A Different Angle
Note: Like many of you, I didn’t see my family over the winter holidays in 2020. Instead, during that liminal space between Christmas and New Years, I went on walks around San Francisco and wrote about them in little essays to my parents. After that winter, it took me over three years to start writing about walking again - and this time the audience is bigger. Welcome to all the new folks this week! Please enjoy this walk from the past. Words are from December 2020; pictures are from July 2025.
I’ve always thought the Western part of Golden Gate Park — past Crossover Drive — was under-appreciated. Sure the Eastern part of the Park has some good stuff — the Conservatory of Flowers, the De Young, the Japanese Tea Garden, the Academy of Sciences…But West of Crossover is a bit quieter, more wild, less touristy. Starting from the beach, you’ve got the Windmills, Beach Chalet (which has the best view of the ocean you’ll ever have while eating breakfast), the bison herd (reminds me of home), and, my new discovery for the day, Anglers Lodge.
Tucked away from the hustle and bustle of John F. Kennedy Drive is a little fishing lodge with three large, rectangular pools out back. Hoops in various colors float around the ponds and distances are marked along the sides. It was beautiful and peaceful — but also confusing. I didn’t see any fish swimming around, but I did see people with fishing poles. What exactly was going on here?
Turns out, there are no fish in the ponds because they were built to help anglers practice and perfect their technique — these ponds are basically the equivalent of a golfer going out and hitting a bucket of balls. The little floating hoops are targets and distances are marked off so anglers can measure the length of their casts. There are even steps into the ponds so that anglers can wade in.
The ponds and the lodge were built as part of the New Deal for the Golden Gate Angling and Casting Club, which was (and still is!) a famous and prestigious casting club. Anglers Lodge has hosted national casting championships at various points since the 1930s, many of which have been won by club members. A number of innovations in fishing equipment and techniques originated at the club, including “the standardization of fly lines by weight [and]…the Horner Deer Hair, Horner Shrimp and Halvorsen's Barley Sack (or Burlap) and many other fly patterns.” I don’t really know what that means, but the club hosts free lessons once a month, so maybe some day I’ll return and ask.
I’ll also need to return AC (After COVID) so that I can visit the lodge itself. Apparently the New Deal artisans who built it included all sorts of beautiful fish motifs in the floors, walls, windows, and woodwork. WPA workers built this magical little lodge and ponds that, 90+ years later, are still free and open to all to practice a sport that was previously restricted to elites. The New Deal gifted this city with so many hidden gems —I’ll report back on what I dig up next.
