The lighthouse will be closed until further notice due to a small landslide partially blocking the trail. This closure has been extended to allow staff additional time to remove the slide.
Sloat Blvd. parking lot at Ocean Beach closed starting March 17, 2025
The parking lot will be closed through mid-April as part of a city-managed project. For more information, please see the project page (link below). More
T. Preiser, Special Collection, Suzzallo Library, University of Washington
In 1776, the Spanish came to San Francisco Bay to establish an outpost in western North America. The Presidio of San Francisco was under Mexican rule for 24 years before the U.S. Army took control in 1846. For 148 years the U.S. Army transformed windswept dunes and scrub to a verdant military post.
African Americans have fought in every war dating back to the Revolutionary. After the Civil War, African Americans could enlist in the Regular Army. They became known as "Buffalo Soldiers" there after. During the Spanish and Philippine Wars all four Buffalo Soldier' regiments were garrisoned in San Francisco.
The lives of soldiers and military men extended beyond the battlefield. They had families, or women in their lives that were experiencing war and military life at home. The first women in the Army were nurses and the U.S. Army General Hospital in the Presidio, was the first to employ them. Congress established the Army Nurse Corps in 1901.
Locations:Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Presidio of San Francisco
Parklands of Golden Gate National Recreation Area incorporate San Francisco, San Mateo and Marin counties. All of which, envelope overlapping military histories, and social movements that influenced each other. This included military bases and the Presidio’s Letterman Army Hospital. LGB military personnel faced the military ban, discrimination and in 1981: the HIV/AIDs epidemic.
The Armed Forces Disciplinary Control Board served as an agent of harassment for LGB servicemen and the establishments they patronized. As raids and arrests continued, many LGB people fought to protect the few places they felt safe. Local bars and clubs admonished by the AFDCB, became unintentional epicenters for this fight.
Military history, LGB culture, immigrant stories, and much more make up GGNRA's roots. For José Sarria, a LGB activist in San Francisco, all the above apply. Born in the Bay Area to a single mother from Colombia, Sarria became the first openly gay, public figure. He ran for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1961.
Dr. Margaret “Mom” Chung was the first Chinese American woman to become a physician. She founded one of the first Western medical clinics in San Francisco’s Chinatown in the 1920s. During World War II, she and her widespread network of “adopted sons,” most of them American soldiers, sailors, and airmen who called her “Mom,” became famous. Although she faced prejudice because of her race, gender, and sexuality, Dr. Chung forged a distinctive path throughout her life.
The Nike Missile Site SF-88, is a Cold War era military site In the Marin Headlands. During the Cold War, there were close to 300 of these sites around the U.S. armed with powerful missiles. The fear of the enemy, the fear of the ‘other’ that powered this missile defense system, is the same sentiment that fueled the military ban on LGB people.
Locations:Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Presidio of San Francisco
A former U.S. military officer stationed at the Presidio of San Francisco, Gilbert Baker joined the San Francisco Gay Liberation Movement after his discharge. Baker went on to design and create the first Rainbow Pride Flag for San Francisco Gay Freedom Day. The activism and art of Gilbert Baker helped unify a community in the bay area and beyond.
Locations:Alcatraz Island, Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Presidio of San Francisco
In 1918, the United States Army learned that the Presidio of San Francisco was home to men who desired other men. The Men of Baker Street were incarcerated on Alcatraz Island for five months awaiting their courts-martial. These courts-martial found all six soldiers guilty and dishonorably discharged. They forfeited all pay, and five were sentenced to be “confined at hard labor” for sentences ranging from 2-10 years.
Locations:Manzanar National Historic Site, Presidio of San Francisco, Tule Lake National Monument
Dr. Kazue Togasaki was one of the first Japanese American women to become a doctor in the United States. She was born and raised in San Francisco and delivered over 10,000 babies in her long career serving the community and Japanese Americans. A survivor of Japanese internment in WWII, she was strong willed, serving as a physician to fellow internees at the assembly centers from 1942 until her release in Fall 1943.
Locations:Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers National Monument, Presidio of San Francisco, Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks
Throughout his life, Charles Young overcame countless obstacles in his ascent to prominence. In spite of overt racism and stifling inequality, Young rose through the military ranks to become one of the most respected leaders of his time. From leading men in combat on foreign soil to leading men domestically in our country's national parks, Young led by example and inspired a generation of new leaders. He was posthumously promoted to Brigadier General on November 1, 2021.
