5th
this is where i took a walk this morning. well, ok this is what it looks like now, but the location is the same. the western neighborhoods of sf (outside lands, if you will) have a lot of things to offer. the sutro baths is one of them.
in 1896, adolph sutro, former sf mayor and famous name-haver, finally opened the doors to this long dreamed-of glass cathedral of leisure. 7 swimming pools, 2 million gallons of water, an 8,000 seat capacity theater, 7 toboggan slides, the list goes on. a mr. thomas edison was very fond of the place and shot a few of his movies of the swimmers zipping down the slides and groups clad in black trunks mashed together for group lessons. after years of struggle with maintenance costs and operation issues, the place finally closed in the 60s, burning down in 1966 during deconstruction.
