Golden Gate Park is located between Haight Ashbury and the Pacific Ocean in San Francisco. It is one of the world's largest urban parks and is roughly 3 miles long and 1/2 miles wide covering 1017 acres. In contrast, New York City's Central park is only 843 acres in size. The park was designed by William Hammond Hall in 1870 who located it well outside the city limits on undeveloped land dominated by sand dunes. Hall converted the dunes into forrested parkland using innovative sand reclamation techniques which included building a dike to protect the park from the sea. In 1887, John McLaren succeeded Hall as superintendent and oversaw the planting of thousands of trees converting it into its present form. Today the park houses many attractions such as the Conservatory of Flowers, Japanese Tea Garden, Buffalo paddock, McLaren planetarium, Steinhart Aquarium, and Strybing Arboretum.
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