SF’s newest park has some retro charm in the form of benches and beams from the disassembled old eastern span of the Bay Bridge, as the $32 million Bayfront Park just opened Tuesday right next to the Chase Center.

You’ll recall that the old eastern span of the Bay Bridge was torn down starting in 2014, after that fancy new eastern span opened in 2013. So, what did they do with the disassembled pieces of the old Bay Bridge? Well, some of them are now part of the new Bayfront Park that just opened Tuesday, according to the Chronicle. The park makes benches and sculptures out of the rusty old steel beams, adding a fun, rugged charm to the new 5.5-acre park to a waterfront area immediately outside the Chase Center that was formerly a loading dock for Bethlehem Steel.

The Chronicle notes that the park’s designer, Surfacedesign Inc., was able to go out on the water while the old bridge was being torn down, and pick out their chosen planks of steel and old parts. “It was crazy being on the bridge picking steel out,” Surfacedesign partner James Lord told the Chronicle. “We handpicked it from the trusses.”

Bayfront Park just had its ribbon-cutting and grand opening Tuesday morning. “With the opening of Bayfront Park, we have reached another exciting milestone in our efforts to create a Mission Bay that is a thriving neighborhood with great open spaces, new housing developments, as well as world renowned health centers and sports institutions,” Mayor London Breed said in a statement issued before the ceremony. “I am thrilled to see this area transform from what was once a strip of dirt to become such an amazing park for residents and visitors to enjoy.”

And while the park had a steep price tag of $32 million, it was largely paid for by the Mission Bay Development Group, even though the Port of San Francisco owns the land. The Mission Bay Development Group is responsible for a lot of the new development that’s gone into the neighborhood in recent years, and per Breed’s press release, “Future plans include the addition of a restaurant or concession area in the park.”

KPIX took some sneak preview footage of the park now that the fencing has been taken down. That report notes the park also has “bioretention guardians which are kept green with stormwater where rain is going to run off a slopy, grassy hill out here,” so that seems ecologically sound. And as seen in the rendering below, the park is elevated at 14.5 feet above sea level to adjust to the rising sea levels that the city’s eastern coast is preparing for.

The Mission Bay/Mission Rock neighborhood already saw the new China Basin Park open this past April, and Bayfront Park is about a mile south of the India Basin Waterfront Park area, also called 900 Innes, that just opened in Hunters Point this past Saturday.

Related: SF’s Most New Expensive Park Opening Saturday, as India Basin Waterfront Park Spruces Up Hunters Point [SFist]

Image: @ChaseCenter via Twitter

After being fenced off for years, the 2.5-acre India Basin Waterfront Park at 900 Innes has its grand opening Saturday, and will eventually be part of sprawling 65-acre park that hopes to rejuvenate Bayview and Hunters Point.

A new San Francisco park that has been in the works for ten years, and has been fenced off for decades, will see those fences come down Saturday morning for a grand opening ceremony. We noted back in 2021 that a dilapidated boatyard in between Bayview and Hunters Point would become part of SF’s most expensive park at 900 Innes Avenue. And that park is opening Saturday, with SF Rec and Parks declaring “The development of 900 Innes will transform a post-industrial brownfield into the 21st-century legacy park in a historic waterfront context.”

The Chronicle’s sneak preview of the new park refers to it simply as “900 Innes Park,” though Rec and Parks is using the larger mouthful of a name “India Basin Waterfront Park at 900 Innes Avenue.” As of now, it’s just a few new but very nice acres being added on to India Basin Shoreline Park. But the Chronicle notes the parks will feature “front porch terraces” that directly overlook the Bay and are full of public seating, floating docks with benches, and a food court.

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And check out this public art installation Lady Bayview by artist Raylene Gorum, a homage to the 1960s and 70s-era political activists the Big Five of Bayview.

Plus you will be able to boat out onto the SF Bay at Saturday’s opening party! According to the park's website says there will be “row boats for visitors to take out on the water with Rocking the Boat,” as well as “free food through the park's new food pavilion.” They’re also throwing a party Saturday called Fall Fest, “an annual event with a local vendor market, DJ, pumpkin patch, food, art activities, a health zone, and recreational fun for all.”

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It’s not totally clear what’s happening long term with this Food Pavilion at 900 Innes, whose website does not list any vendors. There’s just this promise of “free food” on Saturday, but a few other events are listed, including a pop-up from Vegan Hood Chefs every Sunday (11am-3pm) this week through November 24. There’s also an application to become a vendor at the site.

While this is being billed as SF’s “most expensive” park, 900 Innes will actually just be part of SF’s most expensive park, a larger work that is still in progress. 900 Innes cost $68 million, according to the Chronicle, but once the larger 64-acre India Basin Waterfront Park is completed, the price tag will be more than $200 million.

Though nearly half of that money is coming from state funding, and private donations, like the $25 million from the John Pritzker Family Fund.

Related: Waterfront Property Featured In 'Last Black Man In San Francisco' To Become SF's Most Expensive New Park [SFist]

Image: Trust for Public Land

Before 2011, the exact location of the Grove of Titans — a cluster of incredibly old, incredibly massive California redwoods, some 26 feet in diameter — was a mystery. But thanks to some internet sleuths, the location of the grove in uppermost Northern California is now well-publicized, and as a result, the grove now faces a threat that many park rangers feared would someday come: a crush of tourists.

According to a New York Times story on the grove, hikers would come and visit the Grove of Titans, near Crescent City, and in doing so they would walk on the soil that rested atop the redwoods' delicate roots. This threatens the trees, as the soil becomes more and more compacted as more and more hikers pass through the area.

To protect the roots and the forest floor, park rangers are hoping to raise $1.4 million to construct a Muir Woods-style wooden boardwalk that would allow tourists to walk through the grove without doing this trampling. Unfortunately, the Times reports that state funding is slow in coming, and much of the fundraising is being done by the Redwood Parks Conservancy, a non-profit.

Similar walkways have been established around other gigantic redwoods, including "The Big Tree" in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park. There, a platform wraps around a tall redwood, allowing visitors to completely around it without adversely affecting the soil.

How tourists came to discover the Grove of Titans is an interesting story, as well. The way the New York Times tells it, a book about "tall tree hunters" left behind some clues as to the grove's location. It was known that the grove was located in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, but an exact location was never given and no marked trail leads you there. Once the internet got on the case though, it was only a matter of time until that secret came to light.

One supervising ranger, Brett Silver, says he's mystified as to why people want to come to that particular grove. He told the New York Times, "There are just as impressive trees on other trails in the park. That’s my thing." But then he goes on to hazard a guess as to why, saying, "But those trees don’t have names. I mean, Grove of Titans, that’s an impressive name."

Related: One Woman's Campaign To Landmark A Redwood Tree On Lombard Street Ends In Triumph

San Francisco might have more than a few new parks in its future as 10 plots of land located underneath the city's elevated freeways could potentially be converted to parks and open-air recreation areas.

The plots, mostly located under Highway 101, with a couple underneath Highway 280, are currently rented out by Caltrans to private clients, mostly serving as parking spaces or storage areas. But if California Assembly Bill AB857 becomes law, San Francisco would have right of first refusal on renting those plots of land at a deep discount, with the only stipulation being that they have to be converted into parks and maintained by the city itself.

Financially speaking, the move would make sense. According to a report from the Chronicle, the city spends about $7.5 million clearing out the homeless encampments that pop up underneath the highways. Compare that to the estimated $1 million cost of maintaining parks and recreation areas, and it's easy to see how the city (and the state) would save a heck of a lot of money.

Beyond that, however, the question of where those homeless folks will end up is more or less left hanging.

To many San Francisco residents, the encampments have come to represent a danger to the city, with one such major incident—an early A.M. fire at a Mission Bay encampment—making headlines back in July. More recently, last Thursday, an explosion in Mission Bay's "Box City" encampment destroyed one person's shelter and belongings, prompting the city to crack down on the remaining shelters located there.

But as possible sites for further encampments dwindle, the fates of the city's many homeless people are left hanging in the balance, as they often are. One can only hope that by establishing parks in these underutilized spaces, further consideration towards using current empty lots as sites for affordable housing may also come later. Such is the hope of Todd Rufo, the director of the San Francisco Office of Economic and Workforce Development, who explained to the Chronicle, "If we didn’t get this, our choices would be to acquire some buildings, knock them down and then build the parks there. That’s space that could have been more affordable housing, or something else. We thought there was a better way to do it."

Either way, the bill dictating the future of these sites is currently awaiting Governor Jerry Brown's signature.

Related: Homeless Encampment Continues To Render Cesar Chavez Bike Bridge Virtually Unusable

A "moderately decomposed" corpse was discovered Monday by a cleanup volunteer who was taking part in the eight annual Day of Service on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The discovery occurred along the Martin Luther King Jr. Regional Shoreline in Oakland, and the body was spotted in the "mudflats between Arrowhead Marsh and the boat launch" in San Leandro Bay, according to an East Bay Regional Parks spokesperson who spoke to the Chronicle.

There was no obvious indication of foul play, but an autopsy will now occur by the Alameda County Coroner. According to the Contra Costa Times, the body was damaged in the storm, possibly by hitting rocks.

Says parks spokesperson Carolyn Jones in a statement, "On this day, of all days, and in this particular park ... it's especially tragic. Obviously, we all feel for the victim and his family whoever they may be and the people at the park today who were there."

The body reportedly belongs to a male in his 30s or 40s who was partially clothed, and no other description has been given. It seemed likely that the body washed ashore here from elsewhere, and a cause of death will have to be determined.

ABC 7 adds that "hundreds" typically participate in the volunteer cleanup events, which involve the pulling of weeds and invasive plants in various parks and gardens in the East Bay.

San Francisco cries a single, giant tear into its collective PBR tallboy today as we learn that the renovated south side of Dolores Park will not reopen this Thursday as planned. What's worse, the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department has provided no new opening date in light of the announcement.

As if that's not enough, to rub salt in our park-going wounds, Rec and Park tells us that the reason for the delay is "weather." Yes, weather.

"The south side opening and opening celebration for Dolores Park, scheduled for Thursday, January 14 from 4pm to 7pm has been postponed due to weather," begins the announcement. "The event will be rescheduled in the future," it concludes.

It seems that the opening date was "weather permitting" (see the update on this post), and unfortunately for all of us a 40 percent chance of rain is apparently enough to indefinitely postpone the full opening of the park

While we can maybe understand why the possibility of rain might result in the postponement of the opening celebration, it is a little harder to grasp why that means the south side of the park itself still must remain closed with the fences up. In the end, it perhaps doesn't speak well of the $20.5 million project that a wet week means the newly renovated south side must remain off limits.

After all, the rain is not expected to stop anytime soon..

Previously: Dolores Park To Finally, Fully Reopen January 14th

Feeling frazzled by back-to-school season or stressed by summer's end? Lucky for you, it's the season finale of Yoga in the Park, which means a giant outdoor "ommm" for all involved. This Saturday morning at Fort Mason's Great Meadow, YTP is partnering with Om Records for the "Om Yoga Rocks the Park" CD release party in conjunction with the normal yoga proceedings.

It'll be the last Yoga in the Park for a while, so swing by to get your stretch on, meet likeminded yoga types and groove to the cool vibes of Om Record's Om Yoga, Vol 2. Here's a sampling of the yogic vibes that'll be on offer:

The special promo code "omyoga" will get you 10% off your 75-minute yoga class, which is going for $15. Class goes from 9:15 am - 10:30 am on Saturday.

Yoga in the Park
The Great Meadow at Fort Mason

According to Eater, the highly anticipated cafe at Stow Lake is set to open on Thursday. What kind of food will they serve? Well, on the cafe's site, they reveal: "Our menu is filled with healthy and fresh housemade items. When possible we source our ingredients locally in order to offer visitors access to organic and sustainable food that is healthy for people and for the environment. We also recognize the historical nature of Stow Lake's food offerings. Stow Lake classics such as pink popcorn will remain available."

Executive chef Chad Newton, a native Northern Californian, will guide the menu.

Other improvements, according to Richmond SF, include a "brand new fleet of rental boats on the lake," "repair and replace the roof, and repair and restore the windows and sills on the boathouse."

Update: Jim Herd of SF Citizen informs us that, quite possibly, the cafe might instead open next week due to rain and electrical issues. We'll update again as soon as we know more.

Construction on the 17th Street Pedestrian Plaza is wrapping up. So far, the newly tagged temporary public plaza includes plants, concrete benches, and (God willing) loads of sunlight. Here are some images of the plaza, which will remain open for enjoyment until July 11.

(By Travis Jensen)

The new Potrero del Sol/La Raza Skatepark officially opened last Saturday in the Mission District. Hundreds of skateboarders came out for the occasion. Mayor Newsom and Jennifer Siebel were even in attendance. With lattes in hand, the two watched in awe as local rippers annihilated the park. The Mayor showed a particular interest in the bowl.

The day’s shred meter was off the charts. Real Skateboards pro Dennis Busenitz absolutely destroyed every obstacle in the street course. Girl Skateboards pro Mike Carroll spracked face high backside ollies on the steep bank. An unknown whippersnapper in purple pants blasted lengthy ollies over the bowl gap. Seriously, this kid couldn’t have been older than fourteen! Up-and-comer Adrew Langi ripped both the street course and bowl as if he had been skating the place his entire life. Dude is definitely on some next shit. Last but not least, an unidentified girl shredded the bowl barefooted, straight Dogtown style. (Follow the jump to continue.)

Round and round they go. Arf!

(To check out all of Darwin Bell's photos, which we strongly suggest doing, go here.)

Nature lovers will be peeved.

Under the budget proposed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today - dear God, just how did we get here? starting off a sentence like that? - nine local state parks would face a temporary shutdown until California learns how to balance its checkbook, pay its bills on time, stops disrespecting their mommas on , or something like that.

Statewide, the Gov is considering closing 48 state parks. Among those close to home are Henry W. Coe State Park, Candlestick Point State Recreation Area, Austin Creek State Recreation Area, Armstrong Redwoods State Reserve, Tomales Bay State Park in Inverness, Petaluma-Adobe State Historic Park, Portola-Redwood State Park, Benicia Capitol State Historic Park, and Benicia State Recreation Area. They all face temporary closure if and when the Gov and the Legislature compromise on a spending plan later this year. And overall, that's one out of five state parks, folks. Egads.

One more thing, according to the Gate, "money will be spent for patrols to keep people out of the closed parks." How very creepy.

Police found missing diabetic East Bay teen ("missing," "diabetic," and from the "East Bay" -- ow, that's rough), who also suffers from depression, in "ok" condition this afternoon. Whew. According to NBC11, "ambulance crews pulled [Rosalind "Rosie" Blanckenburg] off a trail at the park at about 1:25 p.m. near Woodhaven and Sinset." No word yet on how she ended up in the park, but for now she is safe and (hopefully) sound.

We're sure that her poor parents have been having a Paul Lynde moment since yesterday, so we wish Rosie and her family all the best. Hang in there, girl.


Image credit: NBC11