It’s anything but child’s play
Every great city has a park to match. San Francisco’s is Golden Gate Park, a thousand acres of Pacific splendor created in the 1870s by, among others, the Scottish horticulturalist John McLaren. McLaren took the job of supervising the park’s development on one condition: “There will be no ‘Keep off the Grass’ signs.” Such was his respect for California manners.
Nevertheless, the well-trodden park endures and also holds tight the city’s past. For example, there is Spreckels Lake, named after Adolph Spreckels, a sugar and railway magnate and a quintessential San Francisco character. In 1884, he became so enraged after the San Francisco Chronicle accused his company of deliberately misleading investors that he shot the newspaper’s founder, Michael de Young—who survived. Spreckels was acquitted of attempted murder.
Info
Address Spreckels Drive at 36th Avenue, San Francisco, CA, 94121, www.golden-gate-park.com/spreckels-lake.html | Public Transport Bus: 5 (Fulton St & 37th Ave stop) | Tip A free tai chi class is offered alongside the lake every Saturday and Sunday from 8:30am to 10am. All levels are welcome.
At the turn of the 20th century, Spreckels, then president of the Parks Commission, built the lake at the request of members of the San Francisco Model Yacht Club, the oldest club of its kind in the western hemisphere. In 1937, the city provided funds to build an adjacent clubhouse, which contains one of the world’s largest collections of antique model yachts. If you pass by and happen to spot a member coming or going, be sure to ask for a peek inside. It’s a dream house for anyone interested in model sailboats, which are all made of the finest wood, with masts nearly four feet tall. Many are equipped with motors to control jib and mainsail. Members take it all very seriously. Indeed, there have been times following regattas when a sore loser has pushed a winner into the lake. Which sounds quite dramatic until you consider that the water is only three feet deep.
You don’t have to be a member to set sail on Spreckels Lake: it’s open to all comers.
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