Ahead of Memorial Day, San Francisco's New and Renovated Parks Offer Plenty of Reasons to Step Outside

With Memorial Day approaching, San Francisco has a long list of newly opened or refurbished outdoor spaces for residents who want to spend the holiday away from their screens. The city's parks agencies and community groups have recently completed projects ranging from small neighborhood playgrounds to a $27 million tennis center.

In the Presidio, Battery Bluff has been unveiled above Crissy Field after a joint effort by local, state and federal agencies. It is named for four U.S. Army gun batteries: Blaney, Baldwin, Slaughter and Sherwood. Visitors get views of the Golden Gate, Angel Island, Alcatraz and San Francisco Bay, and can use new picnic tables or a multi-use path lined with 60,000 native and ornamental plants that leads toward the Golden Gate Bridge. Despite what Google Maps may suggest, the site cannot be reached from Mason Street. Drivers can park along Lincoln Boulevard or in the Main Post. The Presidio is also adding three bike share stations, at Anza Avenue and Lincoln Boulevard, Torney Avenue and Lincoln Boulevard, and MacArthur Avenue and Fernandez Street, as well as a self-guided program called Field Notes. It uses wooden markers and QR codes to share seasonal facts about the park's plants and animals.

Golden Gate Park has also become cheaper to enjoy. Under a free-pass ordinance that Mayor London Breed signed in March, the Japanese Tea Garden and the Conservatory of Flowers now join the San Francisco Botanical Garden as free for city residents. U.S. veterans with identification also get in without charge.

Several other parks now offer new views or facilities. Francisco Park, built on a once-abandoned reservoir site, has a fenced dog park and an ADA-compliant path from Bay Street to a lawn and a children's playground. It was scheduled to open officially April 27. In McLaren Park, the Mansell Tai Chi Court opened in mid-March with a demonstration of the martial art, and it is designated for public multi-use, including yoga and dancing. The Angelo J. Rossi Pool near USF has reopened after a two-year, $15 million renovation that also covered the pool building and the park's sports fields. Another project reopened pathways linking Aquatic Park to Fort Mason for the first time since the Gold Rush, according to the source.

Families have a number of new options. The California Academy of Sciences added Wander Woods, an outdoor space for unstructured play with native plants and structures made from reclaimed wood from nearby parks. Heron's Head Park has a nature exploration area inspired by local children, with paths, boulders and repurposed wood leading to a bay lookout. A playground that was closed for six months has reopened with artificial-grass play surfaces and sand at the slide landing zones, which families told The Standard they appreciate.

Other renovation projects include a $6 million overhaul of a park with a larger play area, adult exercise equipment and a ball field where basketball great K.C. Jones played as a child. Juri Commons received $1.9 million in upgrades, and Golden Gate Heights Park got a $2.8 million makeover that added a climbing wall. A $3.3 million project added what is described as California's first playground "skywalk," and George Christopher Park's $5.2 million renovation added a playhouse, an imagination garden and a performance stage.

Larger projects are also drawing visitors. A $19.7 million project transformed the Garfield pool into a neighborhood center with a 113-foot glass mural, a playground, sports fields and a courtyard. Golden Gate Park's new tennis center has 16 lighted courts and six pickleball courts. A Chinatown playground received a $14.5 million renovation, which included a rooftop basketball court. In SoMa, Kapwa Gardens, created by the Filipino community from a Mission Street parking lot during the pandemic, hosts arts, culture and wellness events in the SOMA Pilipinas Cultural Heritage District.

For those wanting more adventure, the McLaren Park Ropes Course, run by Outward Bound California, offers 11 low and high elements, including "The Leap" from the top of a telephone pole to a dangling buoy. Its main aim is building confidence in local students, though spots are sometimes open to the general public.