Golden Gate National Recreation Area

Environmentalists Campaign Crissy Field, Yosemite to Ban Bottled-Water

Bottled-water might not be as sexy as, say, public nudity in San Francisco, which actually isn't sexy, but environmentalists have launched an equally passionate campaign to ban bottled-water across national parks. Their next stop: San Francisco, where city officials have been barred from bottled- ... More >>

Man Sues National Park Service After Getting Tased by a Ranger

On January 29, 2012, Gary Hesterberg went for a run through the Golden Gate National Recreation Area in Montara. He brought along his two dogs, a beagle, which was on a leash, and a rat terrier, which was not. A month-old policy prohibited unleashed dogs at the park, though, so Ranger Sarah Cavallar ... More >>

They Built This City

This Land is Our Land

Samuel P. Taylor, Tomales Bay State Parks to Stay Open with Help from Feds

​State and federal authorities announced today that two popular Marin County state parks will remain open with the help of the National Park Service.Samuel P. Taylor State Park, a campground nestled among redwoods in West Marin, and Tomales Bay State Park, which lies on the shore of its eponymous ... More >>

SF Weekly Letters

Awesome Secret Underground Bunker in Marin Headlands Gets Sealed Up

New Offleash Laws to Favor Dog Walkers Who Make a Profit

Get ready for a lot more of this.​The San Francisco Board of Supervisors might gripe about the seemingly onerous plan to severely restrict dogs from roaming offleash in areas owned by the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. But when it comes to that key question of how to handle dogwalkers who h ... More >>

Palace of Fine Arts Has New Tenants -- Barn Owls

They're cute when they're young.​Many people know about the great horned owl family living on Strawberry Hill in the middle of Stow Lake. But did you know barn owls -- the ghostly-looking birds with white, heart-shaped faces -- are making a family at the Palace of Fine Arts in the Marina?Josi ... More >>

Federal Government Shutdown: Will You Be Kicked Off Ocean Beach?

Going, going ... gone?​With the specter of a federal shutdown looming tomorrow, San Franciscans have reason to worry. If our government ceases operating and everyone heads to the beach -- will we be able to head to the beach? Ocean Beach, after all, is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation A ... More >>

SF Dog Politics Comes Unleashed; Rally Planned Next Week

Even Cujo might be too squeamish for these meetings​For those with a taste for the bitter, litigious, and inordinately complex world of San Francisco dog politics, there's a lot to look forward to over the next few days.Two of the four public meetings planned by National Park Service officials on ... More >>

Scott Wiener Takes Up Cause of Anti-Leash Activists

And so it begins​One of the more puzzling aspects of San Francisco politics is the bizarre level of conflict that arises with any discussion of dogs. The prolonged internecine conflict between those who wish to run their dogs free and advocates of more restrictive leash laws has periodically convu ... More >>

San Francisco Is Populated with Labradors Looking for a Good Swim Hole

Not the leash today, please​Here is another reason San Francisco shouldn't restrict dogs from roaming on beaches and open space off leash: We love our Labradors and they love to swim and run. More people in San Francisco own Labrador Retrievers than any other breed, according to the American Kenne ... More >>

Dog Owners Say Proposed Leash Laws Are Unenforceable

Let Me Roam Freely​In a city where there are more pooches than there are kids, you don't really want to be on the wrong side of dog owners.The Golden Gate National Recreation Area, a federal organization that owns popular dog-roaming spaces, wants owners to put leashes on their dogs. The agency dr ... More >>

Ocean Beach Whale Likely an Endangered Species

Stoke ReportEither way, it's a shame​Scientists analyzing the dead whale that washed up on Ocean Beach yesterday were unable to determine exactly what manner of whale it was. They did narrow it down to two species, however -- both of which are endangered. Jan Roletto, the research coordinator at t ... More >>

Dead Whale Washes Up on Ocean Beach (PICS)

Stoke ReportPoor surfing -- and a dead whale​Continuing a rough spell for our Cetacean brethren, a large dead whale was today spotted on Ocean Beach. The whale -- which at least appears to have been dead for some time -- washed up between Kirkham and Lawton. This is the third dead whale spotted in ... More >>

Do You Have First Amendment Rights in San Francisco Parks or Not?

Now valid in National Parks! Right?​Jurisdictional lines are funny things. Here in San Francisco you can hoist your banners and beat your drum to express the message of your choosing per your First Amendment Rights -- until you tread onto Ocean Beach, the Presidio, or other federal land. The Natio ... More >>

Bleeding Green

Forget about Sharp Park’s endangered frogs and snakes. The real problem with the golf course is its enormous cost to the city.

Investigators to Inspect Dead Couple's Beached Boat

View Larger MapNational Park Service investigators will be poring over the 33-foot boat of a couple killed yesterday off Ocean Beach in an attempt to answer what compelled a middle-aged couple to head overboard to their deaths. "We don't know why the boat was in distress and we don't know why the pe ... More >>

End Near for Louis' Restaurant -- Since 1960s

Rosencruz SumeraGetting yanked around by landlords is longstanding tradition at Louis'​Tom Hontalas began washing dishes in his dad's restaurant in 1968  for 50 cents an hour. Now, along with his brother, Bill, he owns Louis' Restaurant and cooks the meals. It's the only job he's ever had. A ... More >>

The Real Story Behind the Threat to Louis' Restaurant

easywriterguy/FlickrThe long-term lease for the diner space near the Cliff House is going out for bid.​Today at our sister news blog, The Snitch, Joe Eskenazi grabs a phone with Tom Hontalas, one of the owners of Louis', the Sutro Heights diner whose landlord is putting the place out for bid f ... More >>

Victims Survive the Night Following Fort Mason Double Shooting

View Larger Map A 17-year-old boy shot in the stomach last night in what appears to be an unprovoked shooting near Fort Mason is out of surgery with his condition upgraded to "non-life-threatening." He may speak to investigators from the Natonal Park Police and FBI as soon as today. The boy and a 22 ... More >>

Unleashed

A brutal dog attack in Nob Hill has revived the city's battle over canine control. Here's why it's going to get worse.

Could Discovery of 'Extinct' Plant Toss Monkey Wrench Into Doyle Drive Rebuild?

© California Academy of SciencesThe Franciscan Manzanita​The other day we reported on the apparent discovery of a Franciscan Manzanita in the Presidio -- the first wild specimen of the native San Franciscan plant spotted since 1947. But, in a development that appears to be ironic -- without any m ... More >>

SF Gov InAction: Toxic Babies Are Not an Option!

Sometimes ... and I want to make it very clear that this is not drug-induced ... I don't think San Francisco is a real city at all. I think that maybe we're a Lego city, populated by Weebles. It makes as much sense as anything Sophie Maxwell's said lately. Why would I think this? Well, h ... More >>

Feds take the fun out of fungi hunting at Lands End

Out of the Wild

Iso Rabins' foraged food is the toast of San Francisco's gourmet set. Health inspectors and environmentalists aren't so thrilled.

Room with a View — and Heat

A well-known S.F. chef amps up the menu at Sutro's at the Cliff House.

The Pork Park

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is quietly trying to keep the Presidio on the public teat. That's a good thing.

SF Supervisor Aaron Peskin's Message to Newsom: Quit Attacking Me!

Watching Endangered Species for Fun and Profit

I Did Not Know That

Where the Wild Things Are: Oil spill clean-up volunteer opportunities

Mother Nature or Nurture?

The question of whether to begin saving creatures and habitats from climate change

Battle Lines

Richmond residents take aim at plans to expand a medical center they say is already overbuilt

Fire Fighting

Sign of the Cult-Buster

Anti-cult crusader Ford Greene and the town of San Anselmo are staging a nasty public fight over Greene's strident anti-Bush political signs. But is that an old religious enemy we see behind the curtain?

This Week's Day-by-Day Picks

Flex Appeal

S.F.'s own Gay Games

The Nature of Politics

Dog owners, compliant pols viciously distort a reasonable attempt to preserve our environmental legacy

Balkans by the Bay

Aquatic Park, long mismanaged by a jumble of self-interested entities, needs public-spirited refurbishment

Letters to the Editor

Letters from April 4, 2001

Pet Peeve

A pit bull owner says dogs are still being demonized in the wake of a fatal mauling

Citizen Canine

As the dog wars heat up, desperate times call for desperate measures -- perhaps a mandatory test for off-leash pets?

Ship of Fools

Men keep falling in love with the aging steam schooner Wapama. She always exacts her price.

Presidio Originals

The Muwekma Ohlone tribe pushes for a voice in Presidio planning -- and, perhaps, a piece of a national park

Night + Day

When the Bay was Groun Zero

A look at the Cold War ghosts that haunt the rim of the city

Off-Base (Part II)

The most vituperative battle ever fought over the Presidio pits a handful of activists (and a certain weekly newspaper) against a local coalition of environmentalists, business, and the majority of elected officials. Is the congressional compromise to es

Off-Base (Part I)

The most vituperative battle ever fought over the Presidio pits a handful of activists (and a certain weekly newspaper) against a local coalition of environmentalists, business, and the majority of elected officials. Is the congressional compromise to es