A conceptual rendering of the vintage concession stand at the Stow Lake Boathouse
I haven’t covered much of the Stow Lake brouhaha which has been the topic of much discussion among Golden Gate Park purists; SFCitizen.com covered all the gory details quite well. It seems to be all about preserving the legacy of pink popcorn and people’s affection for the dilapidated boathouse and the family that runs it.
So we’ll just zoom ahead to this week, when the Recreation & Parks Department announced the new vendor they’re considering to take over operations at Stow Lake.
Ortega Family Enterprises from New Mexico is the frontrunner; they currently run the show at Muir Woods. Ortega would replace longtime operator Bruce McClellan, whose family has run the boathouse for three generations.
Ortega has big plans for Stow Lake which would give it a much-needed facelift, bringing it closer in quality to its high-end neighbors in the Music Concourse. Ortega plans to invest $233,000 for the following improvements:
– Interior and exterior renovations to the 64 year-old boat house. They’ll repaint the exterior, upgrade the vintage snack counter, and convert the interior space, which is now used for boat repair, into a small cafe. The menu will include sandwiches, salads, baked goods and cafe beverages, plus free WiFi. Don’t worry – longtime favorites pink popcorn and animal crackers will still be readily available.
– A new fleet of 50 boats to cruise Stow Lake including sea pedals, pontoons, swan-themed pedal and rowboats. Ortega will shell out $152,000 for the new vessels and they say they plan to reduce rental rates in the coming years.
A conceptual rendering of a new cafe inside the Stow Lake Boathouse
Ortega is also committing to ongoing maintenance, which is something the current owners have failed at in my opinion. 2% of Ortega’s revenues, or roughly $18,000 per year, will be put back into the facilities for regular maintenance and repair.
Ortega Family Enterprises will go before the Recreation & Parks Commission on August 19, seeking approval for their proposal and the green light to move forward. If they get it, it’s onto the Board of Supervisors for final sign off.
Despite all the shiny newness of Ortega’s plans, not everyone is happy about the impending changes. One group, Save Stow Lake, has been lobbying to preserve the boathouse in its current state and leave management in the hands of Bruce McClellan. And in a recent poll on SFAppeal.com, 53% voted to leave the boat house as is in favor of preserving tradition (only 88 votes, but still).
Well, I’m excited by the proposed changes. I don’t believe that you have to sacrifice quality to preserve tradition. I’ve felt for a long time that Stow Lake is a little seedy and as a result, its charm is wearing off. It’s someplace I’d like to take visitors to, but usually skip. With these new enhancements, I’m sure both tourist and local traffic will increase.
What do you think? Are you in favor of leaving things as is or giving Ortega the chance to improve Stow Lake?
Sarah B.
Some vintage postcards of lovely Stow Lake that I found at a flea market:
Yes. I like it too.
Changes look great to me.
I support this project. The selection of a vendor who can best execute on it is a management matter for the landlord. I would hope that they are capable of making a smart decision here. But this “Save the Boathouse” rhetoric makes no sense to me. Save it from what? This project is not going to obliterate its historic charm. It’s going restore it and create a destination that draws more visitors to enjoy it. I’m not sure why the current management was not selected, but I assume it is because Park & Rec felt some concern for that party’s ability to execute on this plan.
Please go to our website to better understand the issues involved here. http://www.savestowlake.org.
Rec & Park has mismanaged the lease for years causing the deterioration of the historic boathouse. The plans are to put in a huge gift shop with new cafe on the entire top floor of the boathouse. The boats would be put down in the parking lot where they would have to be trailered up and down a pedestrian ramp using a gas powered truck. No environmental review has been done. The city has been working in secret on this, ignoring the Stow Lake users concerns COMPLETELY. The Rec & Park plan is part of a larger plan to privatize our parks… .so that affordable or free recreation areas will be off limits to low-income people who can’t pay. Right now ALL of the items at the boathouse snack bar are under $3.50. Compare that to a hot dog at the new de Young Cafe for $8.50 and you get an idea where we’re going with these out of state vendors. The boating is the main concern… not food. SF hardly needs another burger joint. And all of the increase in traffic, noise and lighting will impact the bird colonies and the rest of the environment… but Rec & Park is all about revenue generation without realistic budgets or plans. There is no demand for a yuppie burger joint / souvenir shack…. especially when it’s on the backs of seniors, low-income families and disabled who are the regulars at Stow Lake. Rec & Park hasn’t written one line of notification for these groups. Smell a rat? I do.
You know, I really hear Suzanne’s concerns re: Rec & Park. For the longest time now, they operate outside of citizen input (see the paving of the Rhoddy Dell recently – anyone get any info on that? any input at all?). Rec & Park really do seem to be operating their own little fiefdom – to the sad detriment to the GGP. That said, I like the idea of cleaning up the boathouse (and maybe getting rid of the tacky boat cover building on the lake… added in the 1980s… really ugly); I don’t mind a place that is a bit more interactive either. In any case, I think community input is ALWAYS a good idea (something completely lacking in Rec & Park…).
It’s all been said before, and Sarah B said it best above. My two cents as a HUGE fan, someone born in San Francisco who came for picnics and paddles on the lake and now I bring my teenage kids, that a boathouse that stays rustic and authentic AND has been improved, with rental rates moving south, not north, is great news. I honestly don’t care WHO runs the place, as long as it looks and feels like a boathouse that is in love with that lake.
And please keep room for picnic tables and cater to the picnic crowd. I urge the Ortegas to sell Picnic food, keep community use tables, allow people to make new friends (i have made and met friends there, and it is good for us locals to interact with tourists from time to time), to get people into nature…
Stow Lake was designed to be a boat rental venue from the initial design of Golden Gate Park. There were boats for rent in the early days and then an empty lake when when the boathouse burnt down. The present operation opened for business on June 20, 1943 and for 67 years has never missed a rent payment while at the same time provided a boating experience for thousands of famlies. The Save the Boat House group are totally independent of the present Lessee. Their objective is to preserve the Concession as a boating operation and not a cafe, They have no axe to grind as to who operates the concession…only that it remains a boating facility rather than a Cafe, WiFi lounge, and gift shop. There are thousands of those locations in San Francisco but only one boating lake.
Yes, the condition of the building is dismal. That is because for 6 years since the fixed lease expired, the concession has been on a month to month tennancy. It has taken that long for the Recreation and Park staff to find someone willing to spend a pot of money to convert an operating boathouse into a cafe/lounge and gift shop. No sane businessman would spend thousands of dollars to paint the boathouse while on a month to month lease when all indications were that the end was in sight.
Rental activity takes a heavy toll on boats and a repair shop is essential to keep the fleet operating and safe. Although the R & P Department is keeping all information secret in total violation of San Francisco’s Sunshine ordance, the information that has appeared/leaked on the blog clearly indicates that boat rental will be a secondary use of the facility. Sticking the repair shop in the basement is stupid but an indication of the current Recreation and Park staff thinking. The present operater agreed to replace the entire fleet with new boats and bring the boathouse back up to quality standards. He was unwilling to convert the operation into a unintelligent use. His bid indicated the repair shop would remain where it is and continue to be serviced by the overhead boat hoist. The lower level was to be offered by the present lessee to non-profit groups at no rent for educational exhibits and information relating to Golden Gate Park.
As to the economic issues for cash poor San Francisco, I can not comment as the Ortega proposal is being kept secret. As to their experience in operating a safe and functional boating experience, again I can not comment due to the black out of information. On the blogs, there has only been information about their food and gift shop operations.
Who cares where the boats are stored? Frankly, I’d much rather have a small retro styled cafe with indoor seating on the upper floor (with views of the lake) than use that space for boat storage/repair. Ortega’s bid is more detrimental to the birds? I highly doubt it. Why is it always ‘Save the Birds’?…SF’s argument of last resort.
Joni Mitchell’s song “Big Yellow Taxi” an iconic song, one of the lines “they paved paradise and put in a parking lot” she wrote this song on her first trip to Hawaii, released in June of 1970. If you live in America and haven’t heard this song, then you must of came from a different planet.
One of today’s biggest singing groups The Counting Crows recently released this song and it is their biggest hit, a cover song. It tells you where people’s minds are, they would rather have paradise instead of the parking lot. The song is known for it’s an undeniable profound statement of our environment. This song reminds me of Stow Lake and the Boat House. Yesterday’s era has been consumed with parking lots. It would be so nice to preserved Stow Lake and make it one small piece of paradise in San Francisco that when we set our feet there it brings back some peace and serenity into our lives. In the long run this piece of paradise will be worth more than 50 parking lots.
So it’s a little run down big deal.
P.S. DON’T TURN STOW LAKE INTO A PARKING LOT!!!! PLEASE.
I just love the way the boat house is. Jeff does an outstanding job managing that entire operation….he especially caters to young kids, international visitors and the old and disabled.
I am disabled….I have a mental disability and Jeff and his staff are so kind to me. He is an outstanding character and I just love him and his people.
He deserves the world, and one way or the other, I will get it for him!
Joseph Brunner
A clarification of paragraph 8 above. The present Lessee did propose indoor seating in his bid package. It was at the west end of the shop and separated with a wall. Lots of windows to let in light and allow patrons [particularly children] to observe a working boat repair facility. Occupied about one-third of the present shop which allowed the balance of the area to function as a boat repair facility.
I have no problems with a cafe in the area– why not? That said, I would prefer keeping the boat repair facility where it is, because it’s functional and interesting and old-school. Heck, they could build a little cafe nearby or something. The lower parking lot is pretty ugly but I guess there’s no way of getting around that.
Rhoddy Dell – is that what the garden east of the Academy is called? I never knew. But yeah, how come there was no public mention whatsoever when they fenced it off and paved it up? when is it going to be open again? I confess I went through there anyway recently. it’s like a little go kart racer course in there now with all the concrete and no plants, lol
I agree with Sarah in that the place is seedy and run down. I favor giving the present operator a good long term deal with a few upgrades. They have stuck with the Lake for the years, this should be rewarded no? The managment of Park and Rec will certainly be an election debate point for the candidates. They are a miserable group intent on turning the parks into atm’s. The department needs an overhaul starting with outing the director Ginsberg and replacing the commision with some people who will back residents over profits. This all occurs under Eric Mar’s nose, guess he can’t smell the new blacktop. @ Suzanne, thanks like your passion about the issue!
I was so disappointed to learn that the Park & Rec. Dept. panel has chosen an out-of-state management company rather than a local entity for the Stow Lake Boat House upgrade and concession, thereby insuring that most of the dollars will leave San Francisco City and County.
Of course, I had hoped that the McClellan family would be granted the contract as they have faithfully run the Boat House for so many years. I have seen/heard some comments that the place is “a dump” and a Chronicle reporter wrote that some of us never want change. Those comments distress me, for we know that the McClellans have been asking for a long-term contract for a number of years but they have been denied. We all know that the Boat House is in disrepair but it certainly would not be a prudent business move to spend thousands of dollars on an upgrade when only having month-to-month tenancy or even a year’s contract and no assurance that the lease would be renewed.
The plan the Ortega’s have submitted was shown here. How about showing what the McClellans proposed?
Out of state out of mind.
That’s a great idea give the current owner a lease with stipulations on improvements and maintenance.
I hope the Ortega family gets the proposal.Bruce McClellan and his Uncle Cal Tilden once cheated me out of a proposal to rent bicycles there in the lower level.I wrote the proposal and met with them , basically gave them the idea, and they turned around and did it themselves.Bruce would come in everyday dressed up in a suit & tie and count the money and leave.He never made improvements to the place or put his heart into making it a profitable business.It’s time for a change.