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Crosscurrents

March To The Beat Of The Golden Gate Park Band

A white rock with the words The Golden Gate Parkcast written on it

This story aired most recently in the August 1, 2023 episode of Crosscurrents.

We just got a fun workout with the swing dancers on John F. Kennedy Drive. Now, let's catch our breath and wander into the Music Concourse. As we walk along Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive, we can see the California Academy of Sciences in front of us, with its skylights and living roof. To our right, the M.H. De Young Memorial Museum looks like a copper-clad battleship beached in the middle of a forest. In between the two cultural attractions is an open-air, oval-shaped plaza with many levels. If you walk down to the other end of the concourse, you’ll find yourself at the bandshell. This is the Spreckels Temple of Music and it's home to the Golden Gate Park Band. The band has brought life to the park every Sunday between April and October every year since 1882. Reporter Steven Short went strolling in the park and here’s what he heard.

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