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The Panhandle is a
public park An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a municipal park (North America) or a public park, public open space, or municipal gardens ( UK), is a park in cities and other incorporated places that offer recreation and green space to re ...
in
San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
, so named because it forms a panhandle with
Golden Gate Park Golden Gate Park, located in San Francisco, California, United States, is a large urban park consisting of of public grounds. It is administered by the San Francisco Recreation & Parks Department, which began in 1871 to oversee the development ...
. It is long and narrow, being three-quarters of a mile (eight blocks) long and just one block wide. Fell and Oak Streets border it to the north and south, Baker Street to the east, and to the west Stanyan Street which separates the smaller Panhandle from the much larger Golden Gate Park. One street crosses the Panhandle, Masonic Avenue, roughly in the middle. In its westernmost block, Oak and Fell Streets angle across the Panhandle, converge with one another, and continue west of Stanyan as John F. Kennedy Drive and Kezar Drive. Two paved walking paths, one allowing bicycles, run the entire length of the Panhandle from east to west, and several shorter ones criss-cross it north to south. In its western section, between Stanyan and Masonic, the Panhandle contains
basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
courts, a
public restroom A public toilet, restroom, public bathroom or washroom is a room or small building with toilets (or urinals) and sinks for use by the general public. The facilities are available to customers, travelers, employees of a business, school pupils ...
, a
playground A playground, playpark, or play area is a place designed to provide an environment for children that facilitates play, typically outdoors. While a playground is usually designed for children, some are designed for other age groups, or people ...
, and an outdoor gym. The
William McKinley Memorial The ''William McKinley Memorial'', is a statue honoring the assassinated United States President William McKinley which stands at the foot of the Panhandle Park, San Francisco, California, facing the DMV across Baker Street. Created by Robert ...
is at the eastern end of the Panhandle, just across Baker Street from the DMV; it consists of a statue and seating area, and was dedicated in 1904 by President
Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...
, who succeeded McKinley after his assassination in 1901. The Panhandle forms the southern boundary of the
Western Addition The Western Addition is a district in San Francisco, California, United States. Location The Western Addition is located between Van Ness Avenue, the Richmond District, the Haight-Ashbury and Lower Haight neighborhoods, and Pacific Heights. ...
neighborhood and the northern boundary of the
Haight-Ashbury Haight-Ashbury () is a district of San Francisco, California, named for the intersection of Haight and Ashbury streets. It is also called The Haight and The Upper Haight. The neighborhood is known as one of the main centers of the counterculture ...
district.


History

An 1853 map of San Francisco labels the area that the Panhandle and Golden Gate Park presently occupy the "Great Sand Bank". In 1870, the Panhandle's footprint occupied large, shifting sand-dunes with little vegetation in between it and the Pacific Ocean known as the " Outside Lands". The large hills of sand, semi-arid conditions, and powerful winds generated by the
Golden Gate The Golden Gate is a strait on the west coast of North America that connects San Francisco Bay to the Pacific Ocean. It is defined by the headlands of the San Francisco Peninsula and the Marin Peninsula, and, since 1937, has been spanned by th ...
effect conspired to make agriculture and gardening nearly impossible—except for in a few small valleys protected from the constant winds.
William Hammond Hall William Hammond Hall (1846–1934) was a civil engineer who was the first State Engineer of California, and designed Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, CA. Biography William Hammond Hall was born in Hagerstown, Maryland, on February 12, 1846. ...
's long-term plan to create a vast recreational park in San Francisco was first implemented in The Panhandle in 1870, which became part of Hall's experimental laboratory for finding suitable vegetation for reclaiming the dunes. After much trial and error, Hall found that by first planting barley - followed months later by sea bent grass mixed with yellow lupin - the sand dunes could be stabilized enough to dump manure and top-soil without risk of wind-erosion. On top of this layer,
Monterey Pine ''Pinus radiata'' ( syn. ''Pinus insignis''), the Monterey pine, insignis pine or radiata pine, is a species of pine native to the Central Coast of California and Mexico ( Guadalupe Island and Cedros island). It is an evergreen conifer in the f ...
s,
Monterey Cypress ''Hesperocyparis macrocarpa'' is a coniferous tree. It is commonly known as the Monterey cypress and is one of several species of cypress trees endemic to California. The Monterey cypress is found naturally only on the Central Coast of Califor ...
es and
Eucalyptus ''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of over seven hundred species of flowering trees, shrubs or mallees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalypteae, including '' Corymbia'', they are commonly known as euca ...
—all known for quick growth and shallow root structures—could take root. After Hall tamed the dunes, the Panhandle was ready to accept planting of hundreds of tree varietals, representing regions from all over the world, including such species as Bailey's
Acacia ''Acacia'', commonly known as the wattles or acacias, is a large genus of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially, it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa and Australasia. The genus na ...
, Japanese Yew, Black Walnut, Blackwood
Acacia ''Acacia'', commonly known as the wattles or acacias, is a large genus of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially, it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa and Australasia. The genus na ...
, Queensland
Kauri ''Agathis'', commonly known as kauri or dammara, is a genus of 22 species of evergreen tree. The genus is part of the ancient conifer family Araucariaceae, a group once widespread during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, but now largely res ...
, and Italian
Alder Alders are trees comprising the genus ''Alnus'' in the birch family Betulaceae. The genus comprises about 35 species of monoecious trees and shrubs, a few reaching a large size, distributed throughout the north temperate zone with a few sp ...
. The land in and around the Panhandle has been so completely transformed by 100+ years of irrigation and development that the sandy, unstable ground beneath is no longer apparent. In 1899, a proposal was considered for an expansion of the Panhandle due eastward, across
Van Ness Avenue Van Ness Avenue is a north–south thoroughfare in San Francisco, California. Originally named Marlette Street, the street was renamed Van Ness Avenue in honor of the city's sixth mayor, James Van Ness. The main part of Van Ness Avenue runs fro ...
and all the way to
Market Street Market Street may refer to: *Market Street, Cambridge, England *Market Street, Fremantle, Western Australia, Australia * Market Street, George Town, Penang, Malaysia *Market Street, Manchester, England *Market Street, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia ...
downtown.alif. 1895-1913 - Chronicling America - The Library of Congress"> Another idea in 1928 proposed extending the Panhandle diagonally across the
Lower Haight The Lower Haight is a neighborhood, sometimes referred to as Haight–Fillmore, in San Francisco, California. Location Referred to as "Pine Valley" in the 70s because of all the pine trees, the Lower Haight lies generally along Haight Street east ...
and
Duboce Triangle The Duboce Triangle is a neighborhood of San Francisco, California, located below Buena Vista Park and between the neighborhoods of the Castro/Eureka Valley, the Mission District, and the Lower Haight. According to the 2010 neighborhoods map of ...
neighborhoods and reaching Market Street further west. Neither of these were ever carried out. In the 1950s, a freeway was proposed that would have run through the Panhandle, taking the place of a road running through the park known as The Avenue Drive, but due to a citizen
freeway revolt Highway revolts (also freeway revolts, expressway revolts, or road protests) are organized protests against the planning or construction of highways, freeways, expressways, and other civil engineering projects that favor vehicles. Many freeway r ...
it was canceled; the
San Francisco Board of Supervisors The San Francisco Board of Supervisors is the legislative body within the government of the City and County of San Francisco. Government and politics The City and County of San Francisco is a consolidated city-county, being simultaneously a c ...
voted in 1959 and again in 1966 against building the Panhandle freeway. Instead, the road through the Panhandle was removed entirely and the streets on either side of it were turned into wide, one-way streets, with traffic lights timed to allow cars to move continuously at 20 (formerly 25) miles per hour. Similar one-way pairs of rapid through-streets exist throughout San Francisco. The popular bike/walking path along the north side of the Panhandle, along with the Fell and Oak Street Bikeways,
The Wiggle The Wiggle is a zig-zagging bicycle route from Market Street to Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, California, that minimizes hilly inclines for bicycle riders. Rising , The Wiggle inclines average 3% and never exceed 6%. The path general ...
, and Market Street, form an important link between the largely residential
Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...
and
Sunset Sunset, also known as sundown, is the daily disappearance of the Sun below the horizon due to Earth's rotation. As viewed from everywhere on Earth (except the North and South poles), the equinox Sun sets due west at the moment of both the spring ...
Districts, which are west of
Twin Peaks ''Twin Peaks'' is an American Mystery fiction, mystery serial drama television series created by Mark Frost and David Lynch. It premiered on American Broadcasting Company, ABC on April 8, 1990, and originally ran for two seasons until its cance ...
, and other areas to the east, including the
Civic Center A civic center or civic centre is a prominent land area within a community that is constructed to be its focal point or center. It usually contains one or more dominant public buildings, which may also include a government building. Recently, the ...
,
Financial District A financial district is usually a central area in a city where financial services firms such as banks, insurance companies and other related finance corporations have their head offices. In major cities, financial districts are often home to s ...
, and
Mission District The Mission District (Spanish: ''Distrito de la Misión''), commonly known as The Mission (Spanish: ''La Misión''), is a neighborhood in San Francisco, California. One of the oldest neighborhoods in San Francisco, the Mission District's name is ...
. This route follows the terrain in such a way as to allow someone to traverse San Francisco without having to climb its steepest hills. The Bikeways, which feature physical barriers that separate the bike traffic from the fast-moving car traffic, were built by removing three blocks of parking from the south side of both streets (between Baker and Scott), an almost impossible political feat in car-clogged San Francisco. In addition to the bike/walking path, west-bound riders can also use a bicycles-only curb lane, which is separated from moving traffic by a parking lane, on Fell Street along the north side of the Panhandle.


References


External links


"Golden Gate Park"
''Encyclopedia of San Francisco''
North of Panhandle Neighborhood Association

Planned route of the Panhandle Freeway
{{Coord, 37.772, -122.450, type:landmark_region:US-CA, name=The Panhandle, display=title Parks in San Francisco Golden Gate Park Haight-Ashbury, San Francisco Western Addition, San Francisco 1870 establishments in California Protected areas established in 1870