August 19, 2009

  • Modern Archaeology

    Up in the northeast corner of Golden Gate Park, off Stanyan, there are, apparently, horseshoe pitching grounds.  There's a wall that runs south down the street for a few blocks, so you can't really see what's on the other side, but it's been an overgrown "wild" part of the park, inasmuch as a very-designed-by-humans park that was originally built, mostly, on sand dunes can be wild ("feral" perhaps?).

    ba-horseshoexx_0500475874
    Ted Bartlett, member of the Guardsmen, retrieves a horseshoe he
    had thrown on the horseshoe courts in Golden Gate Park
    on Tuesday August 11, 2009 in San Francisco, Calif.
    Photo: Lea Suzuki / The Chronicle

    Turns out, the pitching grounds were part of a WPA project during the depression era.  Check out the horse sculpture back there in the above photo.  There's apparently one of a pitcher too.  I pass by the corner somewhat frequently and had no idea about the pitching area.

    Golden Gate Park is, by far, one of my favorite parks anywhere.  It's full of surprises like this.  I remember coming across the fly fishing pools, a couple-acre area with still water pools dotted with concrete rings anchored to the bottom of the shallow pools.  The rings are of different diameters, so anglers can practice their aim by casting a line into large or small rings.  The Park really is a great resource for leisure activities, and I'm glad this little corner of it is being dusted off.

    In conclusion. here's a completely unrelated quote from Wintersmith that I liked the first time I read it, and still like very much today.

    You had to deal every day with people who were foolish and lazy and untruthful and downright unpleasant, and you could certainly end up thinking that the world would be considerably improved if you gave them a slap.  But you didn't, because, as Miss Tick had once explained: a) it would make the world a better place for only a very short time; b) it would then make the world a slightly worse place; and c) you're not supposed to be as stupid as they are.

    I'll dedicate that quote to, oh, let's say the numbnuts encouraging people to take or themselves taking guns to various political rallies.  Just because you can doesn't mean you should.  Like, just because I could pass wind loudly in work meetings doesn't mean that it's a polite thing to do, and it comes across as me being something of a puerile putz.  But why some people revel in their putziness, I'll never know.

     

Comments (3)

  • Good quote and nice to see you blogging occasionally.

  • @dougsf - Hey there! Nice to see you as well!

  • Hey I know where you're talking about! I remember walking past that corner several times when I visited. I remember thinking it was curious that one of the most accessible corners of the park seemed to be left to go unkept. (I think I like your term feral now that I think about it. Makes the daisies and oak trees seem sexy and dangerous.) Kinda cool that they're uncovering a forgotten past.

    It seems kind of hard to believe the park was ever sand dunes, the trees seem so huge and old.

    Funny you mentioned the fly fishing pools, I was surprised by them myself last time I visited. Thought I'd walked all through that section of the park, but no there's some old dudes casting away. Sadly I seem to have forgotten to take any pictures. I think I had a sakura blossom obsession that day.

    I agree, GG is possibly the best park I've ever been to in any city thus far.

    You're quote is of course brilliant.

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