Gate Park. Passing by one day, I realized I was looking at birds I had never seen before and I officially began bird watching. Though not exactly off the beaten path (it's on JFK Drive), the secret is that in the winter this pond explodes with a migratory population of American wigeons, American coots, Hooded mergansers, Ring-necked ducks and Mew gulls. It's also a popular spot for Snowy and Great egrets, and I've even seen a Green heron stalking along the shore and an occasional cormorant on a log drying its wings. - Megan Jankowskibr
Three sculpture gems in a Tenderloin park? Yes, Boeddeker Park at Jones and Eddy has three unique sculptures by three outstanding artists. Bruce Hasson's ark with its melange of animals symbolizing the park as sanctuary is located in the eastern corner of the park. Tenderloin resident, sculptor and singer Anthony J. Smith's metal cupped hands holding a globe with the faces of twelve Tenderloin residents graces the children's area of the park. Also in the children's area is well-known Bay Area sculptor Ruth Asawa's glass fiber and concrete bas-relief wall done with children from Redding Elementary School. - Betty Traynor
My favorite is Cayuga Park which is the work of one man, alone, on his own time. The attached picture of carvings is just a small sample of the statuary available here. Somehow, the carvings and the love that created this park considerably reduce the noise blight from overhead Bart trains. - Patrick Crowley
The Dolores Park Playground, with its exquisite view of San Francisco and its central location, is clearly not hidden from the diverse communities it serves, but what a gem. This picture was taken on a sunny Saturday morning while children and families flocked to the tall swing sets and old wooden boat to picnic, play and create generations of community. I met a mom that day who was with her young son and was talking about playing there as a child herself. Truly hidden from the tourism of San Francisco, Dolores Park Playground is a long time gem and tradition for families and children. -Mary McDermott
In 1984, a small group of volunteers banded together to create a park out of an abandoned school playground. The group grew to over one hundred volunteers by the time the park opened in March 1990. In the intervening six years, the neighbors had succeeded in having the property transferred from SFUSD to Rec/Park, secured $384,000 of Open Space Funds and raised $100,000 in the community to create this new park. Of the $100,000 raised by the community, $55,000 was in cash and $45,000 was in kind. Part of the in-kind donation was volunteer labor in planting all of the park’s plants, trees and shrubs under the supervision of Park Supervisors and the head of a private Landscape and Design company.
The neighbors used the SF Parks Trust as their fiscal agent and I believe this was the first time that the Friends had acted as fiscal agent for a park partner. The park has a little bit of everything for park users: a sandy area with children’s playground equipment, a lawn area, a tennis backboard, a community garden, a shade garden, a basketball hoop for one on one. It has become a very popular place for kid’s birthday parties from around the City. A former General Manager referred to it as the system’s “Mediterranean Jewel”. -Nan McGuire
Happening upon this sidewalk garden steps away from upper Haight Street is like stepping back in time to when the area was a dunescape. Planted with native grasses and flowers cultivated just a stone's throw away, it serves as a reminder that we're only a jackhammer away from the land. An extra bonus is that this garden helps keep stormwater out of the sewer system, instead recharging the aquifer and helping to heal the divide between nature and our city. It is planted in front of a local green business. - Jane Mariefrancis Martin
Harvest Time at Alemany Farm: Alemeny Farm is an urban oasis hidden between south side of Bernal Hill and north bank of Islais Creek which is now a freeway. After years of disuse, community members from Bernal Heights and Alemany Housing Development as well as volunteers from around city have re-cultivated the Farm. Composting made onsite fertilizes the vegetable garden. Fruit trees grow on the hillside and the stream runs through the land. Every year in October they have a harvest festival with live music, a bar-b-que and bicycle powered hay rides. -Damian Harris
Nestled in Cole Valley, Grattan Playground sits in the shadow of Sutro Tower and provides local families an inviting and welcoming spot to play and meet neighbors. Children love the huge sand box that allows for hours of creative play and the adjoining clubhouse shelters the playground from the onslaught of westerly blowing wind and fog. The greater square-block park has something for everyone, small and large play structures, tennis and basketball courts and a large field. Grattan provides an intimate and welcoming playground experience in the heart of San Francisco and is one of the City’s best kept secrets. -Michele McMahon-Cost
The dahlia dell in Golden Gate Park is a special hidden gem. Nestled next to the conservatory and planted and maintained by dedicated volunteer dahlia enthusiasts, the garden gives much joy to residents and visitors. On weekends, families pushing strollers and adults arm in arm with an elderly parent are often seen enjoying the garden. The tubers are planted in spring and the plants burst into bloom by August. September is a riotous bonanza of colors, from hot pinks to blazing yellows. Monarch butterflies are frequently seen fluttering among the flowers, adding to the feelings of serenity and beauty. -Barbara Swanson
A real gem which is little known to tourist or locals who live a few blocks away, is the colorful mosaic tile staircase located at 16th Avenue and Moraga in Golden Gate Heights. Neighborhood children call it "magic stairway" that tells the story of water, sky, birds, fish, flowers, frogs in tiles designed by local artists. You lose the sight of the tiles if you decend from the stairs above from the 360 degree panoramic views of the City from Grand View Park. -Paul Yamada
There is nothing more relaxing before starting one’s day than taking a nature walk through Golden Gate Park. With its many trails that twist and turn into a world of soothing peace and calm, my favorite is the one that follows alongside of Lincoln Way and lead towards the pounding waves of Ocean Beach. Nurtured by a canopy of tall trees that stretch ever so beautifully all around me, I tell myself how blessed I am to be living near such a beautiful environment. Hidden gems come in all shapes and forms and the walkways of Golden Gate Park sparkle with such pleasure, even on a foggy misty day. -Lollie Ortiz
It was on a walk along the Coastal Trail in the Presidio Park area that we saw some wooden stairs leading down through the trees. Intrigued, we started down to see where it led. After many levels and steep pitches, we came out in a small cove on the seaward side of the Golden Gate Bridge . Stacked up along the shore and on the larger boulders were many small rock cairns . We immediately decided to add cairns of our own to the collection. A gentleman told us this area was the beach depicted in the WPA project murals painted by Lucian Labaudt in 1936 at the Beach Chalet. -Karen Szumowski
My hidden gem is the Succulent Garden located at the western end of Strybing Arboretum in Golden Gate Park. I discovered it when I began to participate in the first-Sunday-of-the-month Audubon-sponsored bird walks. I'm drawn back often to enjoy the shapes, textures and colors of the plants and to photograph a fascinating variety of birds. At varying times of day and year I've seen Chestnut-backed Chickadees, Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Pygmy Nuthatches, Anna's and Allen's Hummingbirds, a mother quail protecting three chicks, a Downy Woodpecker and a female Townsend's Warbler (pictured). It's well worth a quiet walk there! -Grace Ruth
Alemany Farm is one of the great hidden gems of San Francisco. Stop by on any weekend and you'll see community farm enthusiasts from all over the City, joining together to work the soil to plant, nurture and cultivate healthy food for the community.
Alemany Farm empowers San Francisco residents to grow their own food and encourages people to think about how they fit with the natural environment. The Farm promotes jobs to alleviate violence and poverty and a foundation of trust and cooperation to create social change. An urban gem that nourishes the soul. -Richard Kay
Sharon Art Studio is unique. A 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. place where people from ages 5 to 95 learn new-to-them-ways. They create: in glass and pottery; paintngs in all media; jewelry in every form and substance; friendships -across age groups, with people they would otherwise never have met. A place of magic. A place of acceptance. A place of hope. A place of fulfillment. A place of discovery. A social place. A place for sharing. A place for giving. An oasis for celebrating creativity, friendship, love and appreciation. -Ruth Kadish
A children's learning garden next to a playground - good idea right? It's the Kevin Collins Children's Garden next to the Panhandle playground. There it curves, in recycled tire planters, with sunflowers, radishes, cosmos, a composter, funny signs, all at child level, soft to bump into, with multiples of every kind of plant, just in case someone really needs to pick something for mom. Best of all children can see that food grows from the earth, not the supermarket, and a tire full of daffodils is a thing of beauty. -Barbara Alexander