PARK(ing) Day SF

Friday was PARK(ing) day in San Francisco, where folks convert parking spaces into actual mini-parks.  There were several dozen locations about town, and I decided to hop on my bicycle and visit the 7 nearest home.

It didn’t start well, with the park at Fulton & Masonic gone missing (odd, since it was sponsored by the SF Bicycle Coalition & FixMasonic.org), and the one on Cole & Beulah consisting only of a couple of potted plants in the street, and a garage sale on the sidewalk.

Lower Haight PARK

Down in the Lower Haight on Scott St., however,  two gentlemen had a nice little park set up, with a sisal(?) rug, plastic chairs, water and lemonade.  We chatted for a few, and I continued around Duboce Park and on to the park at Noe & Market.

 
Hula Hoop lessons at Noe & Market PARK

This was a fun park, with astroturf and a nice woman (Adriana?) giving hula hoop lessons.  Lets just say that I’m not a born hula hooper….

 
Library PARK at Market & Duboce

A left on Market and a few blocks down the supposed park at Market and Church was also gone missing but shortly after that at Market and Duboce, was the best of the parks I saw, a full-fledged library (with WiFi!).  I sat for a few and read some bicycling-related pamphlets and enjoyed sitting on turf as cars and trolleys rolled down Market St.

 
Hayes Valley PARK

Heading north now on Octavia I found the Hayes Valley park, smack in the middle of the business district.  Although it was a nice park, featuring little totem poles made by a local artist, the people running it were too busy talking to each other, and paid their guests little/no attention.

 
View from Alamo Square Park

I found myself wishing I’d printed out a bigger list of the parks, since many were downtown and it was a short ride away, but I didn’t, so I slogged up the Hayes St. hill, stopped for a moment at Alamo Square to admire the view, and rode home.

PARK(ing) Day is a fantastic idea, and I’m glad it’s catching on in other cities.  Next year I will be more organized and try to visit as many as possible.

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