A few weeks ago, we did a podcast on the Alvord Lake and Bridge and it got us to thinking about all the bridges and tunnels in Golden Gate Park over the years. Some are gone, but others are still around. So with apologies to The Bridges of Madison County, here is our OpenSFHistory Top Ten look at the Bridges (and Tunnels) of Golden Gate Park.
Alvord Lake Bridge, 1890s. (wnp33.03911; Courtesy of a Private Collector)
Let’s start with the Podcast subject, the Alvord Lake Bridge, originally just called the Tunnel during construction. It was built in 1889 because of concerns about people crossing over the drive (now Kezar Drive) between Alvord Lake and the Children’s Quarters in Sharon Meadow. The unique concrete stalactites are the design of bridge designer Ernest Ransome. The bridge was built using Ransome’s patented reinforced concrete system and was the first reinforced concrete bridge built in the United States. It is now an Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers.
Iron Bridge over Middle Drive, 1903. (wnp71.1438; Martin Behrman Negative Collection / Courtesy of the Golden Gate NRA, Park Archives)
A few years after the Alvord Lake Bridge was built, another bridge was built over Middle Drive (now Nancy Pelosi Drive) for the same reason. Completed in February 1892, it was designed to provide safety for pedestrians from the horse-drawn carriages using Middle Drive. It was constructed of iron and was 140 feet long. Sadly, it no longer exists today, having been demolished in July 1928.
Tunnel under Main Drive near 10th Avenue, circa 1900. (wnp27.4938; Courtesy of a Private Collector)
Running under Main Drive (now JFK Drive) near the 10th Avenue entrance to the Park, this tunnel serves the same purpose as the bridges, to provide safety to the pedestrians crossing Main Drive. It provides access to the Music Concourse area and is still in use today. Just to the west of it, there is another tunnel under JFK Drive which provides access to the parking garage under the Music Concourse at 10th Avenue. Further east, there is a similar similar tunnel under Main/JFK Drive by the Conservatory of Flowers.
Pedestrian tunnel under Music Concourse, May 24, 1918. (wnp36.01868; DPW Horace Chaffee, photographer – SF Department of Public Works / Courtesy of a Private Collector)
If you walk south from the tunnel under Main/JFK Drive, you will quickly get to the pedestrian tunnel under the north end of the Music Concourse. It is seen here in 1918 with the Memorial Museum behind it. The Memorial Museum would soon get rebuilt and renamed the de Young Museum. There is a matching pedestrian tunnel on the other side of the Music Concourse from here by the Academy of Sciences.
Drum Bridge in Japanese Village at 1894 Midwinter Fair, 1894. (wnp26.994; Courtesy of a Private Collector)
On the northwestern side of the Music Concourse is the Japanese Tea Garden. It started as the Japanese Village at the 1894 Midwinter Fair. The Japanese Village featured this bridge called the Drum Bridge. You can still find the Drum Bridge in the Japanese Tea Garden today, though the canopy seen in this image has long since been removed.
Rustic Bridge to Strawberry Hill over Stow Lake, circa 1903. (wnp14.0908; (David Peyser, photographer / Courtesy of a Private Collector)
Like the Japanese Village, Stow Lake to its west was created for the 1894 Midwinter Fair. The manmade lake was built around Strawberry Hill, so they needed bridges to provide access to the hill, atop which Sweeny Observatory had been built. On the south side of Stow Lake, they built the Rustic Bridge out of boulders from the local tough sedimentary rock called chert. On the north side of the lake, there is another, far more plain-looking, bridge to Strawberry Hill called the Roman Bridge.
Construction of the Crossover Drive bridge, March 15, 1937. (wnp36.04136; DPW Horace Chaffee, photographer – SF Department of Public Works / Courtesy of a Private Collector)
With construction of the Golden Gate Bridge nearing completion, access to it was being worked on. One of those avenues was from the south on 19th Avenue, through Golden Gate Park to Park-Presidio. So Crossover Drive in the Park was constructed. To avoid having cross-traffic at Main/JFK Drive, they built this bridge, seen under construction in March 1937.
South tunnel entrance to the Polo Fields, May 14, 1934. (wnp14.4094; Courtesy of a Private Collector)
Further west in the Park is the Polo Fields. There is a track around the top of the stadium providing access to the bleachers from above. However, there are two tunnel entrances–one on the north side, one on the south side–which provide access directly to the lower track and field. This image of the south tunnel was taken after a grisly murder occurred in the tunnel on May 13, 1934.
Bridge over portion of North Lake, circa 1897. (wnp15.1719; Courtesy of a Private Collector)
West of the Polo Fields are the Chain of Lakes. This unique stone and wood bridge, seen here circa 1897, once spanned over a narrow portion of the southern end of North Lake. There also used to be another wood bridge that went from the west side of North Lake to the island in it. Neither of the North Lake Bridges are still around, though there is a short concrete and wood bridge across a little creek that goes into the lake on the west side.
Streetcar bridge by Murphy Windmill, 1910s. (wnp5.50841; Courtesy of Jack Tillmany)
During our Alvord Lake and Bridge Podcast, we told you how the naming of that lake led to a steam train right-of-way–later a streetcar line–across the west side of Golden Gate Park. That right-of-way included this rustic bridge over South Drive, now MLK, Jr. Drive. That bridge was demolished after the streetcar line was discontinued.
That’s our OpenSFHistory Top Ten look at the bridges and tunnels of Golden Gate Park. You’ll notice that we snuck in links to a few more than these ten. And we didn’t even get to the pedestrian tunnel under the Great Highway between the Beach Chalet area of the Park and Ocean Beach that has since been closed off. There are also a number of other very small pedestrian bridges over waterways in the Japanese Tea Garden and the Botanical Garden. How many of these bridges have you walked over or tunnels that you’ve walked through?