Dolores Park
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dolores Park is a San Francisco, California city park located in the neighborhood of Mission Dolores, at the western edge of the Mission District, which lies to the east of the park. To the west of the park is a hillside referred to as "Dolores Heights" or considered a part of the Castro neighborhood.
Dolores Park is two blocks tall by one block wide, based on the configuration of north-south and east-west blocks in that part of San Francisco. It is bounded by 18th Street on the north, 20th Street to the south, Dolores Street to the east and Church Street to the west. The northern end of Dolores Park is located directly across the street from Mission High School.
Dolores park offers several striking features: several tennis courts and a basketball court, a soccer field, a children's playground, and a dog play area. The southern half of the park is also notable for its views of the Mission district and downtown; until recently, the park also afforded a striking view of the Bay Bridge. This view was blocked by the One Rincon Hill condominium development by the summer of 2007. Also notable is the routing of the Muni Metro J-Church streetcar line through the park. The J-Church travels down Church Street after emerging from the Market Street tunnel. Upon reaching 18th Street, the transit line goes through Dolores Park since Church Street between 18th and Hancock streets is too steep for a trolley to climb. The line reconnects with Church Street a few blocks later after it winds its way along the streetcar right-of-way that abuts residential backyards.
The park lies east of Twin Peaks in the warm and sunny microclimate of the Mission neighborhood. The park is popular among San Franciscans looking for outdoor relaxation and recreation.
Contents |
[edit] History
Dolores Park -- officially Mission Dolores Park -- is named after Mission Dolores, established by Spanish missionaries in 1776. Native Americans of the Ohlone tribe inhabited the area for several centuries before Spanish missionaries arrived. The Ohlone shared the land with Spanish ranchers and shopkeepers until the 1849 Gold Rush, when new settlers, gamblers, and tavern keepers flooded San Francisco.
In 1861, the site was purchased by Congregation Sherith Israel for a Jewish cemetery which became inactive in 1894. The cemetery was moved to San Mateo County when San Francisco land became too valuable for the dead and burial within the city limits was prohibited. The graves were moved to Colma (via Southern Pacific railroad), where they still rest today at Hills of Eternity and Home of Peace Cemeteries. As a result of the mass grave movings from San Francisco, Colma is probably the largest city in the world where the population of the dead outnumbers the living.
In 1905, the City of San Francisco bought the land of Dolores Park for nearly $300,000 (equivalent to about $4 million in 2004). In 1906-07, the park served as a refugee camp for more than 1600 families made homeless by the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and fire. Camp life after the earthquake ended in the summer of 1908. Some people kept their temporary shacks as houses and a few still survive today scattered across western San Francisco.
[edit] Facilities
Dolores Park has six tennis courts and one basketball court; two soccer fields, a playground, and a clubhouse with public restrooms. Dolores Park has been the neighborhood center for cultural, political and sports activities since the 1960s. It has hosted political rallies, festivals, Aztec ceremonial dances, Cinco de Mayo celebrations, and San Francisco Mime Troupe performances. It is also the starting place for the annual San Francisco Dyke March.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Mission Dolores Neighborhood Association
- Friends of Dolores Park Playground
- Dolores Heights Improvement Club
- SafeCleanGreen (Neighborhood Association)
