Kezar Stadium — Attraction in San Francisco

"Where is this stadium located?" "Why, it's located in Golden Gate Park!" Did you know that this was the "original stadium of the San Francisco 49er's for over two decades!" The Oakland Raiders also played at this stadium way back then.

Visiting this old stadium today just brings back memories of what it must've been like in the early years. There were many memorable games played at this stadium. It was just a nice place to visit and relive those old memories of yesteryear!

In 1922, the San Francisco Park Commission accepted a $100,000 gift from the estate of Mary Kezar. The gift was intended to build a memorial in honor of Kezar's mother and uncles who were pioneers in the area.

After the City and County of San Francisco appropriated an additional $200,000, the stadium was built in a year.

On May 2, 1925, dedication ceremonies were held and featured a two-mile footrace between two of the greatest runners of the era.

In the 1930s, the stadium had many uses in addition to track and field competitions. The stadium hosted motorcycle racing, auto racing, rugby, lacrosse, soccer, baseball, boxing, cricket and football.

In September 1932, the Australian Cricket Team played a Northern California All Star Team in the Australian's 56 game tour of the U.S. and Canada.

The stadium was also the home field of several local colleges such as Santa Clara, USF, St. Mary's, and the now defunct San Francisco Polytechnic High School.

In 1926, the Stadium also became the home of the East-West Shrine Game.

In 1928, the city high school championship game between San Francisco Polytechnic and Lowell was played with over 50,000 in attendance. That game still holds attendance records for a high school football game in northern California.

In 1928, Stanford University played four of its home football games at Kezar.

In 1940, the stadium hosted the first-ever major college football double header, which featured Stanford vs. San Francisco and Santa Clara vs. Utah.

Kezar Stadium was home to two professional football teams; the San Francisco 49ers and the Oakland Raiders, both began their existence at the stadium.

In 1946, the San Francisco 49ers football team was founded and Kezar Stadium was adopted as their home stadium.

On September 8, 1946, the San Francisco 49ers played their first game against the New York Yankees ("Ya, that's right, the New York Yankees..... Did I stutter?").

One tier of bleachers could hold 59,942 fans and circled the entire field. The 49ers played 25 seasons at Kezar Stadium before moving into Candlestick Park in 1971.

In 1960, the Oakland Raiders played at Kezar during their first season and at Candlestick Park during their second season, before Frank Youell Field was built as a temporary facility in Oakland.

The most famous play at the stadium took place in 1964, when Minnesota Vikings defensive lineman Jim Marshall scooped up a fumble by Billy Kilmer and raced 66 yards in the wrong direction, into his own end zone for a safety.

In 1971, the San Francisco 49ers moved to Candlestick Park after losing the 1970 NFC Championship Game to the Dallas Cowboys, 17-10.

In 1989, before Kezar Stadium was demolished, it hosted many other events after suffering extensive earthquake damage. The stadium was reconstructed and provided seating for 10,000 fans. The new stadium featured an all-weather track eight lanes wide, a soccer field and two scoreboards.

In April 1989, with pending demolition of the stadium, the bleacher planks of Kezar Stadium were sold off to fans at a party. The stadium was demolished in June of that year before being rebuilt.

From 2003-2005, Kezar Stadium was also the home field for the "San Francisco Stingrayz" women's Professional Football team when the Stingrayz had to end their season short due to a bus accident in which they lost a number of players due to injuries.

The Stingrayz was one of the first women's tackle football teams in the Bay Area in the Independent Women's...

With the whole Covid-19 pandemic, this has been my routine outdoor exercise and it's been great. It's really well maintained and the track is pretty standard and generally clean-ish.

I think it's been more populated than usual since the shelter in place. I'd see on average about 20-40 people working out either on the track or the bleachers on weekends and slightly less during the weekdays.

The field is always off limits except for reserved events so don't even bother doing anything on the grass. I'm not sure if there's someone around supervising the area when the stadium is open but I don't think it's worth the trouble.

There's rules on the gates but the ones that stand out the most is no biking or skateboarding on the track and I'm assuming this includes any other types of transportation

Side note: Kezar is a pretty old stadium and I'm being pedantic at this point but to me the track feels slightly less springy compared to a newer track in a high school or...

Kezar is a fully accessible outdoor stadium with a nicely vulcanized rubber track around futball pitch. this is a great place to go to exercise by yourself or with your personal trainer who keeps yelling at you constantly. it is nice and flat to do some laps and keep that upper body strength strong. got to maintain your body because our current oligarchy is basically hoping you'll die if you are disabled, in a wheelchair, or simply old. it is also pleasantly located around many food & drink venues and the upper Haight. the skateboard park is right next to the Cop Shop next door, so you should feel safe with all that bacon around. They have really managed to sanitize the upper Haight and the Panhandle so all you middle-class purse clutchers are going to be just fine. highly recommend a visit here on your way to Amoeba Records or...