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Valentine's Day Stroll through Time on Lovers Lane

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Presidio of San Francisco (February 6, 2009) — The Presidio will kick off a year-long celebration of its 15 years as a national park with a Valentine’s Day “Stroll through Time” on Lovers Lane. The walk along the Presidio’s oldest footpath is the first in a monthly series of events highlighting a different aspect of the Presidio experience.

More than two centuries ago, as the original Spanish Presidio was taking shape, the shortest route to and from the fort to the nearby town was the footpath that would come to be known as Lovers Lane. First used by Spanish soldiers and Franciscan missionaries, the mile-long trail became the most popular route into San Francisco for American soldiers in the 1800s.

On Valentine’s Day, the San Francisco Bureau of Urban Secrets brings Lovers Lane’s past into the present with a self-guided storytelling experience. Stroll the scenic, romantic path listening to audio tales while costumed actors bring to life the flavors of different Presidio eras. The podcast is available to download before the event at http://www.presidio.gov/map/Pages/a-Lovers-Line-audio-tour.aspx, or you can listen at the beginning of the trail.

The Valentine’s Day “Stroll through Time” on Lovers Lane takes place Saturday, February 14, continuously from 1 to 3 pm. Meet at the Presidio Officers’ Club (50 Moraga Avenue) for a shuttle ride to Lovers Lane or just hit the trail for your own self-guided experience. No RSVP is necessary; however rain will force the cancellation of the event.

The interactive audio experience is the brainchild of artist Jeannene Przyblyski. Przyblyski is a professor at the San Francisco Art Institute and executive director of the San Francisco Bureau of Urban Secrets, a visual arts and urbanism think tank that promotes art in city life. Last year she created a similar art experience at Lands End that used the Coastal Trail as a backdrop to explore ever-changing history, geology, and ecology along San Francisco’s western edge.

“This gives you the pieces of several stories about the Presidio and asks you to put them together in your own mind as you walk the trail,” said Przyblyski. “Think of it as a way of meditating on history.”

The stories overlap and intermingle with a cast of characters including the missionary, the soldier, the military wife, the translator, the dreamer, the hawk and the dove, the wayward trees, and the springs of the Tennessee Hollow watershed.

The Presidio Trust was established by the United States Congress in 1996 to oversee the Presidio of San Francisco, an urban national park located at the base of the Golden Gate Bridge. The 1,500-acre site contains expansive open space and spectacular views, a 300-acre historic forest, and rare and endangered plants and wildlife. It also comprises nearly 6 million square feet of buildings, including 469 historic structures that contribute to its status as a National Historic Landmark District.

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Presidio Trust Media Relations

Lisa Petrie

(415) 264-7787

lpetrie@presidiotrust.gov