The Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy is marking 25 years since Crissy Field's transformation. The Conservancy calls it its signature project: a former military airfield on San Francisco's northern shore, remade starting in 2001 into a national park site with beaches, a tidal marsh and a flat waterfront promenade.

From marsh to airfield

The land was once a salt marsh where the Ohlone harvested shellfish and fish. It was filled in by the time of the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition, and the Army later built an airfield on the site. The field was named for Maj. Dana H. Crissy, who died in a 1919 crash during an Army transcontinental flight test, and the Army accepted it as a sub-post of the Presidio in 1921.

Crissy Field played a role in early aviation. The first successful dawn-to-dusk flight across the United States ended there in June 1924. It closed as an airfield after 1974, and the National Park Service took control of the area in 1994.

The transformation

The Conservancy says the restoration was made possible by the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund and Colleen and Robert Haas, along with thousands of community volunteers and donors. Its anniversary page credits more than 3,000 volunteers and community members, and says more than 100 bird species have returned since the transformation. The Crissy Field Center, the Conservancy's youth program hub in Building 603 on Mason Street, is also turning 25.

What to do

  • Walk or bike the Golden Gate Promenade, a hard-packed trail between Marina Green and Fort Point. The Presidio Trust calls it one of the easiest places in the Presidio to walk or roll.
  • Watch birds at Crissy Marsh and Quartermaster Reach Marsh.
  • Picnic at East Beach or the West Bluff picnic area.
  • Warm up at the Warming Hut near the west end, which sells tea, hot chocolate, coffee and packaged snacks.
  • Let kids loose at the Outpost play space near East Beach.
  • Fish or crab without a license at Torpedo Wharf at the west end. Check the posted regulations first.

Getting there

The Presidio Trust lists Muni's 30 Stockton, with stops along Mason Street, and the 28 19th Avenue, with a stop at Richardson Avenue and Francisco Street. The free Presidio GO shuttle's Downtown and South Hills routes stop at the Presidio Transit Center. There is a free parking lot at East Beach and paid parking at the West Bluff lot.

One tip from the Conservancy: the wind usually picks up by midday, so go early for a quiet walk, and bring sweatshirts for the kids.