Tsaiberspace

Ocean Beach runs along the west side of Great Highway, starting near the San Francisco Zoo at its southernmost point, up to Golden Gate Park, and a little farther north to Cliff House. We walked one small portion of that, starting about midway up, working our way up to Golden Gate Park. Ocean Beach, being operated by the National Park Service, is interesting for a few reasons:

• You can’t see the beach from the road, because the beach is lower than the road level, and because there are some mini-levees built up. This probably serves the initial purpose of protecting the land from high-tide and flooding, but it also removes the opportunity to passively enjoy the beach. Commuters cannot see it as they drive to work or drive back home; pedestrians and bikers have to descend to the footpaths. On the other hand, people on the beach cannot see or hear the traffic on the Great Highway.
• Unlike beaches in places like Santa Barbara and probably many other coastal cities, Ocean Beach is very definitely public property; there is no “beachfront” property. The beach is separated from the nearest houses by the mini-levees (described above), the Great Highway (4 lanes separated by a divider), another divider, and La Playa St. (2 lanes). The best one can do here is to have a house with a top floor high enough to see over the levees, and over any other intervening houses.

For these reasons, Ocean Beach feels more like a national park to hike, and less like a “beach” for sand and swimming (besides, it’s too cold!).