Category: Parks

A Park for Sunnyside

Sunnyside History7 Comments
1966. SF Dept Public Works, Sunnyside Playground.

By Amy O’Hair

When Sunnyside was laid out in 1891, there was no provision for any public park or open space built into the plans—just rectangular blocks filled with edge-to-edge lots for building (see early maps here). To put it in perspective, many more basic matters of infrastructure in the neighborhood were lacking for years: there were no streetlights or sewers, the roads were dirt, and the water supply spotty, even into the 1920s. It was not until the 1960s that Sunnyside got a park of its own.

View of the children's play area at Sunnyside Playground, Foerster Street and Melrose Avenue, San Francisco. Photo: Amy O'Hair.
View of the children’s play area at Sunnyside Playground, Foerster Street and Melrose Avenue, San Francisco. Photo: Amy O’Hair.

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A Savior on a Rocky Knoll

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Dorothy Erskine Park. Photo: Amy O'Hair

In 1913 someone who was far from home, new to the City, and despairing of his future came to a lonely hilltop at the northern edge of Sunnyside to do away with himself. But he didn’t count on the appearance of a local man, Hugo Ekenberg of 400 Joost Ave, who would save his life. The “knoll” where it probably happened is one of our hidden treasures, the rocky outcropping now called Dorothy Erskine Park, at the top of Baden Street.

Dorothy Erskine Park, 2016. Photo: Amy O'Hair.
Dorothy Erskine Park, near Baden Street and Mangels Ave. 2016. Photo: Amy O’Hair.

Here is the news report in the San Francisco Call (19 April 1913):

SF Chronicle, 19 April 1913. From newspapers.com. The reporter has altered Hugo Ekenberg's name, perhaps at Ekenberg's request.
SF Chronicle, 19 April 1913. From newspapers.com. The reporter has altered Hugo Ekenberg’s name, perhaps at Ekenberg’s request.

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The creek that ran through Sunnyside

Sunnyside History13 Comments
Washout at Monterey and Edna, Feb 1915. OpenSFHistory.org.

By Amy O’Hair
Update 2023: New map to chart the route of the creek found here.

Before it was diverted into the drains—probably in the 1920s after improvements to streets and sewers—Sunnyside had a tributary of Islais Creek running through it. Sounds bucolic perhaps, but it seems mostly to have been a nuisance to residents, and for one man, his death-trap.

Where the creek in Sunnyside ran. Composite from SeepCity.org map and googlemaps for position of streets. Please visit SeepCity.org for more on this remarkable mapping of our old waterways.
Where the creek in Sunnyside ran. Composite from SeepCity.org map and googlemaps for position of streets.  Please visit this updated post with my most recent creek map here.

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