Google Sightseeing takes you on tour of the world as seen from satellite, using the free Google Earth program, or Google Maps in your web browser. Each weekday your guides James and Alex present new weird and wonderful sights as suggested by readers.

The editors: James & Alex

Golden Gate Park, San Francisco

Wednesday, 27th April 2005 by James

Please note that some or all of the objects mentioned in this post are no longer visible on Google Earth or Google Maps.

A sea of people in Golden Gate Park at what looks like a day time concert. Can anyone identify who’s playing?

Golden Gate Park

Thanks: Chuck Cheeze

19 Responses to 'Golden Gate Park, San Francisco'

  1. 1. Tim says:

    The photo was taken before 2/27/2004.

    This building to the east is complete in Microsoft’s Terraserver (which dates their picture to 2/27/2004), but is under construction in Google Maps

  2. 2. scott says:

    Oh man, I’ve seen several shows right there. Not all of them great, but I always had a good time. Thanks for the nostalgia.

  3. 3. Thomas goes .NET says:

    Internet 2005

  4. 4. beht says:

    those are the most perfectly uniform city blocks i have ever seen!

  5. 5. dustin says:

    i know! those blocks looked fake to me

  6. 6. phil says:

    I might be wrong, but I think the open green pasture to the left is the bison paddock, which would make some of those little brown dots bison.

  7. 7. PikaPikaChick says:

    When you zoom out to Placemark: here / Google Earth it looks like you can see the underwater topography. Is this really what we’re seeing or is it just water pollution? Silt, maybe?

  8. 8. Ed says:

    PikaPika..that is really what you are seeing. There are very specific shipping channels in the San Francisco Bay due to this unique topography. Great find!!

  9. 9. Jordan Meeter says:

    That is very weird… If you look Placemark: here / Google Earth, it looks like dirt or something.

  10. 10. Jack says:

    http://keyhole.com//body.php?c=popup&h=home&t=faqHome#seeMyHouse states that the picture was taken in August 2002.

  11. 11. billy says:

    so, who was playing at the park that day? anyone know?

  12. 12. Cocca says:

    If the pic’s from August, 2002, I guess the above link are among the possible concerts there. Pretty groovy . . .

  13. 13. Jamison says:

    Well, if it was taken the at the same time as the satellite image of the Castro (where you can see the Castro Street Fair going on) then that would be the annual Strictly Bluegrass Festival which happens the same weekend.

  14. 14. 41 says:

    There are cars in the park, so it wasn’t a Sunday.

  15. 15. dave says:

    This looks like Speedway Meadow, which is west of Transverse, so it could have been taken on a Sunday. (Cars are only disallowed on JFK blvd *east* of Transverse on Sundays.) Bluegrass Festival gets my vote.

  16. 16. Derek says:

    For good measure, there’s a 49ers game going on down at Candlestick, so assuming all the pix are from the same day, that should help narrow it down.

  17. 17. Chris G. says:

    Good find with the 49ers game. The pictures of San Francisco seem to be the only ones that are taken on a weekend.

  18. 18. Peter says:

    I checked the 49ers schedule for 2002-2005, and saw that there were home games on the same Sunday as the Castro Street Fair each year, so that seems to match. That would put it as October. The stadium is set up for football, so it is not a baseball game from pre-Pac Bell park days.

    I did check to see if there were any events in the Castro during August 2002, but couldn’t find any listed. So I think keyhole.com is wrong.

    The concert is at Speedway Meadow. I confirmed by looking at the GG Park map.

    Assuming Tim is right above about it being pre-2/2004, I checked and confirmed that the Bluegrass Festival was on the same day as both the Castro Street Fair and a 49ers game for 2002 and 2003 at Speedway Meadow, so it seems that is the event. Likely Oct. 5, 2003 or Oct. 6, 2002.

    I seem to remember hearing the satellite photos aren’t that old, so I cut of at 2002. If I am wrong about this, then it could be 2001 or before. I didn’t check.

  19. 19. CHRIS CBA MEMBER says:

    yes it was the hardly strictly bluegrass festival on october 7th and 8th

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