A jogger runs by the Conservatory of Flowers on JFK Drive. Pedestrians, bicyclists and runners used a portion of the 1.5-mile section of JFK Drive that is now permanently free of cars in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco on May 17, 2022.

Cities are noisy places. Music blasts out of cars and apartment windows. Construction workers bang. Ambulances whir. It’s what a lot of us love about them, myself included: this endless buzz that imparts energy and makes you feel part of a thriving community. 

But when I walked the now-permanent 1.5 miles of car-free John F. Kennedy Drive in Golden Gate Park last week, the first thing I noticed was how quiet it was. You could hear the birds chirping, Monterey cypress tree branches swaying in the warm breeze and the sound of rushing water from Rainbow Falls. Cyclists whizzed by and the occasional electric scooter made that quintessential humming sound, but the noise pollution that comes from the honking and rumbling of cars driving by and parking was noticeably absent. 

A group of tourists squealed with delight as they swerved a few of those four-person bicycles along the street. Tennis players grunted at the new Lisa and Douglas Goldman Tennis Center. Children shrieked as they ran between brightly colored plastic cones in the Peacock Meadow. A sultry saxophone melody echoed up from the underpass in front of the Conservatory of Flowers. Spandex-clad runners discussed upcoming weekend plans.

I didn’t hear a single honk in two hours.

Sure, you can find this in other parts of Golden Gate Park (and notably, the Presidio and the very underrated McLaren Park as well), but there was something about enjoying this well-paved road originally meant for cars in a new way that it made me unintentionally abandon my headphones.

Bicyclists ride on a portion of the 1.5-mile section of JFK Drive that is now permanently free of cars in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco on May 17, 2022.

Cars have their value, especially when it comes to ensuring older people or those with disabilities can enjoy one of our city’s most treasured spaces. I’ll even note the irony of the fact that I drove to enjoy the car-free portion of JFK, parking near Hellman Hollow at the western end of the path. But I’ve walked this stretch of the park plenty of times and, without the traffic to distract me, I noticed a giant rock with an inscription for the first time.

The words "Heroes Grove" are etched in this boulder near 10th Avenue, indicating the entrance to a tucked away war memorial. It’s not the type of war memorial you commonly see — instead of towering plaques, it’s a grove of redwood trees with a few inscribed rocks placed in a circle. The planting of trees was one of the most popular ways to honor those lost at war in the early 1900s, according to Christopher Pollock, historian in residence for the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department, so when San Franciscans sought to honor World War I veterans in 1919, the park was a logical choice.  

Set next to the Rose Garden and just across the road from the de Young Museum, part of the reason I may never have noticed any entrance to Heroes Grove is that it didn’t have much of one until 2019. It was rededicated 100 years after its creation, this time with proper signage added.

Walking among the towering coastal redwood trees, the air is chillier, and visitors whisper to one another as they read off names engraved on a giant boulder of more than 800 local people who died during World War I. Someone is using the trunk of one of the trees as a backrest as they read a book. Another sits in quiet meditation. When I finally wander out into the Rose Garden, my eyes have to readjust to the sunlight.

Barriers show where Muni buses can pass pedestrians, bicyclists and runners on a portion of the 1.5-mile section of JFK Drive that is now permanently free of cars in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco on May 17, 2022.

There are additional memorial trees throughout the park, including the Liberty Tree, a giant sequoia that was the first tree to be planted in Golden Gate Park as a war memorial in 1894 with soil from Civil War battlefields. It still stands unassumingly today near the Conservatory of Flowers, another stop along JFK Drive, with a small plaque beneath it explaining its significance. As longtime Golden Gate Park Superintendent John McLaren famously hated statues in the park, he supported these other types of memorials whenever they were proposed. 

You could argue that the amount of debate that surrounded permanently closing a portion of JFK Drive to cars shows how much citizens care about the city. In the past year, hundreds of people weighed in at public meetings meant to decide the fate of the street. Private citizens spent time lobbying city supervisors directly. There were rallies and letter-writing campaigns. 

Golden Gate Park’s original designer, William Hammond Hall, was notably against any roads running through the park, but he was overruled by city planners. This time, the citizens were on Hall’s side, though the decision wasn’t an easy one. The Board of Supervisors' vote came in at 7-4, which closely resembles what the city found in a survey about the proposal — 70% of 10,000 respondents said they wanted the thoroughfare to remain dedicated to pedestrians.

Advocates for those that live far from the park felt alienated by the proposal, though as someone who no longer lives a reasonable walking distance from the park, I had a hard time wrapping my head around this one. I still come to the park often — on weeknights, on busy, sunny weekends, and I’ve never had trouble finding parking a reasonable distance to whatever part of the park I’d like to enjoy.

A woman jogs with dogs on a portion of the 1.5-mile section of JFK Drive that is now permanently free of cars in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco on May 17, 2022.

But seeing a city differently isn’t easy. The pandemic’s forceful hand made us reexamine public spaces, and for some parts of the city, these have resulted in permanent changes. When a park inspired by Central Park was proposed in San Francisco in 1868, critics came out in droves against building a giant park in the desert-like landscape. But those that fought for the park saw the future among those hulking sand dunes, one that involved simply strolling through nature.

A sign where pedestrians, bicyclists and runners can only use a portion of the 1.5-mile section of JFK Drive that is now permanently free of cars in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco on May 17, 2022.

Tessa is a Local Editor for SFGATE. Before joining the team in 2019, she specialized in food, drink and lifestyle content for numerous publications including Liquor.com, The Bold Italic, 7x7 and more. Contact her at tessa.mclean@sfgate.com.