Park's Popular 'Gay Beach' to Close for Facelift

Dolores Park's popular "gay beach" will close Thursday as crews prepare to begin renovating the last portion of one of the city's most utilized green spaces.

The recently completed facelift of the park's northern section opened June 18. The $8 million project features lush lawns, an accessible path, revamped tennis and basketball courts, and, to the relief of many, more public restrooms.

"It's been a long process," gay Supervisor Scott Wiener, whose District 8 includes the park, told the Bay Area Reporter .

The project will now "quickly move to the southern half," Wiener said.

"During renovation, the gay beach will be closed," he added.

That was confirmed by San Francisco Recreation and Park Department spokeswoman Connie Chan.

"The south side will begin construction as soon as the north side is open, and the entire park is expected to complete renovation and open to the public in fall 2016," Chan said in an email.

That means that the hundreds of parkgoers who hang out at the gay beach section of the park, with its sweeping views of the city, will need to find other options for several months. A visit to the area last weekend drew a variety of responses from people.

"We'll find a beautiful spot on the other side of the park," said Elliot Christopher, 26, a gay man.

Marcus Wilson, 27, said renovations are needed.

"More trash cans are needed, but we want the park back by the September-October warm weather," Wilson, a gay man, said optimistically.

Others had hoped the gay beach section would remain open during the summer.

"My hope was that they'd leave it open for summer, but it's good for the long term," said Alex Sayda, 23, a gay park visitor.

Wiener said that the improvements to the southern part of the park are greatly needed, and will also include more restrooms and outdoor urinals, or pissours.

"There are three to four times the number of restrooms," Wiener said, speaking about the park as a whole. The previous small restroom was way over capacity and that "led to people urinating everywhere, including outside people's homes."

The northern portion now boasts 27 restroom stalls, up from four.
Jake Gilchrist, project manager for the renovated northern section of Dolores Park, pointed out the beautiful new lawn and the ADA accessible pathway during a media preview last week. Photo: Rick Gerharter

Jake Gilchrist, project manager for the renovation, pointed out the beautiful new six acre lawn and the ADA accessible pathway in the just-reopened northern part of the park during a media tour last week. The pathway runs from 18th and Dolores streets to the children's playground on the south side.

The Helen Diller Playground, which was renovated a few years ago, will remain open, Chan said.

One of the things that held up completion of the northern part of the park was some vandalism that occurred in March after someone, or a group of people, entered the cordoned off portion of the park, hot-wired a construction cart, and did donuts on the newly sodded field. That damaged part of the newly installed irrigation system, rec and park officials said. The vandals caused about $100,000 in damage.

In a separate incident in February, vandals broke glass bottles in the sand at the children's playground, forcing the city to order clean sand.

"There was severe vandalism," Wiener said.

The total cost for the renovation project is expected to be about $20 million, with the money coming from park bonds and the city's general fund. About $1.5 million was donated by the Mercer Fund for the playground retrofit.

As workers prepare to start on the gay beach section, parkgoers were adjusting to the change.

"We were just talking about that, where is everyone going to go?" said Pernell Myers, 23, whose partner is Sayda. "I guess we'll migrate north; I think other parts of the park also have great views."

Wiener said people shouldn't worry too much about the short-term change, saying a "temporary gay beach" would likely develop in the northern portion.

"The gay beach will be back," he said.

David-Elijah Nahmod contributed to this report.

Dolores Park Works, a grassroots group that worked with the city on the renovation project, is planning an opening event for Thursday, from 3 to 7 p.m. Dubbed "Love Dolores," the "silent disco party" will be held at the entrance at 18th and Church streets. For free headphones, RSVP to [email protected]