Saturday, July 4, 2009

Dolores 4th



In my opinion this is the best location in San Francisco for Fourth of July fireworks viewing. A local crowd of genial Mission regulars gathers every year at the top of this Dolores Park slope. At sunset both the Crissy Field fireworks (toward the left, behind the downtown buildings, in the picture above) and the Ballpark fireworks (toward the right, beyond the Bay Bridge) are simultaneously visible. Even when the Fourth is foggy (as it usually is) there are good glimpses underneath and through the fog from this vantage. Never a mob scene, unlike the more popular watching-spots along the edges of the Bay. And well served by public transportation, as witness the endearing small MUNI shelter for the J-line streetcars in the picture at top. Personally speaking, one can of course walk there with ease from Spencer Alley, and that is what one does.