Temperatures remained high over the weekend and crossed the threshold of 80 degrees in some corners of the city. But perhaps most remarkably, not a single neighborhood was excluded from what only San Franciscans are allowed to call a heat wave.
At Ocean Beach, a panorama of diapered toddlers testing the chilliness of the waves and bikini-clad swimmers testing the warmth of the sun spread out for as far as the eye can see — all the way to the Marin Headlands, it seemed from a distance.
There, Nick Giambri, a 54-year-old in the hospitality business, was throwing the ball around with his miniature pinscher, Frankie.
“This is the most people I’ve seen on the beach in months,” said Giambri, who chuckled that his wife had to go to work today.
Further south on the beach, 40-year-olds Mikey Tashjin and Lex Countis were letting their dog cool off in the ocean. They’d come from Richmond and waited an hour in traffic just so Tashjin could show Countis “some of his spots” near where he grew up. But it was totally worth it.
“There’s only about five or 10 days like this a year,” Tashjin said.
At Fort Funston, it seemed there were just as many dogs as humans. It was windy, but barely, just enough to break the heat of the sun which glittered along the blue water. And still, some people, like Karen Vitulano, a 60-year-old retiree, were missing the fog.
Vitulano was spending the day with her 8-month-old dog, Rosebud. Here, she said, was a sanctuary for all living creatures.
“You’re in the company of dogwalkers and gliders,” she said, noting other city parks which have been overrun with coyotes. “It represents freedom. It’s a very special place.”
At Grandview Park, one of the most spectacular vistas in the city, Brandon Jackson, a 34-year-old AI policy researcher from London, and Jesse Bradford, a 37-year-old furniture maker from Austin, were taking in the views ahead of a wedding they were in town for.
Needless to say, they each had different definitions of “hot” and “cold.”
“When we got to the top [of the park], there was a blast of fresh air, and it felt great,” Jackson said.
“This is the coldest I’ve been all year,” Bradford responded. “You call this summer?”
Indeed, plenty of the locals who spread throughout the city’s green spaces were calling this peak summer.
Newlyweds Dakota Navrkal, a 31-year-old fundraiser at the Academy of Sciences, and Nicole Habbe, a 29-year-old occupational therapist, were soaking in the weather with coloring books and memoirs outside the Conservatory of Flowers.
The couple had their first date here, and were now back on “this beautiful day.”
Down the sunny belt of the car-less JFK drive and at the other edge of the Panhandle lay the shirtless Dan Smith, a 37-year-old city worker, and Alana Boyd, 35, who works at a residential treatment center.
“There’s only a few times a year you can do something like this,” Smith said. “I’m just happy it’s on a Saturday.”
“It’s the best vibes ever,” Boyd added.
