Marina District
About Marina District
The Marina spreads along the northern waterfront. The land itself is mostly artificial. A cove was filled gradually from the late 1800s through the early 1910s, partly with rubble from the 1906 earthquake but mostly with sand and mud dredged from the bay. The large push happened around 1912 in preparation for the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition.
The flat streets and Mediterranean-style architecture you see today went up after the expo wrapped because the neighborhood is built on liquefaction-prone fill, it took some of the worst structural damage in the city during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. Many of the buildings you walk past today are rebuilt or seismically retrofitted since then.
Where to Eat
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Things to Do
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Wave Organ
Wave-activated sound sculpture built in May 1986 by Peter Richards (Exploratorium) and stone mason George Gonzales, with 25 PVC and concrete pipes set into rocks salvaged from the demolished Laurel Hill Cemetery. Free, open 24 hours, on a jetty at 83 Marina Green Drive next to the St. Francis Yacht Club. Loudest at high tide; check NOAA before you go.
Presidio Pet Cemetery
A half-acre pet cemetery in the Presidio, surrounded by a white picket fence and shaded by Monterey pines. Hundreds of graves for dogs, cats, parakeets, rabbits, hamsters, lizards, goldfish, and at least one mouse, with the oldest visible markers dating to the early 1950s and many headstones engraved in the format of military grave markers. Free, dawn to dusk, on McDowell near Crissy Field Avenue.
House of Air
Indoor trampoline park opened in 2010 inside a 1921 Army airplane hangar at Crissy Field, originally home to biplanes flown by the 91st Observation Squadron. Architect Mark Horton redesigned the space; 42-foot bi-fold hangar doors and a second-story catwalk over 8,000+ square feet of trampolines. 926 Mason Street; grip socks required.
Hopper’s Hands
Two yellow-painted metal hand outlines bolted to the fence behind Fort Point, put up around 2000 by Golden Gate Bridge ironworker Ken Hopper. The Ferry Building round trip to the hands and back is about 10 miles, a common marathon training turnaround. Free, on the Bay Trail under the bridge.
Palace of Fine Arts
The surviving structure from the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition, designed by Bernard Maybeck as a temporary plaster building. Reconstructed in reinforced concrete from 1965 to 1974 using Maybeck's original drawings, with a second seismic retrofit completed in 2009. Rotunda rises 162 feet over the reflecting lagoon. Grounds are free.
Presidio Theater
A 1939 art deco theater at 99 Moraga Avenue, originally the Sixth Corps post theater, restored and reopened in 2019 with about 600 seats. Programming cycles independent film, comedy, music, dance, and lectures. Tickets typically $15 to $50, free PresidiGo shuttle stops at the Main Post.
