| Statue of John McLaren | |
|---|---|
 The statue in 2015 | |
 | |
| Subject | John McLaren |
| Location | San Francisco, California, U.S. |
| 37°46′19″N122°27′53″W / 37.77208°N 122.46472°W | |
A statue of horticulturist John McLaren is installed in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, in the U.S. state of California.
In 1911 Alma de Bretteville Spreckels and her husband Adolph B. Spreckels, park commissioner and namesake of Spreckels Lake, wanted M. Earl Cummings to capture McLaren's likeness. The San Francisco Examiner reported in 1911 that McLaren had modeled for Cummings, and the statue was to be shown at a Bohemian Club art exhibition (Carvala). The Examiner also reported In 1921 the Examiner reported, park commissioners wanted the statue erected in Golden Gate Park “soon.” But in 1922 according to The Oakland Tribune, McLaren hid it in a box in the park stables as " McLaren did not want to see it " (Carvala, Peterson).
It was found after McLaren's death and erected in John McLaren Memorial Rhododendron Dell in 1945. It is a bronze 5'7" likeness (Carvala). It does not sit on a pedestal and has no identification, as Cummings thought everybody would know who McLaren was. Over time the statue has turned green, so it is unassuming and blends into its surroundings. In one hand he is holding a pinecone. Saw marks are on McLaren's right leg from an attempt to steal the statue on December 17, 1953. Two attempts were made, the first of which the thieves tried to “crowbar the statue off its base. Three days later on what would have been McLaren's birthday a hack saw was used to try to cut the statue down. (San Francisco Chronicle).
James Lick was an American real estate investor, carpenter, piano builder, land baron, and patron of the sciences. The wealthiest man in California at the time of his death, Lick left the majority of his estate to social and scientific causes.
Golden Gate Park is an urban park between the Richmond and Sunset districts of San Francisco, United States. It is the largest park in the city, containing 1,017 acres (412 ha), and the third-most visited urban park in the United States, with an estimated 24 million visitors annually.
Adolph Claus J. Spreckels was a major industrialist in Hawai'i during the kingdom, republican, and territorial periods of the islands' history. He also involved himself in several California enterprises, most notably the company that bears his name, Spreckels Sugar Company.
John McLaren Park is a park in southeastern San Francisco. At 312.54 acres (126.48 ha), McLaren Park is the third largest park in San Francisco by area, after Golden Gate Park and the Presidio. The park is surrounded mostly by the Excelsior, Crocker-Amazon, Visitacion Valley, Portola and University Mound neighborhoods.
John Diedrich Spreckels, the son of German-American industrialist Claus Spreckels, founded a transportation and real estate empire in San Diego, California, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The entrepreneur's many business ventures included the Hotel del Coronado and the San Diego and Arizona Railway, both of which are credited with helping San Diego develop into a major commercial center.
Sutro Heights Park is an historic public park in the Outer Richmond District of western San Francisco, California. It is within the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and the Sutro Historic District.
John Hays McLaren (1846–1943) was a Scottish-born American horticulturalist. For 53 years (1890-1943) he served as superintendent of the Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, California.
The California Midwinter International Exposition of 1894, commonly referred to as the "Midwinter Exposition" or the "Midwinter Fair", was a World's Fair that officially operated from January 27 to July 5 in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park.
Michael Henry de Young was an American journalist and businessman.
The McLaren M4B was a Formula One racing car constructed by Trojan for Bruce McLaren Motor Racing and raced five times by New Zealander Bruce McLaren at the start of 1967.
Central Tower is a 91 m (299 ft) 21-story office building at Market and Third Streets in San Francisco, California. The building has undergone numerous renovations since its completion in 1898 as the Call Building. It was later known as the Spreckels Building.
Adolph Bernard Spreckels was a California businessman who ran Spreckels Sugar Company and who donated the California Palace of the Legion of Honor art museum to the city of San Francisco in 1924. His wife, Alma, was called the "great grandmother of San Francisco". His 1912 mansion is in Pacific Heights and is San Francisco Landmark #197.
The Music Concourse is an open-air plaza within Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. Flanking the oval-shaped concourse are the M. H. de Young Memorial Museum and the California Academy of Sciences.
San Francisco Parks Trust was a U.S. non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and enhancement of parks in San Francisco, California. In 2011 the San Francisco Parks Council and San Francisco Parks Trust merged to form the new San Francisco Parks Alliance.
The Spreckels Lake Model Yacht Facility, commonly referred to as "Spreckels Lake", is an artificial reservoir behind an earthen dam and adjoining clubhouse situated on the northern side of San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. Completed in mid-March 1904, the reservoir was built for the use of model boaters of all ages, interests, and skill levels, designed specifically for racing model sail and power boats and to propagate the skills and crafts necessary to build and sail competitive model boats of all types. The Spreckels Lake Model Yacht Facility is considered one of the finest examples and one of the most beautiful of the naturalistically styled, man-made model boating facilities in the world and is always open to anyone wishing to sail its waters with few restrictions. The facility is also the permanent home to the San Francisco Model Yacht Club (SFMYC), the organization at whose request Spreckels Lake and the adjoining clubhouses were built and whose history is and always will be irrevocably intertwined with the history of the facility.
Melvin Earl Cummings, also known as M. Earl Cummings, was an American sculptor active in San Francisco, California.
The Jerry Garcia Amphitheater is an outdoor concert venue located in McLaren Park in San Francisco, California, opened in 1971. Its maximum capacity is 1,200 people. It is named after Jerry Garcia of the rock band Grateful Dead, and is the site of the annual Jerry Day event, at which various musical groups perform.
A memorial statue of Francis Scott Key stood in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, in the U.S. state of California, from 1888 until 2020.
The Eugene J. de Sabla, Jr., Teahouse and Tea Garden is a historic garden located in San Mateo, bordering Hillsborough, California. It has been described as both a Higurashi-en and a Shin-style garden and is the only surviving private garden designed by the widely respected Japanese garden designer Makoto Hagiwara. It was built around 1907 on the El Cerrito estate and was eventually listed in the National Register of Historic Places by its current owners, Achille and Joan Paladini.
Spreckels Temple of Music, also called the bandshell, constructed in 1900, is in the Music Concourse at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. It was a gift to the city from sugar magnate Claus Spreckels and is one of the largest bandshells in North America.
Media related to John McLaren by Melvin Earl Cummings at Wikimedia Commons