What are those ruins in the parking lot of the San Francisco Zoo?

 Posted by on November 17, 2014
Nov 172014
 

San Francisco Zoo
The Parking Lot
Sloat and The Great Highway

Fleishhacker Pool Remnants

This small monument is a remnant of a once great institution of San Francisco, the Fleishacker Pool.

Photo Courtesy of the SFPL

Photo Courtesy of the SFPL

Fleishhacker Pool, like the San Francisco Zoo, was a gift to San Francisco by Herbert Fleishhacker. The idea, conceived by John McLaren, designer of Golden Gate Park, was to help bring athletic competitions to San Francisco.

The first event held at the pool was on April 22, 1925, and featured a freestyle swimmer named Johnny Weissmuller representing the Illinois Athletic Club. Weissmuller appeared several times at Fleishhacker and was a real crowd pleaser.

Photo Courtesy of SFPL

Photo Courtesy of SFPL

The 6, 500,000 gallon, filtered seawater-filled pool, opened to the general public on May 1, 1925.  It cost 25 cents for adults and 15 cents for kids under 12.  For that, you had use of the dressing rooms with showers and the loan of a bathing suit and towel that were sterilized between uses.

The pool had twelve lifeguards and a number of life rowboats.  It also boasted a tree-sheltered beach, a cafeteria, and even childcare if you needed it.

The pool, while it existed was the largest in the world.  In 1943 U.S. troops used it to train for amphibious beach assaults.

Photo Courtesy of SFPL

Photo Courtesy of SFPL

Slowly slipping into disrepair the pool suffered its final blow when an outflow pipe collapsed in a 1971 storm, the city was unable to foot the bill for repairs.  The pool closed in June of 1971, and the concrete was broken up and the hole filled with dirt.  The land was granted to the zoo with the intention of adding parking.

Fleishhacker Pool filled in

The pool house, however, remained, it was hoped it would become a restaurant.  Sadly it simply became a shelter for vagrants and feral cats.  The pool house caught fire and burned to the ground on December 1, 2012

Fleishhacker Pool Ornamentation

leaving San Francisco with but a remnant of a glorious past.

 

Golden Gate Park – John McClaren

 Posted by on March 8, 2012
Mar 082012
 
Golden Gate Park
Rhododendron Grove
John McLaren, Supervisor of Golden Gate Park from 1890 until his death in 1943, detested statues. He hated them with such a passion that he defied the City authorities and persisted in his lifelong crusade to keep Golden Gate Park statue-free. It is fitting, then, that for his efforts McLaren was immortalized in the form of–what else? –a statue, which may be found near the entrance to the Rhododendron Dell that bears his name. Interestingly, the McLaren statue is placed at the very back of a hedged-off grassy space, far from the gaze of visitors. Perhaps those responsible for the statue felt a tinge of guilt. By attempting to conceal the McLaren statue, they were following McLaren’s own policy of “if you can’t beat ’em, hide ’em.” When McLaren lost his battles against those who wanted to erect a statue, he exacted revenge by re-arranging the park to make the statue as unobtrusive as possible. Usually he did so by planting trees, shrubs, and assorted verdant objects on all sides of the offending idol. To this day, most of the dozens of statues that grace (or deface) Golden Gate Park are so well-concealed by McLaren’s greenery that few visitors even suspect their existence.
-Dr. Weirde of FoundSF.com
In this statue McClaren is holding a pinecone and stands directly on the soil, rather than a pediment. The statue was sculpted by M. Earl Cummings, (Cummings is responsible for many of the statues in Golden Gate Park) around 1911. It was refused by McClaren when it was presented as a gift by Adolph Bernard Spreckels. One story says it sat on McClaren’s porch for years.
John McClaren by M. Earl Cummings
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