Lands End is a greenspace within San Francisco's 7-mile by 7-mile city limits. It is located on the Western edge of the city on the Pacific Ocean and is situated on steep bluffs above the coastline. The adjoining neighborhoods are Richmond to the South and the Seacliff area of Richmond to the East. These surrounding residential neighborhoods use Lands End as a park since much of it is covered in forests and native shrubs rather than development. The majority of it is actually one of the properties of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, administered by the National Park Service; the rest of it is either Lincoln Park (a city park) or The Department of Veteran's Affairs.
View of Lands End from Presidio:
Sutro District:
This section of Lands End contains Sutro Heights Park, the former location of an estate owned by Adolph Sutro, the land developer and mayor of the city in the late 1800's. It became a city park, and eventually part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Some of the trees, statues, paths, and terraces of the former estate still exist. The property has great views looking South to Richmond and its Ocean Beach, as well as West to the Pacific.
Cliff House:
Several buildings have served as restaurants on this site below Sutro Heights Park since 1858; the current one is a combination of a restored building with a modern 2004 addition. An historic camera obscura occupies its own small building and is a reminder of the tourist bric-a-brac that once crowded this area.
Sutro Baths:
Adolph Sutro opened the largest indoor swimming pool in the world in 1896 on this site in a ravine between the bluffs fronting the ocean. The building is long gone but much of the foundation is still evident as a ruin that can be explored.
Lands End Lookout:
On a bluff above Sutro Baths, this new 2012 visitor center serves this property of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Like the new Bridge Pavilion adjacent to the Golden Gate Bridge in the Presidio, this one integrates its interpretive exhibits with its gift items for purchase.
Coastal Trail:
A few large parking lots near the Lands End Lookout are the trailheads for this beautiful walk that runs along the bluffs.
Lincoln Park Golf Course:
California Palace of the Legion of Honor:
Located in Lincoln Park, this fine arts museum opened in 1924 and is a smaller-sized recreation of Paris' Palais de la Legion d'Honneur. It is noted for its Rodin collection. The formal parking lot and round pool on axis with the entrance is the Western terminus of the Lincoln Highway; the Eastern terminus is Times Square in New York City.
The Holocaust:
George Segal's 1984 sculpture group is located near the museum.
Department of Veteran's Affairs Medical Center:
The original buildings of this large hospital were built in 1934 on the site of a former military base, Fort Miley.
All photographs taken in 2012 by geomorph.
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