place

Candlestick Point State Recreation Area

California State Recreation AreasHills of San FranciscoParks in San FranciscoParks in the San Francisco Bay AreaProtected areas established in 1972
San Francisco Bay Trail
Candlestick Point Park5
Candlestick Point Park5

Candlestick Point State Recreation Area (or simply Candlestick Point) is a state park unit of California, United States, providing an urban protected area on San Francisco Bay. The park is located at the southeastern tip of San Francisco immediately south of Hunters Point and 2 miles (3.2 km) north of Sierra Point in Brisbane. This 170-acre (69 ha) landfilled area was intended to be used during World War II as a shipyard by the United States Navy. However it was abandoned as the war ended. Without government controls, the area was used by nearby residences as a garbage dump. In 1973 the California State Legislature purchased the land with US$10 million and in 1977 voted to turn this area into a California State Park. After the designation Candlestick became the first urban recreation area in the state. To this day Candlestick remains as a major recreation area in San Francisco, offering a wide view of the bay. The park features various picnic areas, two fishing piers, fitness courses as well as hiking trails. This park is also a popular area for windsurfing due to strong and regular winds.Candlestick Park, the former stadium of the San Francisco Giants and San Francisco 49ers, was also located next to Candlestick Point. There are several competing theories for the origin of the point's name. Several sources claim it was named for Candlestick Rock, an 8-foot (2.4 m)-tall pinnacle rock once located nearby at the high-tide line. Others claim it was named for the long-billed curlew, which was once plentiful in the area and also known as the candlestick bird. Still others claim the name derives from the 19th-century practice of burning abandoned sailing ships in the bay; as they sunk their flaming masts resembled lighted candlesticks.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Candlestick Point State Recreation Area (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Candlestick Point State Recreation Area
Donner Avenue, San Francisco

Geographical coordinates (GPS) Address Nearby Places
placeShow on map

Wikipedia: Candlestick Point State Recreation AreaContinue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 37.7096537 ° E -122.3802486 °
placeShow on map

Address

Donner Avenue

Donner Avenue
94188 San Francisco
California, United States
mapOpen on Google Maps

Candlestick Point Park5
Candlestick Point Park5
Share experience

Nearby Places

Candlestick Park
Candlestick Park

Candlestick Park was an outdoor sports and entertainment stadium on the West Coast of the United States, located in San Francisco's Bayview Heights area. The stadium was originally the home of Major League Baseball's San Francisco Giants, who played there from 1960 until moving into Pacific Bell Park (since renamed Oracle Park) in 2000. It was also the home field of the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League from 1971 through 2013. The 49ers moved to Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara for the 2014 season. The last event held at Candlestick was a concert by Paul McCartney in August 2014, and the demolition of the stadium was completed in September 2015. As of 2019, the site is planned to be redeveloped into office space.The stadium was situated at Candlestick Point on the western shore of San Francisco Bay. Candlestick Point was named for the "candlestick birds" (long-billed curlews) that populated the area for many years. Due to Candlestick Park's location next to the bay, strong winds often swirled down into the stadium, creating unusual playing conditions. At the time of its construction in the late 1950s, the stadium site was one of the few pieces of land available in the city that was suitable for a sports stadium, and had space for the 10,000 parking spaces that had been promised to the Giants. The surface of the field for most of its existence was natural bluegrass, but for nine seasons, from 1970 to 1978, the stadium had artificial turf. A "sliding pit" configuration, with dirt cut-outs only around the bases, was installed in 1971, primarily to keep the dust down in the breezy conditions. Following the 1978 football season, the playing surface was restored to natural grass.

1986 San Francisco fireworks disaster

The 1986 San Francisco fireworks disaster took place on April 5, 1986, when a massive explosion and fire devastated a city block in the Bayview district of San Francisco. The explosion occurred in the three story Bayview Building at 1070 Revere Avenue, which housed about 125 light industrial and crafts businesses. At least eight people were killed and another 20 were injured. Within days, investigators learned that the explosion had occurred in a clandestine fireworks factory.Damage was estimated at $10 million, and over a hundred small businesses were affected. The archives of Rip Off Press, including a few hundred thousand comics, books and posters, were burned. Other businesses destroyed included artist studios, a distribution center for the New York Times, a boat shop and a cabinet shop.A 28 year old man, Thomas C. Cuyos, was killed in the explosion, and investigators said that he was the operator of the illegal fireworks production facility. In 1985, Cuyos had founded Infinite Technology Inc. as a fireworks manufacturer, with headquarters outside San Francisco. Cuyos and his associates had told the owners of the Bayview Bullding that they ran a computer paper company. Nolan Florita, 26 years old, had been helping Cuyos, and was also presumed killed.On April 17, agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms arrested three people who were charged with conspiracy in the operation of the fireworks factory. One of those arrested confirmed that Cuyos had built a machine to mass-produce M-80s. Two of those arrested were later convicted, and the third was acquitted.Lawsuits lasted for four years. A settlement resulted in 125 plaintiffs sharing $9 million.In 2006, twenty years after the explosion, a memorial service honoring the victims was held at the San Francisco Zen Center.