Golden Gate Park From Richard Katz's
Skating Unrinked book, published in paperback by HarperCollinsWest in 1994. Or was it '95? If you are not reading this on a screen, stop reading and head to www.Amazon.com. Thanx. Richard Katz = katz@frogojt.com. email
If you didn't really want to read a rollerskating trails book: Back to Richard Katz's Homepage
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Chapter ggpark
Golden Gate Park: John F. Kennedy Drive on Sunday
Rollerskating was the rage in San Francisco in the '70's. Everybody had skates. Droves of people skated in Golden Gate Park, where the land was flat and the skating was easy. Skates were rented out of buses on Fulton Street, Clement Street, Stanyan Street. Each one of those buses had a hundred pairs of skates or more, and every Sunday they were all rented out. With so many operators, the rates were pretty cheap, which brought more and more people out to skate. John F Kennedy Drive was crowded with skaters. An ordinance was passed which closed the Drive to vehicular traffic from 6 A.M to 6 P.M. on Sundays, between Stanyan Street and Nineteenth Avenue. It was skate heaven. Art and commerce flourished. People exercised, were invigorated, edified by being out in Golden Gate Park, where the Arboretum and the Museum and the Academy of Science are.
Then, just as the whole thing was legislated into existence, it was legislated out of existence. The fly-by-night rental shops were required by law to find a permanent roost with a storefront, a business license, and the requirement most burdensome to freewheeling entrepeneurship -- insurance! So one by one the owner-operator skate rental shops went away, and gradually the popularity of Sunday skating in the Park declined. It's a shadow of its former self. No doubt one of these days someone will call the Board of Supervisors attention to the plight of the motorists on the Drive and car-less Sunday skating and biking will be a fond memory like Playland at the Beach. Until that happens, though, JFK drive on Sundays is a great place to skate.
How to Get There by Car from Southbound Highway 101:
Southbound Highway 101 comes in to San Francisco over the Golden Gate Bridge. Take the right exit that says "Downtown -- Lombard Street", and follow southbound 101 as it wends its way through town as Richardson Drive, then hooks left about 135 degrees and becomes Lombard Street, and then turns right to become Van Ness Avenue. Drive south about a mile and a half (thirty blocks) to McAllister Street. When you get to McAllister, go right. Jog left on Laguna, drive one block, then turn right on Fulton Street. Travel all the way out to Twenty-fifth Avenue. Turn left into Golden Gate Park. Stay to your right, and quickly take the right fork where Cross Over Drive rises up on the left and Transverse Drive stays flat on the right. After a twist and turn or two, Transverse Drive crosses John F. Kennedy Drive. There is usually parking available near this intersection; take a spot just before the intersection if you can.
How to Get There by Car from Interstate 80 or Northbound Highway 101:
From Interstate 80 westbound (i.e. if you are coming from the East Bay on the Bay Bridge) stay in the right hand lanes after you cross the bridge, and take the exit "Highway 101 North -- GG Bridge".
If you are coming from SFO Airport or from San Jose and south on Highway 101, stay in the left hand lanes and take the exit "Highway 101 North -- GG Bridge"
Everybody: Once you are on this double decker elevated freeway, stay in the left lanes until the "Fell -- Laguna Street" exit. At the bottom of the offramp, merge slightly left onto Fell Street. Drive out Fell Street all the way to Stanyan Street, turn right, then go left on Fulton Street. Take Fulton to Twenty-fifth Avenue, and go left into Golden Gate Park. Stay to your right, park anywhere, and skate the last block or two to the barricades the SFPD puts up on Sunday at the intersection of Transverse Drive and John F. Kennedy Drive.
Note: Parking is difficult (and occasionally unpleasant) at the other end of the trail back near Stanyan Street.
What It's Like:
Skating in Golden Gate Park Monday through Saturday is only moderately rewarding and somewhat life threatening. At commute time there are a lot of cars and they move pretty fast; at other times there are a lot of sightseers, and they aren't out for a drive in the park just to see you. Then there is the problem of where to skate lawfully. The Park administration has stencilled "No This" and "No That" on numerous paths leading to flower gardens and tree groves and statuary, and on paths that parallel the streets.
On Sunday, on the other hand, the police put up a set of barricades on John F. Kennedy Drive (the main drag through the Park) at the Stanyan Street end in the east and at Transverse Drive to the west. That's about a mile and a half of well maintained asphalt roadway. For a lot of people in the City, it's The place to skate.
From where you parked, start skating east on JFK Drive. This moderate incline is about as steep as any of the ups and downs in the Park. The road curves past a small lake with a functioning waterfall, and then by a meadow on the right, about half a mile fromwhere you started, where on some Sundays you can attend free Shakespeare in the Park. If this were back in the Bard's day, the actors would no doubt have a line or two ready for the skaters, maybe something like "...if like a crab you could go backward".
There used to be (and sometimes still is) a lot of action near the entrance to the Music Concourse, the circular drive that goes past the DeYoung Museum, the Asian Art Musem, the Band Shell, the California Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Steinhardt Aquarium, and the Morrison Planetarium. At the entrance, which is about three quarters of a mile from where you started, you might see some ensemble skate dancing and slalom events, and occasionally a ramp for jumps. Skates aren't allowed on the Music Concourse itself. That's too bad, because it has a number of interesting outdoor sculptures.
You can skate up and down Conservatory Drive, by the Strybing Arboretum and the Hall of Flowers. Watch for signs stencilled in the pavement, telling you where you can skate.
When you get to the eastern barricades at Stanyan Street, it is possible to extend your trip by crossing the street into the Panhandle, which is also parklike. However, all the traffic being diverted from the Park is going by on Stanyan Street, so it's not an easy street to cross.
Back at the western barricades, you can skate another interesting mile and a half on JFK Drive out to the ocean. You have to skate in the street with the traffic, though, because the path next to the street is marked "No Rollerskates" in several places.
The path from Nineteenth Avenue out to Ocean Beach is all slightly downhill. That's fun. After only half a block, you come to the first in a picturesque series of ponds, complete with ducks and model boats: Lloyd Lake, Spreckels Lake, and Chain of Lakes. When you see signs that say, for example, "Beach -- 36th Ave" always opt for the beach. There are one or two stop signs.
Places to Eat:
Sometimes on Sunday there are junk food stands by the Music Concourse entrance. The Mexican food one is pretty tasty.
Out on Fulton Street, near the Tenth Avenue entrance to the Park, there are usually one or two fresh fruit and vegetable merchants.
Skate Rentals:
Haight Street is just across the street from the park at the eastern end, two blocks up from JFK Drive on Stanyan Street. There is a skate shop on the first block of Haight called Skates on Haight, which has been around since the Summer of Love. Well, that was a long time ago, and by this time, what we've got is a store with a bad attitude in a bad neighborhood. There are places to rent skates on the Avenues both north and south of the Park that are a lot easier to deal with: Skate Pro at 27th and Irving (415 752 8776); Magic Skates at 3038 Fulton at Sixth Avenue (415 668 1117).
Public Transportation:
The San Francisco Municipal Railway will take you to Golden Gate Park, even on Sundays. The Muni 44 line from Clement Street stops right at the Music Concourse on the way to the Glen Park BART station. The 29 line goes right to the western barricades on its way to Balboa BART from the Marina. The 5 line goes right along Fulton Street (the northern boundary of the Park) all the way to the downtown BART stations. Best of all is Muni's N-Judah streetcar, because you can take it to Nineteenth Avenue near Irving Street, by the 19th Avenue Diner. If you've never visited San Francisco's Sunset District, you will find this part of it real lively.
Ratings:
Path Surface = ***
Public Transit Access = ****
Surroundings = **** (Sunday Only)
Level of Difficulty = Not EASY
Overall Rating = ***
Length = Almost 2 miles, one way
Other trails to check out in the neighborhood:
The Great Highway.
San Francisco Marina -- The Muni 29 line can take you directly to Golden Gate Park from Mason Street near Crissy Field.
10/10/96
Note from the Author: Haven't put in links to the other chapters yet.
From Richard Katz's Skating Unrinked book, published in paperback by HarperCollinsWest in 1994. Or was it '95? If you are not reading this on a screen, stop reading and head to www.Amazon.com. Thanx. Richard Katz = katz@frogojt.com. email
Back to Richard Katz's Homepage
If you want to go back to the Table of Contents of Skating Unrinked, Back to TOC