The San Francisco call., 1895-07-16
THE OCEAN BOULEVARD,
How tho Park Commissioners
Have Regarded the Great
Highway.
The Great importance of Continuing
the Driveway to the City
Limits.

Concerning the Ocean boulevard, now
obstructed and almost destroyed by the
Southern Pacific spur tracks, that have no
legal right there, the Park Commissioners
themselves have in times past declared the
necessity and the rare advantages of an
open highway along the beach.
1t was in the power of the Park Commits
sioners, and in their power alone, to have
compelled the railroad TO lay its tracks on
Forty-eighth avenue, instead of usurping
and despoiling zone of the most beautiful
ocean drives in the world" d"-quoting the
language of the Park Commissioners them
selves. Forty y-eighth avenue would have
answered every purpose. In fact it would
have been even a more direct route to the
Midwinter Fair grounds than was the
Ocean boulevard. But Forty eighth avenue
had not been graded atpublic expense, and
the peoples money had not been spent to
partly macadamize it. 1t was cheaper for
the Southern Pacific to use the Ocean
boulevard. More than that, the Ocean
boulevard is L choice right of way, and
makes an excellent connecting link be-
tween Lakeville and the Park and Ocean
Railroad.
In just what esteem the Park Commits
sioners, past and present, have held this
Ocean boulevard may be seen by reference
to the municipal reports of past years. In
their report for 1859 Park Commissioners
R. P. Hammond, w. H. Dinond and
Joseph Austin have this to say about the
future of the boulevard:
The great highway along the ocean offers in
its present state but little attraction the shift
ing sand rendering it difficult to drive to the
beach, which can be used only at low tide 1t
7 ynT raj in n fflf fnr0 hnf1 a
yard viii be constructed along the entire
length of the highway, thus making one OF the
most beautiful ocean drives in the world. This
Is not at all lmpracticable, but OF course not
within the means of the Park Commissioners
with their present appropriation.
In the following year w. w. Stow be-
came member of the commission in the
place OF W. H. Dimond, and the boards
interest in the welfare of the ocean boule-
ward increased with the improvements
made. In its report the board said:
The great boulevard along the ocean beach
merits and has received some attention.
great work has been done ON it since our last
report. During the last winter, so severe upon
the laboring classes, 200 extra laborers at
time were employed in grading the boulevard,
and were paid out of the park funds. Twenty
six hundred feet along the ocean front of the
park were graded and planted with trees.
fence to protect the trees from the ocean wind
has been built the entire distance, and on the
ocean side of the beach grass planted hun
dred feet in width to stay the drifting sands.
The park is now safe from any further supply
OF sand from the beach.
In their report for the year 1912 the
Park Commissioners describe the further
work done on the boulevard as follows:
walk twenty feet in width along the ex-
treme western front of the boulevard has been
laid out and macadamized, and its borders
planted with shrubbery. The boulevard and
Its adjacent walk are much used by the public,
which indicates the desirability of the extern
sion of both southwark to the City limit.
Those owning lands to the south of the park
have graded the boulevard 100 feet in width
about two miles. The Park Commissioners
have contributed $1,000 and promised another
thousand out OF the next years appropriation
in aid of this work, the entire cost of which
should be borne by the park. We are assured
by those who have shown so much enterprise
in grading the great highway that they intend
to complete their good work and macadamize
the same during the current year.
In the light of these words of the Park
Commissioners it is certainly not over
stating the case to say that the tracks
which now obstruct the ocean boulevard
stands in the way of the completion of one
of the most important of the park I'M
provements. And the declaration of Com
missioners Austin and Rosenfeld that
the tracks will be removed very soon
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