San Francisco : Golden Gate Park

Artificially created on top of sand dunes, San Francisco's great playground is a cunningly designed rectangle that appears far larger than it really is. Trees line the edges, and nature lovers can wander in the fern dell, the arboretum, the Japanese Tea Garden and the tulip gardens. The park was deeded to the people in 1870 out of the prescient notion that San Franciscans would one day feel overcrowded. This foresight proved invaluable, as 75,000 people now visit the park on an average weekend. The first buildings came with the Midwinter Fair, a sprawling expo and carnival meant to help the economy and bring in the dollar spending tourists. A fine-arts museum was built, proving to many that San Fran had culture. For the outdoor activity lovers, horse stables and vast, unlandscaped greens were preserved. And to showcase the exotic and quirky atmosphere of the City, several theme areas were developed, including Cairo Street, Japanese Village and an Eskimo habitat. The fair succeeded at what it set out to do. Millions of people visited San Francisco, business boomed and locals found renewed pride in their formerly sand-covered park. Today, the only remnants of that enormous event are the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum, the Japanese Tea Garden and the Music Concourse esplanade. What remains today is a testament to the will of the City to preserve a place to play, relax and grow culturally.

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