From "Toxic Beach" to Warm Water Cove in the Dogpatch

We all love Golden Gate Park and Dolores Park, but did you know San Francisco has over 220 parks and open spaces? Curbed SF wants to bring fame and glory to some of the smaller, lesser-known parks, and we're doing so with our series Park Life. Each week, we'll spotlight a different San Francisco park or open space, and bring you all the details you need to plan a visit.

Located off the beaten path in San Francisco's Dogpatch neighborhood, Warm Water Cove is a well manicured waterfront park and part of the Bay Trail, an eventual continuous path around the San Francisco Bay shoreline. But this park wasn't always a model citizen. Once known as "Toxic Beach" or "Tire Beach" for it's abundance of discarded rubber, this park played host to impromptu punk shows and the like until the late 2000s. So beloved for its grime by a select few, one Yelp reviewer puts it best: "Nasty and gross and exploding with riotous color, it was the best park in SF. Fed on toxins, the plants were pitiful drooping things; the only thriving flora were the traces left by the graffiti artists." Where it's located: Where 24th Street terminates at the Central Waterfront in Dogpatch.

What it features: Walking paths, landscaped lawns, benches, scenic vistas of the bay. Adjacent to dilapidated piers and warehouses, for those who don't mind a little history in their park scenes.

How to get there: Besides driving, your only real public transportation option is taking the T light rail to 23rd and 3rd streets and walking the last few blocks.

Dog's allowed?: A great place for dog's on leashes.

Don't miss: A chance to see the park before all of it's gritty glory disappears. The park is no longer grimy, graffiti-ridden or dangerous, but it still holds some of the post-industrial charm of the past due to its rugged neighbors. That may all change soon, as the Dogpatch/Central Waterfront is gentrifying faster than any other San Francisco 'hood right now.
·Warm Water Cove [FoundSF.org]
·Warm Water Cove [San Francisco Parks Alliance]
·Warm Water Cove [Yelp]