SFHS Presents:
Golden Gate Park – Photographs by Ron Henggeler

We’re excited to present this week’s Digital History Adventure: a photo essay of Golden Gate Park by photographer and San Francisco historian Ron Henggeler. In this adventure you’ll take a virtual tour through the meadows, museums, memorials, and wildlife that coexist in the world’s most beautiful urban park.

These photos were taken over a twenty-year period, and feature both iconic sites and rare glimpses into the park’s far reaches. Ron’s unique perspective and eye for the extraordinary are evident in each photograph. We are presenting the images as a full-format image gallery on a separate page, which plays automatically, like a slideshow (click HERE or on the image below to start the gallery).
* NOTE: move your mouse off screen to hide navigation buttons; your keyboard’s left and right arrows can advance the images back or forward; close the page tab when finished; detailed photo credits listed below).

We hope you enjoy the show!

GG Park - Photographs by Ron Henggeler

We plan on featuring more of Ron’s work in upcoming online presentations. Take this opportunity to visit Ron’s website and view his other photo collections (and be sure to check out the section Photo Newsletters, where Ron regularly posts his newest photos and histories).
http://www.ronhenggeler.com

We also created a short YouTube video to convey another way to experience our SFHS gallery show, with music by Bay Area musician Michael Masley:

GG Park - Ron Henggeler photographs YT

PHOTO CREDITS list:

  1. The pedestrian tunnel under John Kennedy Drive, near the de Young Museum
  2. This observation ferris wheel is only 60% completed. It was meant to be part of Golden Gate Park’s 150 Anniversary Celebration. Because of the Coronavirus, it now sits unfinished in the Music Concourse between the de Young Museum and the California Academy of Sciences.
  3. Dutch Windmill, Golden Gate Park, 1910  R. Henggeler’s photo of a photo by Willand Worden, from the show Portals of the Past at the de Young in 2015
  4. The Cliff House (Low Tide) 1904. R. Henggeler’s photo of a photo by Willand Worden, from the show Portals of the Past at the de Young
  5. The Garfield Monument sits on a prominent berm southeast of the Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park. Dedicated on July 4, 1885, it is the oldest monument in the park.
  6.  In a clearing known as Hero’s Grove, a large, three-sided granite boulder known as the Gold Star Mothers Rock is inscribed with the names of 748 local men and 13 women who died in World War I. Hero’s Grove is located across John F. Kennedy Drive directly north of the deYoung Museum.
  7. Detail of an enormous painted canvas mural from the 1915 PPIE. It hung in the Wilsey Court of the de Young Museum in 2015. The mural was part of an exhibition titled: Jewel City: Art from San Francisco’s Panama-Pacific International Exposition
  8. In the mid-1960s, artists, activists, writers, and musicians converged on Haight-Ashbury with hopes of creating a new social paradigm. By 1967, the neighborhood would attract as many as 100,000 young people from all over the nation. The neighborhood became ground zero for their activities, and nearby Golden Gate Park their playground.From the Summer of Love Show at the de Young Museum in 2017
    http://www.ronhenggeler.com/Newsletters/2017/4.15/Newsletter.html
  9. A poster for a Human Be-in on the Polo Fields in Golden Gate Park. From the Summer of Love Show at the de Young Museum in 2017
    http://www.ronhenggeler.com/Newsletters/2017/4.15/Newsletter.html
  10. A photo of the Polo Fields, from the Summer of Love Show at the de Young Museum in 2017
    http://www.ronhenggeler.com/Newsletters/2017/4.15/Newsletter.html
  11. The entrance to Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park
  12. Impressions of a Saffron Tower.  In 2008, a blown glass and neon tower by Dale Chihuly was installed in front of the De Young Museum in Golden Gate Park. TitledSaffron Tower, it stood in the very center of the Pool of Enchantment. During the summer in 2008, an exhibition of Chihuly’s work opened on June 14th and ended on September 28, 2008.
  13. The stairs leading up to Strawberry Hill in Golden Gate Park
  14. The bison in Golden Gate Park
  15. Detail of: Apple Cider Press, 1892 by Thomas Shields Clark
  16. A stairway inside the de Young
  17. Detail of the Sphinx. The pair of crouched Egyptian mythical figures by sculptor Arthur Putnam guards a walkway seemingly to nowhere . . . but this was once the pathway to the Egyptian-style Fine Arts Building for the 1894 Midwinter Fair.
  18. Detail From the 2012 show at the de Young Museum: The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk To The Catwalk
  19. Entrance to the Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park
  20. The 1905 Murphy Windmill, located at the south end of Golden Gate Park
  21. The 1905 Murphy Windmill during its historic restoration in 2011. To learn more about the restoration: http://www.ronhenggeler.com/Newsletters/2015/8.30/Newsletter.html
  22. This observation ferris wheel is only 60% completed. It was meant to be part of Golden Gate Park’s 150 Anniversary Celebration. Because of the Coronavirus, it now sits unfinished in the Music Concourse between the de Young Museum and the California Academy of Sciences.

San Francisco Historical Society’s Weekly Digital History Adventures
Don’t Stay Home Without Them