Sunset Dunes — Attraction in San Francisco

You can't really call this a park, there has been no renovations to make the road look nice or to even resemble one. It is literally a highway road that hundreds of millions of car tires rode over and worn out over the decades. The roads are meant for tires. The few times I've walked 20-30 min one way and the same backtracking, my legs, hips, and body felt like it's been through rough physical labor. It's so gravelly, I do not recommend this place for a casual stroll. I have no problem walking the length of JFK road in ggp btw. Sunset Dunes has a cool name but it turned out to be more for seeing a few times and realizing that this place is mindnumbingly disappointing, especially when you don't live near that neighborhood and took the muni bus and metro train more than 1 hour to get there from elsewhere in the city. There is the occasional road mural, they're big but not bold in colors. Are they new? They look worn out by age by their quality. Same goes for the sculptures, they stick out too much. There aren't new plants, it's the same weeds and some not so nice looking plants riddled along the side of the stretch of roads. Where are the healthy looking trees?! I thought big parks are supposed to make us see a bit more of nature. The neighborhood is known for bright grey skies as the normal scenery, so it gives the effect of hitchhiking when it's like that. Sometimes it's blue skies. But there is a wind tunnel going through this coastal area, so half the time you get harsh cold winds. I got nauseous, it's the feeling from very cold air blowing at your face non-stop and it causes the side of your cheeks and temples to hurt and ache. The wind got sooo extreme when stepping into Ocean Beach when I enter from Judah St. The wind blows you backward as if warning you to not get near the water. Please provide funding to renovate this highway to actually become an inviting park. But no one wants to give that charity. It literally feels like I'm a stranded hitchhiker on a dystopian road where people are braving harsh winds, putting up with unpleasant scenery, and being worn down by rugged terrain. Iys amazing enough people saw a vision in converting a highway into a park. I was hopeful for another beautiful big park similar to GGP and Presidio. This became a regretful closure of a highway with no plan to immediately convert it to an actual park. If renovations are to come, that might be in 5-7 years. That time would've given enough time to gather resources for actual renovations and avoided loss of route for...

“Sunset Dunes Park” - The Upper Great Highway (GHW) is one of the major controversies in The City’s recent history triggering ongoing protesting, repeated vandalizing and recalling a Supv on an upcoming special ballot. In a nutshell, the permanent closure of the GHW (between Lincoln Way and Sloat Boulevard) that was built in 1929 to cars after paving away miles of infamous Ocean Beach “sand dunes” (ironically nearly 100 years later the name comes back) to opening a two-mile-long “Big Beautify Park” as a result of the passage of Prop K in 2024 is imprudent, deceptive, unrealistic, and misleading to visitors. I have driven and walked the GHW and parallel trails many times in the past quarter a century and here are reasons to support my *: ❶the pretext to “expands costal recreational access” is unneeded, pretextual and simply lame because the existing trail along GHW has effectively and safely separated vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians. {Remember the “35-mile rule” 😉 to avoid stopping at traffic lights?} ❷there is hardly anyone there during the week especially infamous "Karl the Fog" lingering in the Sunset 300 some days a year; ❸ the assertion that a handful business joints scattered on Judah, Noriega, Taraval and Sloat would be “winners” is disingenuous for lack of facilitation [Two public bathrooms built in 1930s are available in the “Sunset Dunes,” (@Judah & @Taraval)]; ❹ Where would you like visitors to go or do other than the hiking on the deserted GHW or walking on sand beach? ❺ Therefore, imhv to maintain the status quo instead of cutting out a major traffic artery is the common ground should have sought by voters for the sake of democracy { 🤭 “East Cut” versus “Sunset Dunes”}rather than stood on each other’s ground headbutting, wasting public resources and dividing our City. [Prior to Prop K the road was closed to motor vehicle traffic on weekends beginning noon on Friday until Monday mornings at 6:00 a.m. as well as on holidays for outdoor goers.] Unless the City decides to build a new “Playland” [It opened in 1920s stretching from north of Balboa to Fulton on GHW dismantled for building condominiums in 1972] and bring back the “Laffing Sal” from Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. 😂 The “Visitors’ Bailout Routes”: LRVs N (Judah & Ocean Beach), L (Taraval & SF Zoo). Muni buses Line 7 (Noriega & 46th Ave), 48 (Rivera & GHW), 18 (Lincoln Way & Great Highway) to connect 5, 5R (La Playa & Fulton), 31 (La Playa & Cabrillo), 1 (California & 33d Ave.) 38, 38R (Geary & 33d Ave.) back...

Finally made it to the "New" Park, right next to Golden Gate Park! The amount of racing bicyclist made it unsafe to allow my kids to walk freely (I thought I read the east side of the roadway was for bicyclists the west side walkers and strollers?) When you finally cross the roadway, which was safer with the traffic lights. Now you are sitting on the beach watching the waves, and hearing the intrusive slaming of skateboards off the ramps on the southend, so go further north. Two hammocks are already broken and missing and the 2 remaining had unhoused people hanging out, which I suppose they were entitled. As I expected you can't see the Ocean from most of the low lying roadway, so you are sandwiched in-between sandy knolls with ice plant trying to hold it down, while trying to stop the new crowds from walking over them, watch out Snowy Plovers, you thought dogs were the enemy, yikes. I say let it all errode, will make it quicker to see the Ocean, because clearly most people didn't realize it had been accessible all this time and needed a crowded strip of roadway to point it out. Overall, so not needed and we have so many better parks already there on the west side. Right up the street is Sutro Park, Sutro Baths, Lands End, Ft Miley, and Seal Rock, how about the windmill at the west end. Wish we had just closed the Zoo and used it for a park, already existing bathrooms cafe and climbing structures for the kids, imagine climbing on lemur island, thru the...