On my tours I almost always refer to the Lower Haight neighborhood and Panhandle area of San Francisco as “San Souci Valley.” That’s the name used until the 1920s or so. I started being curious about it from an old and obviously unreliable map.

This was the map I saw, showing few buildings, and making "San Souci" look nearly as important as the Mission Dolores itself. Other than misspelled French for "carefree," I had no idea what "San Souci" was. And maps of the time are little help.

This is the bizarre story of this little-used old moniker, the maps that make it fun, and discovery—yours and ongoing.

Just so you have the context, the streets through the Western Addition and Panhandle areas were graded about 1870, as a result of expansion fueled by the silver boom of the Comstock Load. Before that huge development project, the area was remote and difficult to pass through. It was windy, sandy, and generally tough going for horse or human. North of the east-west dune at Page Street, it was all truly boonies.

The 1857-59 map shows what was probably an orchard entirely filling the low spot that may have been the lake. The vertical white bars indicate the line of Divisadero Street.

But there was one spot of relief. On the line of Divisadero near Hayes, there was probably a triangular lake for a time. And on its north point, at what’s now Fulton and Divisadero, stood a refuge from the nasty wind: San Souci Roadhouse. When I first saw a map with a building (image above, right), created in 1853 by SF City Surveyor Clement Humphreys, I was merely confused. Hills marked with the old hatchers instead of contour lines were unclear and locations were inexact. On the 1851 city line (currently Divisadero St.) and on the weaving, dotted line trail from the Mission to the Presidio, stood a building. Yet another map (below) from 1861 showed property lines marked with family names, so I thought San Souci could be a name.

When I first started the Walk the Wiggle tour, I contacted a local author, Dan San Souci, hoping he’d help clear up the name’s source. He said his family wasn’t old SF stock, and he didn’t have any ideas for my search, though he took a nice photo when he came on my tour.

Thanks to the digitization of old library books, I was able to find a reference that explained the San Souci Roadhouse as the source of the name, and then I found a booklet created for Mercy Terrace (the old SP Railroad hospital at Fell and Baker) which detailed the San Souci property. This led me to the California Historical Society’s original copy of a lease from San Souci. I’ll go into that whole angle a lot more in a future post, but I do want to give you one more sweet glimpse of the roadhouse just before it was torn down in the 1920s.

Jesse Brown Cook took this photo after other buildings had encroached on the original roadhouse. Storefronts had also been added. If you know of any photos before all these changes, I'd love to hear!

The tour will start in Golden Gate Park, because since the late 1800s, the Laguna Honda watershed has been a main source of water for irrigation of the Park.

The creation of the irrigation system happened at the time when the Park was being entirely re-configured. Development of Golden Gate Park had been firmly within the “rustic” aesthetic of William Hammond Hall. Then railroad magnate Collis P. Huntington gave funds to build a waterfall and land speculator Thomas U. Sweeney donated for a fortress-like observation deck on top of the hill in the center of the reservoir.

The grand entry of Sweeney observatory was reflected in a 50,000 gallon pool which provided the headwaters of the falls.

This was the turning point for the Park, after which everything was named for funders (e.g., Huntington Falls) and no longer for function (e.g., Deer Glen).

That’s right, I’m referring to Stow Lake as a reservoir. It was dug into the hillsides surrounding Strawberry Hill so that water pumped out of the dunes near 13th Ave. and Lincoln Way could be stored, then flow to all the new planted areas of the Park by gravity.

We’ll head up to see the abandoned reservoir at Laguna Honda itself, of course. Come join us next Sunday, and learn more! These watershed tours tend to attract a lot of knowledgeable people who have much to share!
RSVP to linda at natureinthecity dot org.

Once a field of dunes, Golden Gate Park was built on a swath of sand called the Outside Lands. An ambitious garden the size of New York’s Central Park replaced the dunes, partly to create a refuge from city stresses of the Industrial Age and partly to boost land investment profits.

The Park’s Music Concourse was the site of the first electric light displayed publicly in San Francisco, the first childrens’ playground in the world…and many peculiar statues. The Park also happens to be where the first reinforced concrete bridge was built, the first drivers license issued (yes, in the whole world!) and the first parachute jump was made (no deaths!). There are even ruins of a stolen eleventh century Spanish monastery!

Golden Gate Park has become a showcase for exotic and native species with lush woods, flowerbeds, recreation sites and jungles.

On the Outside Lands Bike Cruise, we tour the park using transportation history as our lens to examine how parks reflect the social patterns and technological shifts of a society. The shift to a car-dominated society happened in parallel with the development of the Park, and we’ll learn how the two “projects” interweave.

We’ll bicycle to the remains of bridges and railroads, and discuss how the areas around the Park developed, too.

Please join this exploration of the refuge that San Franciscans use for our ball games, car races, drug trips, and law suits and curse for its weather—and where we spontaneously reenact the Summer of Love whenever blessed by a sunny afternoon.

If you need a bike, rent one near the Park, or we can try to find you a free loaner. Please check your bike for basic functioning.

Suggested donation $15 to $50 per person
Approximately 2 & 1/2 hours
Meet at the McKinley monument in the Panhandle, across Baker Street from the DMV (Baker & Fell Streets).

Please check tour dates, invite your pals & RSVP
(by phone if the tour is within a couple days).

This tour is generally a bike ride, but can be adapted to walking, by request. If you need a bike, rent one near Dolores Park, or use my loaner bike. For more details, see Thinkwalks Bike Tours page.