Friends of Holly Park

Another Clean Up, Another Success!

2007-07-20T09:17:00.000-07:00

Successful Clean Up Day!

I would like to thank all the volunteers that came out on July 14th and volunteered in the beautification project of Holly Park. I would also like to thank John Miller for his continued support and his continued efforts in making these clean up days a success by providing tools to the volunteers.

We have been, for the last 2 park clean ups, maintaining a consistent number of volunteers, about 18. Thats great! Lets keep it up!

Mark Your Calendars

I would like to invite you, your family, and your friends, to come out and join the Friends of Holly Park in the next park clean up which is going to be August 18th 9 AM.

Once again thank you for all the volunteers who came out and we hope to see new and old faces there on August 18th at 9 am.

Mark Your Calendars!

2007-06-26T16:05:00.001-07:00

Join the Community Clean Team in another Holly Park Clean Up on July 14th. Meet next to eh B.B.Q. pits at 9 am. Tools and Lunch will be provided. Coem out and help make the community a cleaner and greener place!

Holly Park BBQ Pits
July 14
9 am - 12 pm

Hope to see you there!

Clean Up Day was a Sucess!

2007-06-22T09:49:00.001-07:00

WOW!

What a great turn out we had for the Holly Park Clean Up on June 16th. We had about 20 people volunteer and we worked hard for 2 and a half hours. The park looks great and we will continue to clean the park. The next clean up day will be July 14th, then after that every third Saturday of the month.

Here are some pictures of the Clean Up Day!

Park Clean Up Day!

2007-06-05T15:58:00.000-07:00

HOLLY P A R K

Cleaning & Greening

Join theFriend’s of Holly Park& your local gardener forour monthly Cleanup Day

Saturday, June 16th9am – 12pm

Meet at the picnic tables near the East corner of the park.

Whether you are a parent with children who enjoy the playground, a dog lover, a basketball player, a sunbather, or one who simply loves the space a park provides – come and lend your hands. Protective gear will be provided; Just wear comfortable attire and we will do the rest.

Join in the fun and make new friends!

RSVP cgood@sfnpc.org or 415-621-3260
Friends of Holly Park is part of a coalition of 120+ park groups throughout San Francisco. For more information about the Neighborhood Park Council’s stewardship program contact: Colleen Flynn at 415-621-3260 ext. 102.

Number to reserve picnic tables and the baseball field.

2007-06-05T15:32:00.000-07:00

Picnic Tables & Baseball Field

Going to have a family barbecue?

Having a bunch of friends over?

In the baseball mood?

If you are please call (415) 831- 5520 to reserve either a picnic table and barbecue pit or the baseball field. The office hours are 11 am - 5 pm.

Beautiful Pictures of Holly Park

2007-06-05T14:09:00.000-07:00

Friends of Holly Park

2007-06-05T13:53:00.001-07:00

SF Chronicle Report on Holly Park

2007-06-05T13:45:00.000-07:00

Holly Park offers new, clean fun after $2 million makeover
Playground, picnic tables and pines included in renovation on Bernal Heights hilltop
Kathleen Sullivan, Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, September 17, 2004

It's a hot September morning in Holly Park, and most of the adults are huddled in the meager shadow cast by a pint-size playhouse on the "second story" of a play structure.
Not the kids.

"Max, come over here," a little girl named Caroline called out to a classmate who had climbed to the top of the rope dome, hoping to get him to join her in a race down a side-by-side slide.

They were among a group of seven children, ages 3 to 5, who are members of Hola Kids, a Spanish language immersion play group.

Undaunted by the heat, the kids rushed from one attraction to another -- eager to climb, swing, jump, swoop and slide every which way possible.

It was their first visit to the recently renovated playground, a brightly colored beacon of ropes, swings, slides and jungle gyms that brightens the east side of the hilltop park.
"When they get back to the school, their teachers will ask them in Spanish which one they liked best,'' said Edith Cabrera, a 50-year-old teacher for the program, which is run by a center called Language In Action.

The slide -- deslisandero.
Seesaw -- sube y baja.
Swings -- columpios.

The playground is one of the recent renovations to the park, a green dome with grass, shrubs, Monterey pines, eucalyptus and olive trees that rises above the rooftops in south Bernal Heights.

To celebrate the $2 million makeover, the neighborhood is holding a party in Holly Park from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday with snacks, music and children's activities -- bocados, música y actividades par niños.

Visitors will be able to enjoy the festivities while relaxing on new wooden benches and picnic tables tucked in the welcome shade of fragrant eucalyptus branches.
Or they could shoot hoops on its refurbished basketball court.

David Cortez, a 15-year-old sophomore at John O'Connell High School, said basketballs once took crazy bounces off broken-down backboards, slipped through holes in the chain-link fence, and disappeared downhill.

He said that players don't have to worry about chasing errant balls through brush and trees anymore.

"It's all new,'' said Cortez, holding a weathered basketball while he took a break from sinking shots.

The area now known as Holly Park was once part of a vast land grant given to José Cornelio Bernal, a Mexican soldier who was born in "Alta California" and was married at Mission Dolores.

In 1862, a wealthy silver miner bought the 7 1/2-acre parcel on the hilltop and deeded it to the city.

After Holly Park Avenue -- now Holly Park Circle -- was built at the bottom of the hill in 1874, families began climbing to the top of the 274-foot- high park for outings, according to park history published by the Neighborhood Parks Council.

In the 20th century, the city installed tennis and basketball courts, a baseball diamond and a children's playground, and, over the decades, made various repairs and improvements.

But by the time the 21st century rolled around, Holly Park needed rejuvenation.
Eugenie Marek, who has lived near the park for 14 years, noticed in 2000 how badly its amenities -- picnic tables, barbecue pits, playground, courts and playing field -- had deteriorated.

"I'm a longtime morning walker in the park, and one day someone said to me, 'Take a look at this park,' '' recalled Marek, 60. "I opened my eyes to how the park would look, not just to me as a morning walker, but to the various kinds of people who might be coming to it. Generally speaking, it looked shabby -- the type of place you wouldn't want to go to.''

Marek, a nurse case manager at Stanford Hospital, decided to see what she -- and other neighbors -- could do. They formed Friends of Holly Park to champion the cause.
Four years later, the fruits of their labor -- and of neighborhood questionnaires, community meetings, a "wish list" from the kids at nearby Junipero Serra Elementary School, fund-raising, special events, and collaboration with staff at the city's Recreation and Park Department and at the Department of Public Works -- can be seen throughout the park.

There are palm trees at each of the four stairway entrances, a bed of flowering rosemary bushes, pathways accessible to people who visit the park in wheelchairs, a refurbished tennis court and small wooden tables suited to chess, checkers or chatting.
Soon to arrive: a wind-powered kinetic dragonfly sculpture created by artist Joyce Hsu.
There are still a few things on the "to do" list for the park, including renovating the bathrooms.

Marek said the group is also working with Nick Carr, a traffic planner with the city's "Livable Streets" program, to improve the safety of pedestrians crossing Holly Park Circle, especially schoolchildren who use the park for recreation programs.
"For us, that would be the completion of the renovation,'' she said. "We didn't just want the park redone. We wanted access to the park to be first- rate.''

Celebration set
A party will be held from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday in Holly Park, Holly Park Circle and Highland Avenue.
E-mail Kathleen Sullivan at ksullivan@sfchronicle.com.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2004/09/17/WBG198OFUA1.DTL

Holly Park's History

2007-06-05T10:25:00.000-07:00

Holly Park was a seven and a half acre parcel on the Bernal Rancho in 1862 when San Francisco's colorful high roller/miner James Fair bought it and dedicated it to the city. It's price- $375,000- scarcely dented the $45,000,000 fortune Fair had made from his silver mines. The site lay unimproved until 1887 when development began in the Holly Park District. Roadways were graded, streets opened, sidewalks paved; and, by 1889, 200 houses and families had sprung up in the area. Under persistent pressure from the Holly Park Improvement Club, Holly Park Circle was built and opened in 1874. Now families could have an outing in their own neighborhood instead of making the long trek out to Golden Gate Park.

In 1929 the Playgrounds commission requested a playground and asked the Park Department to clear away shrubbery and put in basketball and tennis courts.

Maintenance and piecemeal improvements, which began in the 60's carried on into the late90's always leaving more to be done. The 70's saw grading, paving, irrigation repair and rehabilitation of the children's playground.

In 1991, the South Bernal Neighborhood Association submitted to San Francisco Beautiful and the Neighborhood Graffiti Clean-Up Fund a proposal for a Holly Park Sculpture Playground. They were turned down but resubmitted the idea a year later.

A year and a half ago in her early morning walks around the hill, Eugenie Marek noted the condition of the picnic tables and benches, barbecue pit, children's play structures, tennis and basketball courts and baseball field. She resolved to start up Friends of Holly Park. She sought the Neighborhood Park Council's advice and set up a meeting to inform the community and enlist their support. She joined two friends and they received a $2,000 Beginner's Grant from Friends of Rec and Park in order to set up a booth at the annual Fall Fiesta. They passed out a questionnaire on park priorities and preferences. The 200 plus responses formed the basis of the Holly Park Improvement Proposal which was submitted to the Recreation and Park Department in October.

They received $1.5 million for facility and short term projects. Their landscape architect, Susan Lucchi, is on the case and, after surveying the site and the Improvement Proposal, held her first community meeting in mid November.

"Short term projects can develop into long term plans when the park is looked at as a whole. And we're very hopeful" says Eugenie.

Taken from the Neighborhood Parks Council Newsletter #24.