JFK Drive

Unfinished History

Spreckels Lake, home to remote controlled toy boating.

Photo: Chris Carlsson

On Sundays, the eastern half of J.F.K. Drive down the center of Golden Gate Park is closed to automobiles and turned over to an amazing multitude of people skating, biking, walking, running, and playing. Walking among the crowd one is treated to a remarkable diversity of languages, subcultures, bodies, etc. An ongoing campaign to close large parts of the park to cars has intermittently made itself felt, but the city's Park Dept. has no current plans to expand the restrictions on cars, though a recent effort (2007-08) led to a partial closure of JFK Drive on Saturdays too.