Lafayette Park lies in the heart of Pacific Heights, one of San Francisco’s most beautiful and scenic areas. This privileged, elegant neighborhood embodies Hollywood's vision of San Francisco, with its blocks of Victorian mansions and its Cinemascope views of the Bay and the Golden Gate Bridge. It's just these features that make the area a favorite with visitors to the city. San Francisco locals tend to be a bit more cynical about the exclusive air of Pacific Heights, but that doesn't mean you won't catch residents of other neighborhoods making a special trip here for the eclectic upscale shopping or the calm and quiet dignity of this area’s city parks.
The neighborhood is loosely bordered by Van Ness and Presidio avenues and Pine and Vallejo streets and was first colonized by the nouveau-rich of the late 1800’s when the construction of a new cable-car line made the area accessible. The extravagant dwellings that characterize the district today stand as testimony to the desire of those early residents to impress their Nob Hill neighbors.
From the cache location, you will be looking at the 1913 Spreckels Mansion, built for the bride of sugar heir Adolph Spreckels. Alma Spreckels was an avid art collector, she posed for the statue at the top of the Dewey Monument in Union Square and married Adolph Spreckels when he was twice her age. The two of them donated the Palace of the Legion of Honor art museum to the City of San Francisco in 1924. Today, the mansion is home to romance novelist Danielle Steele, who holds a record 26 city parking permits for this address. Rumor has it there is a full-time person on staff just to move the cars around for street cleaning. If you can’t find easy cache parking, you know who to blame…
This cache is in a rather exposed location, don’t forget that you can be viewed from above and below. Parking can be difficult here, and beware of the supernatural meter maids who can appear out of thin air. This is a cache you can easily do on foot, be sure to enjoy this uniquely San Francisco neighborhood while you’re here.
ENJOY!
