Walking in the Grove by Nicholas

It’s a gentle place. It’s a quiet spot in the middle of the busy park in the middle of the noisy city. The National AIDS Memorial Grove sits in one of the few natural ravines in the eastern end of Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. It is secluded but surprisingly only a few steps from busy city streets and busy sections of the park.

Before the place was consecrated as the National AIDS Memorial, it was a non-descript, out of the way quiet respite in the heavily used eastern end of Golden Gate Park. It was always one of my favorite places in the park. With only a short walk from my apartment, I could be in a completely quiet and peaceful domain. When it rained, a slow stream flowed down the center of the ravine. Tall redwoods, scrub oak trees and large shrubs shaded the area. Soft blankets of fog would float through the tall ferns in the lush ravine. A sort of path meandered through it, wandering up a slight incline toward the western end. In that crowded park, it was an area overlooked by most hikers. I loved to wander through it, stopping at times to rest on a stone or log and meditate in this little wild outpost of nature left alone in the mostly manicured park.

Begun in 1991, the AIDS Grove is actually a federally designated memorial site like the Viet Nam War Memorial in Washington and Mount Rushmore. Volunteers constructed a serene place where people can come alone or in groups to hold memorial services or just to remember among the rhododendrons and redwoods. It is a place dedicated to all lives touched by AIDS.

In the grove are six flagstone gathering areas, numerous Sierra granite boulders and 15 freestanding benches. The paved Circle of Friends, located at the Dogwood Crescent in the eastern end of the Grove, is the focal point of the area. Presently, nearly 1,700 names are inscribed in circles radiating out from a center point. When completed, the Circle of Friends will include 2,200 names of lives touched by AIDS.

Some of the names I know, many I do not and most are hard to read in those concentric circles. But whether their names are there or not, I think back to Bill and Chester and Wayne and Ari and the day I announced to a friend that I just was not going to go to anymore funerals for a while.

It’s still one of my favorite spots in Golden Gate Park though it is a busier place than it used to be and doesn’t have that wildness it used to have. At first, I didn’t like the change, this intrusion of gardening on what had been a private little unkempt respite in the city. But I have since come to love the Grove. It is good to remember. I urge you if you are ever again in San Francisco to seek it out and spend some time there, quietly.

About the Author

Nicholas grew up in Cleveland, then grew up in San Francisco, and is now growing up in Denver. He retired from work with non-profits in 2009 and now bicycles, gardens, cooks, does yoga, writes stories, and loves to go out for coffee.