User:Mliu92/sandbox/Central Park (San Mateo)

Central Park is the first public park in San Mateo, California, a 16.5 acre urban park bounded by El Camino Real (to the west), 5th Avenue (to the north), Laurel Avenue (to the east) and 9th Avenue (to the south). It was established via a 1922 bond measure of US$80000 1922 to purchase the land originally owned by Charles B. Polhemus, and currently hosts a baseball field, tennis courts, sculptures, playground, Japanese tea garden, recreation center, miniature train, rose garden and the San Mateo Arboretum.

History
In 1854, Charles B. Polhemus, then the director of the San Francisco and San Jose Railroad, purchased the land which would later become Central Park; he built a mansion on the grounds in keeping with the fashion of wealthy San Franciscans to establish an estate on the Peninsula. Polhemus is credited with laying out the downtown core of San Mateo in September 1863 alongside the newly-completed railroad.

In 1880, William Kohl, founder of the Alaska Commercial Company, acquired Polhemus's estate and had it landscaped by John McLaren and William O'Farrell with trees and a long fence along El Camino Real. Many of Kohl's trees have survived and can be seen in present-day Central Park.

The City of San Mateo acquired the first 16 acre of land from Kohl's estate in 1922 via a bond measure of US$80000 1922, establishing it as the first public park in San Mateo; the baseball field was one of the first amenities laid out. An additional 0.5 acre were added in 1926.

San Mateo Junior College occupied the former Kohl mansion on the park grounds near the northern corner of 5th and Laurel from 1923–1927. After the College moved to the former home of San Mateo High School on Baldwin Avenue, the mansion was demolished in 1928.

Many of the park's current amenities, including the playground, recreation center and tennis courts were installed while Stanley Pitcher was serving as Superintendent of Parks (1937–1969).

Essex Property and Trust what about other neighboring towers (Park Towers?)

Recreation center
Central Park's recreation center is leased by Self-Help for the Elderly (SHE), offering activities for approximately 1,000 senior citizens between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. on weekdays. SHE primarily serves low-income and minority senior citizens. The Central Park location is the only SHE activity center in San Mateo County.

Closure of the recreation center was proposed in 2003.

The three proposed 2014 updates to the Central Park Master Plan would demolish the existing the recreation center; only one proposal calls for rebuilding the recreation center. Other informal proposals have been advanced to relocate SHE to either the yet-to-be-completed Bay Meadows Park or the existing city senior center on Alameda de las Pulgas, which would decrease access for seniors, who typically have limited options for private automobiles and public transit.

Tennis courts
Central Park has six lighted tennis courts on the roof of a single-level garage parking structure (built 1963). In 2007, a proposal to demolish and replace the parking structure was advanced, as it was considered seismically unsafe, but the existing structure was reprieved in 2009 with a retrofit plan. The retrofitting contract was awarded in 2010.

All three of the proposed 2014 updates to the Central Park Master Plan would result in removing the tennis courts in favor of plazas or open space to provide a more formal park entrance. One of the criticisms the proposed updates plan to address is that the tennis courts (along with the Fitzgerald Field grandstand) form a barrier between downtown and the rest of Central Park.

Fitzgerald Field (baseball)
history of baseball in San Mateo. SM Blues. Post 82. Mike Fitzgerald

Japanese Tea Garden
The Japanese Tea Garden was designed by Nagao Sakurai and was installed in 1966. It is open from 10AM to 4PM on weekdays and 11AM to 4PM on weekends. The Garden incorporates a waterfall and pond with two bridges; visitors may feed the pond's koi from the main bridge at 11AM and 3PM daily in the spring and summer.

San Mateo set up a sister-city relationship with Toyonaka in 1963, and Toyonaka has donated several sculptures which can be seen in the Tea Garden, including the five-level stone pagoda statue (in 1963) and a small shinden shrine (in 1991).

Children's playground
The children's playground at Central Park features a wood-and-steel play structure along with steel climbing equipment in a large sandbox. A nearby miniature railway runs in a loop.

The Bianchi miniature railway, named after its current owner, runs an Arrow Development locomotive on 12 in gauge track. The Arrow `Streamliner′ locomotive was originally built in 1953 to replace an Ottaway steam locomotive, and was later converted to battery power. Rides are $2 each, and the operator of the train also occasionally opens the snack bar in the Fitzgerald Field grandstands.

San Mateo Arboretum
The San Mateo Arboretum Society was founded in 1974, and undertook the restoration of the adjoining Kohl pumphouse, which now serves as its meeting place and headquarters, in 1976. The nearby rose garden was planted and is maintained by Arboretum Society volunteers.

Sculptures and historic structures
Albert Guibara sculpted a life-size giraffe statue by brazing copper plates together and named it Leon, in honor of his father's 80th birthday. It was installed in 1978 and can be seen on the park's northeast lawn, by the corner of 5th and Laurel.

An Italian cast-iron statue of a dog dates back to Kohl's ownership of the property and can be seen on the south side of the park, near the Arboretum and the 9th Avenue entrance. The wrought-iron fence fronting the park along El Camino Real also dates to Kohl's time. The Kohl pumphouse is the only building left from Kohl's ownership of the property.

2014 Master Plan update
The City of San Mateo unveiled three proposals in 2014 to update the Central Park Master Plan:
 * Recreation Center option: a new, expanded recreation center would be built on the site of the current tennis courts with additional underground parking, and the Fitzgerald Field grandstand would be downsized in favor of publically-accessible art studios replacing those in the current recreation center.
 * Enhanced Open Space option: the current recreation center would be replaced with an open lawn and bandshell, and the tennis courts would be replaced with a large plaza atop expanded underground parking.
 * Community Gathering option: Fitzgerald Field would be removed and replaced with a large lawn and the current recreation center would be replaced with a pavilion.

Negative publicity.

Regular events
Since 1979, a five-game little league exhibition baseball series has been held between San Mateo and Toyonaka all-stars biennially. San Mateo and Toyonaka trade hosting duties, with the final game being held at Fitzgerald Field in the years that San Mateo hosts the series.

On Thursday nights during the summer, Central Park hosts the Central Park Music Series, a series of free concerts featuring live music from Bay Area-based performers. 2014 featured eight concert dates, and 2015 is planned to have eight dates as well.

The City of San Mateo holds the Eggstravaganza egg hunt and parade early each spring at Central Park.

Victorian days. Bacon and Brew.