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50-433: John McLaren Park was once a part of Rancho Cañada de Guadalupe la Visitación y Rodeo Viejo , an 1840 land grant which included much of present-day San Bruno Mountain , the city of Brisbane , Guadalupe Valley, and Visitacion Valley. The then-governor of Mexico (including present-day California), Juan Bautista Alvarado , granted what is now known as John McLaren Park to the local authorities in 1840. In 1905, subdivisions of

100-616: A 1987 bond passed by San Francisco voters to allocate $ 2.4 million for major park improvements. The McLaren Park Vision Plan was approved by the Recreation and Parks Commission in 2017. Improvements associated with the plan include building the Redwood Grove Playground, Jerry Garcia Amphitheater improvements, renovation of McLaren Park Community Gardens, and adding a restroom at the Group Picnic area. The park

150-475: A few murders occurring in its less-frequented areas. Coffman Pool, McLaren Park's first recreation facility, was constructed in the southeast corner of the park in 1958. A master plan for the park was published in 1959 which called for the creation of more recreational facilities, including a 9-hole golf course (later named the Gleneagles Golf Course), overnight campsites, picnic areas, trails,

200-641: A merging of resources between the two papers. For 35 years, starting in 1965, the San Francisco Chronicle and Examiner operated under a joint operating agreement whereby the Chronicle published a morning paper and the Examiner published in the afternoon. The Examiner published the Sunday paper's news sections and glossy magazine, and the Chronicle contributed the features. Circulation

250-532: A more-than-40-year tenure. In the early 20th century, an edition of the Examiner circulated in the East Bay under the Oakland Examiner masthead. Into the late 20th century, the paper circulated well beyond San Francisco. In 1982, for example, the Examiner ' s zoned weekly supplements within the paper were titled "City", " Peninsula ", " Marin / Sonoma " and " East Bay ". Additionally, during

300-653: A nursery, two lakes, and parking areas. Construction of the facilities included in the 1959 Master Plan (The Gleneagles Golf Course, McNab Lake, Louis Sutter, Herz, and Mansfield-Burrows Playground, the Wilde Overlook, and the amphitheater—later to be renamed the Jerry Garcia Amphitheater) began in the 1960s, and also included new trails, picnic and parking areas, community gardens, and an irrigation system. Before 1978, McLaren Park only had eight picnic tables. Later construction contracts included

350-732: A poker debt." William Randolph Hearst hired S.S. (Sam) Chamberlain , who had started the first American newspaper in Paris, as managing editor and Arthur McEwen as editor, and changed the Examiner from an evening to a morning paper. Under him, the paper's popularity increased greatly, with the help of such writers as Ambrose Bierce , Mark Twain , and the San Francisco-born Jack London . It also found success through its version of yellow journalism , with ample use of foreign correspondents and splashy coverage of scandals such as two entire pages of cables from Vienna about

400-480: A possible relocation of the City Zoo. The Board would rename the planned park in honor of John McLaren's service to the city on November 29, 1926, and McLaren celebrated the dedication of the park in 1927, during a December tree-planting ceremony Boy Scouts participated in the planting of three separate plantings called “Memorial Redwood Groves.”. The widow of Luther Burbank donated ten four-year-old walnut trees to

450-565: A protest outside the offices of the Examiner in response to a series of news articles disparaging people in San Francisco's gay bars and clubs. The peaceful protest against the Examiner turned tumultuous and was later called "Friday of the Purple Hand" and "Bloody Friday of the Purple Hand." Examiner employees "dumped a barrel of printers' ink on the crowd from the roof of the newspaper building." The protestors "used

500-533: A segment of the planned Crosstown Freeway, which was built as Mansell Street between Brazil Avenue and San Bruno Avenue; however, once Interstate 280 was completed, the Crosstown Freeway was cancelled. The park expanded to its present size in 1958 through land purchases. Many of the present-day playgrounds, golf course, and hiking trails were added between 1950 and 1980. A draft master plan was prepared in 1983, updated in 1988, and issued in 1996, following

550-718: A sheriff's auction, with 700 acres (3 km2) going to Robert E. Eaton and the rest to Alfred Wheeler. Alfred Wheeler (1822–1903) was a prominent San Francisco land title lawyer. With the cession of California to the United States following the Mexican-American War , the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo provided that the land grants would be honored. As required by the Land Act of 1851, claims for Cañada de Guadalupe, la Visitación y Rodeo Viejo were filed in 1852 and 1853. In 1865, 5,473 acres (22 km ) of

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600-542: A stocking stuffer," Reilly said. He also owns Gentry Magazine and the Nob Hill Gazette . He then hired editor-in-chief Carly Schwartz in 2021. Under her leadership, a broadsheet -style newspaper was re-introduced, and she launched two newsletters with a nod to the rise in popularity of email marketing models such as Substack . Schwartz also put the SF Weekly on hiatus "for the foreseeable future," ending

650-723: A subsidy of $ 66 million, to be paid over three years. From their side, the Fangs paid Hearst US$ 100 for the Examiner . Reilly later acquired the Examiner in 2020. On February 24, 2003, the Examiner became a free daily newspaper , printed Sunday through Friday. On February 19, 2004, the Fang family sold the Examiner and its printing plant, together with the two Independent newspapers, to Philip Anschutz of Denver, Colorado . His new company, Clarity Media Group , launched The Washington Examiner in 2005 and published The Baltimore Examiner from 2006 to 2009. In 2006, Anschutz donated

700-514: Is currently the second-largest park in the city's Recreation and Park Department system. In 1981, a San Francisco Examiner article headlined "McLaren Park: great potential, much trash" highlighted its crime statistics, which had included two murders, six rapes and 18 car thefts in 1980. In 2004, the San Francisco Chronicle noted the park's "disrepute despite the view", with stories about crimes "keep[ing] visitors away." In 2013,

750-735: Is delivered free to select neighborhoods in San Francisco and San Mateo counties, and to single-copy outlets throughout San Francisco , San Mateo , Santa Clara , and Alameda counties. By February 2008, the company had transformed the newspaper's examiner.com domain into a national hyperlocal brand, with local websites throughout the United States. Clarity Media sold the Examiner to San Francisco Newspaper Company LLC in 2011. The company's investors included then-President and Publisher Todd Vogt, Chief Financial Officer Pat Brown, and David Holmes Black . Inaccurate early media reports claimed that Black's business, Black Press , had bought

800-596: Is operated by a leaseholder. Herz Playground, near Coffman Pool in the southeastern corner of the park, was completed in 1965. The San Francisco Recreation Department constructed a multi-purpose outdoor amphitheatre in the center of McLaren Park in 1970 and named it the McLaren Park Amphitheatre; In 2005, it was renamed the Jerry Garcia Amphitheater, after the member of the rock band Grateful Dead, who had grown up not far from

850-531: The San Francisco Call —brought out a joint edition. The Examiner offices were destroyed on April 18, 1906, but when the city was rebuilt, a new structure, the Hearst Building, arose in its place at Third and Market streets. It opened in 1909, and in 1937, the facade, entranceway, and lobby underwent extensive remodeling designed by architect Julia Morgan . Through the middle third of

900-557: The San Francisco Independent and the San Mateo Independent . San Francisco political consultant Clint Reilly filed a lawsuit against Hearst, charging that the deal did not ensure two competitive newspapers and was instead a generous deal designed to curry approval. However, on July 27, 2000, a federal judge approved the Fangs' assumption of the Examiner name, its archives, 35 delivery trucks, and

950-418: The Examiner boasted, among other writers, such columnists as veteran sportswriter Prescott Sullivan, the popular Herb Caen , who took an eight-year hiatus from the Chronicle (1950–1958), and Kenneth Rexroth , one of the best-known men of California letters and a leading San Francisco Renaissance poet, who contributed weekly impressions of the city from 1960 to 1967. Ultimately, circulation battles ended in

1000-734: The Mayerling Incident ; satire; and patriotic enthusiasm for the Spanish–American War and the 1898 annexation of the Philippines . William Randolph Hearst created the masthead with the "Hearst Eagle" and the slogan Monarch of the Dailies by 1889, at the latest. After the great earthquake and fire of 1906 destroyed much of San Francisco, the Examiner and its rivals—the San Francisco Chronicle and

1050-674: The "Monarch of the Dailies" by then-owner William Randolph Hearst and the flagship of the Hearst chain, the Examiner converted to free distribution early in the 21st century and is owned by Clint Reilly Communications, which bought the newspaper at the end of 2020 along with the SF Weekly . The Examiner was founded in 1863 as the Democratic Press , a pro- Confederacy , pro- slavery , pro- Democratic Party paper opposed to Abraham Lincoln , but after his assassination in 1865,

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1100-634: The Philosopher's Way trail. A 2.7-mile (4.3 km) loop trail around the perimeter of the park called Philosopher's Way was dedicated on 5 January 2013. The US$ 146,000 (equivalent to $ 191,000 in 2023) trail, funded as a public art set-aside by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission , offers views of Mount Diablo , Mount Tamalpais , Angel Island , and the Pacific Ocean on a clear day. It

1150-484: The San Francisco Chronicle's urban design critic John King discussed community efforts to revive the park, which "not long ago was known within the city primarily for crime". Perhaps due to its past infamy and resulting discouragement of visitors, the park boasts the largest grasslands left in San Francisco. In recent years the park has seen many positive improvements, and, as happens in Golden Gate Park, has had

1200-789: The University Mound reservoirs, the Sunnydale Housing Project, and the Crocker Amazon Playground. The Works Progress Administration was responsible for the construction of a scenic drive in the 1930s. At that time, the park also featured a stable and equestrian trails, but horseback riding within the park was later discontinued due to the difficulty of maintaining a separate set of equestrian trails. The current 318-acre (129 ha) park boundaries were established in 1946. A City Planning Department report, issued in 1950, recommended construction of

1250-418: The addition of more picnic tables and large group picnic areas. Similarly, before 1977, the park only had 1.6 miles (2.6 km) of improved trails, including sidewalks; 6.6 miles (10.6 km) of trails were added by 1997, mostly following contour lines to limit path grades and the park could be fully circumnavigated by foot. Even in San Francisco, a city considered hilly, McLaren Park stands out with some of

1300-524: The archives of the Examiner to the University of California, Berkeley Bancroft Library , the largest gift ever given to the library. Under Clarity's ownership, the Examiner pioneered a new business model for the newspaper industry. Designed to be read quickly, the Examiner is presented in a compact size without story jumps. It focuses on local news, business, entertainment, and sports, with an emphasis on content relevant to its local readers. It

1350-552: The children of the city. These trees, the first to be planted at McLaren Park, were intended to serve as the nucleus of a planned orchard of fruit and nut-bearing trees. However, a US$ 2,000,000 (equivalent to $ 35,490,000 in 2023) bond measure to raise funds for the full 550-acre (220 ha) area of the park failed to pass in the November 1928 election, and the San Francisco Board of Supervisors would scale back

1400-634: The city in 1995, the marsh marks the origin of Yosemite Creek, a body of water that flows through underground culverts towards Candlestick Point . Rancho Ca%C3%B1ada de Guadalupe la Visitaci%C3%B3n y Rodeo Viejo Rancho Cañada de Guadalupe la Visitación y Rodeo Viejo (also called Ridley's Rancho ) was a 6,416-acre (25.96 km ) Mexican land grant in present-day San Mateo County, California , and San Francisco County, California given in 1841 by Governor Juan Alvarado to Jacob P. Leese . The rancho included three valleys: Cañada de Guadalupe, La Visitacion, and Rodeo Viejo. Rancho contained most of

1450-407: The demonstrators. Somebody could have been hurt if that ink had gotten into their eyes, but the police were knocking people to the ground." The accounts of police brutality included instances of women being thrown to the ground and protesters' teeth being knocked out. In its stylebook and by tradition, the Examiner refers to San Francisco as "The City" (capitalized), both in headlines and in

1500-569: The following year. Crocker died in 1888, and the land became an asset of the Crocker Land Co. and then the Foremost McKesson Co. 37°42′00″N 122°26′24″W  /  37.700°N 122.440°W  / 37.700; -122.440 San Francisco Examiner The San Francisco Examiner is a newspaper distributed in and around San Francisco , California , and has been published since 1863. Once self-dubbed

1550-565: The grant were patented to Henry R. Payson. This tract was soon subdivided, with the Visitacion Land Company acquiring the largest portion. Another claim for 943 acres (4 km ) of the grant were patented to William Pierce. Claims by Presentación Ridley were dismissed. Central Pacific railroad magnate and banker Charles Crocker acquired 3,814 acres (15 km ) of the Rancho in 1884 and another 183 acres (1 km )

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1600-455: The hilliest terrain in the city. Only 19% of its area consists of slopes of 0-10% grade, considered easily buildable. Slopes of 10-25% grade occupy half its area, and slopes over 25% grade occupy the remaining area (more than one-third of the total area). The original 1926 proposed park of 550 acres (220 ha) had approximately 40% of its area with gentle slopes. The 9-hole golf course was completed in 1961. It occupies 60 acres (24 ha) and

1650-483: The ink to scrawl slogans on the building walls" and slap purple hand prints "throughout downtown [San Francisco]," resulting in "one of the most visible demonstrations of gay power," according to the Bay Area Reporter . According to Larry LittleJohn, then president of Society for Individual Rights , "At that point, the tactical squad arrived – not to get the employees who dumped the ink, but to arrest

1700-626: The land grant were drawn up and Daniel Burnham issued the Burnham Plan for San Francisco, which recommended that the land where John McLaren and Bayview Parks are today should be reserved for park use, as residents in the southern part of the city were considered inadequately served by access to park space. Burnham's Report called for several parks near Visitacion Valley, including one he named Visitacion Park, which would become Bayview Park and Candlestick Point State Recreation Area ; and one he named University Mound Park , which occupied part of

1750-511: The land that would later become John McLaren Park. In the wake of the 1906 earthquake and fire , rather than implement Burnham's plan, city officials expediently rebuilt the city using the grids that had been previously laid out. The Board of Supervisors adopted Resolution No. 26241, New Series on October 4, 1926 (approved Oct 15) directing the purchase of 550 acres (220 ha) for a park planned to be named Mission Park , with plans for an 18-hole golf course, equestrian trails, playing fields, and

1800-482: The north and south halves of the park. Mansell Street through McLaren Park is significantly wider than the city streets it connects with on the western and eastern edges of the park. It was designed and constructed as a segment of the planned Crosstown Freeway which never came to fruition in the wake of the San Francisco Freeway Revolts . Mansfield-Burrows Playground, near La Grande Tank in

1850-452: The northwestern corner of the park, was added in 1978. The Wilde Reservoir Overlook, on the eastern edge of the park at the intersection of Mansell Street and Visitacion Avenue, was completed and opened to the public in 1981. The Wilde Reservoir was used to store tap water for the City of San Francisco, but after its abandonment, was used as a nocturnal dumping ground for trash. The old walls of

1900-516: The official title to the land. Around the year 1843, Lesse traded his two-league grant to Robert T. Ridley (1818-1851) for the three-league Rancho Collayomi in Lake County . Ridley was an English sailor who was captain of the Port of San Francisco and had married Presentación Briones. Ridley never lived on the property nor developed it to any extent. Ridley died in 1851, and the land was sold at

1950-772: The original 550-acre proposed park area were used to build the School and Convent of the Good Shepherd of San Francisco (the school, which was operated from 1932 to 1977, was later known as University Mound High School and served 'delinquent' girls), the Lick Home (later known as the University Mound Ladies Home, which opened as the Lick Old Ladies Home in a different location in 1884 and housed "elderly women of modest means" until 2014),

2000-421: The paper's offices were destroyed by a mob, and starting on June 12, 1865, it was called The Daily Examiner . In 1880, mining engineer and entrepreneur George Hearst bought the Examiner . Seven years later, after being elected to the U.S. Senate , he gave it to his son, William Randolph Hearst , who was then 23 years old. The elder Hearst "was said to have received the failing paper as partial payment of

2050-466: The paper. In 2014, Vogt sold his shares to Black Press. Present-day owners of the Examiner also own SF Weekly , an alternative weekly , and previously owned the now-shuttered San Francisco Bay Guardian . In December 2020, Clint Reilly, under his company, Clint Reilly Communications, acquired the SF Examiner for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition included buying the SF Weekly "like

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2100-490: The park, at 87 Harrington Street. At the time, it had a capacity of 2000 seats. La Grande Tank is a prominent blue 350,000-US-gallon (1,300,000 L; 290,000 imp gal) water tank on the western edge of the park, visible from Interstate 280 and the Excelsior neighborhood. It was built in 1956 and stands 80 feet (24 m) tall. During the seismic upgrades performed in 2006, money was set aside to improve what became

2150-586: The planned park size while acquiring properties from 1928 to 1946. In 1932, the Park Commission recommended a reduced park size of 428 acres (173 ha). Additional recommendations for final park size in 1944 varied from 283 to 413 acres (115 to 167 ha), and the land acquired by the time the Master Plan was published in November 1944 was 222 acres (90 ha) at a total cost of US$ 720,000 (equivalent to $ 12,462,000 in 2023). Several areas in

2200-429: The present-day San Bruno Mountain , the city of Brisbane , Guadalupe Valley, and Visitacion Valley . Jacob Primer Leese (1809–1892), a trader from Ohio, married María Rosalia Vallejo, sister of General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo , in 1837. Lesse, who first came to California in 1833, took possession of the land grant entitled Rancho Cañada de Guadalupe la Visitacion y Rodeo Viejo in 1838, three years before he received

2250-426: The reservoir were retained as a viewing platform and a 35-foot (11 m) tall tower was built in the center of it. However, as of 2013 the tower had remained padlocked and closed to the public since at least the late 1990s. In the northeast corner of the park is Yosemite Marsh , a habitat for native species that include the forktail damselfly and flowering quillwort . Named a "significant natural resource area" by

2300-592: The text of stories. San Francisco slang has traditionally referred to the newspaper in abbreviated slang form as "the Ex" (and the Chronicle as "the Chron"). When the Chronicle Publishing Company divested its interests, Hearst purchased the Chronicle . To satisfy antitrust concerns, Hearst sold the Examiner to ExIn, LLC, a corporation owned by the politically connected Fang family, publishers of

2350-659: The twentieth century, the Examiner was one of several dailies competing for the city's and the Bay Area's readership; the San Francisco News , the San Francisco Call-Bulletin , and the Chronicle all claimed significant circulation, but ultimately attrition left the Examiner one chief rival—the Chronicle . Strident competition prevailed between the two papers in the 1950s and 1960s;

2400-622: Was approximately 100,000 on weekdays and 500,000 on Sundays. By 1995, discussion was already brewing in print media about the possible shuttering of the Examiner due to low circulation and an extremely disadvantageous revenue sharing agreement for the Chronicle . On October 31, 1969, sixty members of the Gay Liberation Front , the Committee for Homosexual Freedom (CHF), and the Gay Guerilla Theatre group staged

2450-433: Was co-designed by artists Peter Richards and Susan Schwatzenberg and features fourteen stone markers by mason George Gonzalez intended as "musing stations" to stimulate contemplation. Louis Sutter Playground, near McNab Lake in the northeastern corner of the park, was completed in 1965. Mansell Street was a four-lane divided road running east–west across McLaren Park, roughly dividing it into northern and southern halves. It

2500-594: Was completed in 1963 and had been used as a shortcut to Candlestick Point and occasional street-racing dragstrip, but it was reconstructed as a two-lane road during the Mansell Street Corridor Improvement Project, a US$ 6,800,000 (equivalent to $ 8,740,000 in 2023) construction job lasting one year. One side of the road was rebuilt as a dedicated pedestrian and bicycle path, and crosswalks with bright flashing beacons were added to major intersections, allowing foot traffic between

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