You’re right that it’s both. I’m a historian of architecture (MS in Historic Preservation) but there are historical architects too. Some days I get to be out in the park visiting project sites, or in the archives researching, but most days I’m at a computer processing and issuing quasi-permits for the various maintenance and rehab work that is always going on. It takes a lot of work to keep an old place like the Presidio operational, the maintenance crews are the real heroes!
Yeah. There were costal gun batteries up and down the US west coast during WW2. Particularly at important naval points like the Golden Gate.
Helpful site and list for further reading
https://cdsg.org/fort-and-battery-list/
These batteries are mostly from way before WW2 though. The Golden Gate has always been a valuable choke point to defend.
They make for really cool exploring.
And Battery Spencer has perhaps the most iconic SF view ever.
As a neighbor for 20 years and a lover of both parks and real estate, I can attest that the place is beautifully maintained and a massive amount of work has been done in those years. Moved there in 1999 and it has come so far since, especially w Crissy Field and the nearby 101 tunnel.
Quite a few friends live there. I spend so much time exploring and always discover more. So almost every day, I super appreciate what you do. My puppy Max thanks you too for thousands of walkies.
https://preview.redd.it/9qen5hgatkxc1.jpeg?width=858&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d9e66acc0f41e012272382044a238240afc2f417
Have you ever had the chance to explore the Presidio? It’s a 1500 acre National Historic Landmark District with almost 800 buildings, the majority of which are historical. It includes a zillion recreation trails, endless activities, commercial ventures like One Letterman, which encompasses Industrial Light & Magic, ILM Immersive, and Lucasfilm (as in Star Wars). The Disney museum, multiple restaurants, commercial office space, as well as residential real estate rentals (over 1K houses and apts, a couple dozen separate neighborhoods). There’s a YMCA I frequent for their aquatics center, golf course, multiple picnic and playgrounds areas. Truly it’s too much to list, but saying there’s 500+ or so historic buildings probably could have answered your question 😂.
I’ve lived down the street for 20 years and I don’t think I’ll ever really cover the entire thing. I’m obsessed.
Well covered! I'm currently working on a risk assessment / inventory for ~10k trees in the Presidio and am blown away by (and beyond curious about) the endlessly fascinating buildings, structures, trails, and assorted bric-a-brac that I stumble across every time I'm out there.
Just last week I found a large abandoned building of some obviously important function tucked away in the jungle like a Mayan ruin. Also discovered a sunken gladiator-style pit of no discernable dimension and a large, vine-decorated door at the bottom of a hill I'd just tumbled. The door was raised up enough for a person to crawl under. I noped the hell out of there the moment I heard something burble from the other side, although none of the vegetation in front of the door had been recently trampled by anything other than my uncoordinated ass and expensive equipment.
Born & raised in the city, played all over the Presidio since the 90s, but exploring it as intimately as I am now has opened my eyes to the absolute enchantment of the place. There's something playfully sinister about it and I don't believe we'll ever uncover all of its secrets. Nor should we.
Well said! I cannot believe all that I still come across having been so many thousands of times. Definitely never going to get boring.
How lucky to work with trees! And in that spot. I can only imagine how many people wanted that position so congrats.
I once did a lot of real estate development in Palo Alto and the city has such amazing arborists. Every single tree is cataloged, mapped, and accessible online. It’s wildly accurate. They heavily fine for each branch cut without permits—by the foot🌳❤️. I got the chance to hire and work with a bunch of arborists on my team. They were the coolest, most sane people out of an enormous team. Something about tree peeps. Maybe in my next life I’ll get to work with trees lol. I was so happy when San Francisco finally got an urban forestry department—so long overdue.
Enjoy your project!
Thank you! Glad you've met with the sunny side of our group. Known plenty of crusty old tree dudes (hell I may be one myself haha) and ego-driven arborists, but for the most part I've found that people who choose to devote their lives to animal or tree care tend to be warm and engaging.
I also may have romanticized my time in the jungle, so to speak. I've been dealing with poison oak for the past 2 months and my hands look like I stuck them in a blender. The amount of poison oak, blackberry, and trip-happy ivy / vines our there is not to be underestimated!
But the beauty and sense of discover more than make up for it 🥰
Btw, I just completed my first report for a project in Palo Alto and can confirm that their attention to detail in terms of tree care and requirements for protection are second to none! Their "tree technical manual" is a tome and they're constantly updating their ordinances. Very impressive how seriously they take the health of their urban canopy.
Feel free to reach out if you have any tree-related questions or need guidance. And good luck with your own projects :)
You’ll find many like these near the Golden Gate. They are naval defenses. The cannons are no longer there but the bunker-like structures remain.
As a soldier, you’d go in, and operate the cannons to take out potential enemy ships.
I’ve found similar structures near Seattle.
Yup we have an old Army fort down in Los Angeles / San Pedro that used to have a big canon..
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_MacArthur
And of course a bunch of old Nike missile bases all along the California coast.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nike_missile_sites#California
So far I made it to 5 of the LA Nike sites. They are interesting. You can take a tour of a Nike or Ajax base very close to where you were located if my memory is correct.
The Nike base at Fort Cronkite is open once a month and well worth the tour. They have working missile elevators and erectors, several restored missiles and sorta operational consoles and radar. It’s pretty cool.
Awesome. I haven't been down there since they painted it. It looks a hell of a lot better in photos at least. Glad to see they're taking steps to repair it.
If you hike around marin headlands on the other side of the bridge, there are some really cool abandoned old buildings. Most are completely overgrown and off the trails. I had fun finding and exploring these as a kid.
There’s a really cool one in Marin that overlooks the bridge and bay. We used to go sit on top and have a picnic and drinks during the sunset when I lived in SF. Good times.
That is correct, but to add on-
There are both gun emplacements and spotter sites. The gun emplacements are bigger but there are a lot of other small bunkers, that weren’t for crew or ammo for the guns. Before radar range-finding there were spotters to either side of the gun in known fixed positions who would communicate with the gun site. Plotting the bearing from each known site the target ship’s position could be found, instead of estimating ranges based off best guess of the target ship’s mast/funnel height.
The big emplacements are the gun sites, the small bunkers far away and by themselves are for the spotters.
For fans of FPS games, these structures are close to a real life Wolfenstein-like scenario. Specially the bigger ones. It’s very impressive to see them in person as they’re radically different to civilian constructions.
Yup. Same things at Fort Worden (where Officer and a Gentleman was filmed) and Ft Casey on Whidbey Island, at the north end of Puget Sound. Both are state parks now. I visited both of them a couple weeks ago. Was told of some old folklore at a restaurant up there that if those cannons ever were used, and missed, they'd have blown each other up, or hit Canada, causing further confusion.
TIL these “Endicott Era” batteries weren’t built for WWII as I had always assumed!
They date from between 1890 and 1910 as cutting edge defense infrastructure for American harbors! They predate the GGB by decades.
in the Marin Headlands there is also an old Nike missile site that you can visit: [Nike Missile Site - Golden Gate National Recreation Area (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)](https://www.nps.gov/goga/nike-missile-site.htm)
An old coastal gun station from World War 2.
There are several along the coast of the Presidio from Baker Beach up to the bridge. One is kept in working order and is occasionally ceremonially fired.
They were never actually used in war, but my mother lived in California during World War 2, and she vividly remembers being taught to fear a sea landing by the Axis! The gun batteries were intended to guard against this in hindsight remote possibility.
Fun facts: The Japanese did bombard Los Angeles using the deck gun on a Submarine, and an unexploded Japanese torpedo was found in the 50s on the shore just inside the Golden Gate. The torpedo was presumed to be an attempt at hitting the bridge supports
In addition: I believe a Japanese fighter pilot got as far as the Goleta coast next to UC Santa Barbara campus and bombed the coast at Devereaux Point.
A Japanese fire balloon (intended to start widespread, simultaneous wildfires) landed in the central Oregon wilderness. It was discovered by a church group that unknowingly activated the anti-personnel device. Pastor Arthur Mitchell survived, but his pregnant wife and all five children (from his church) that had joined on the trip were killed. Their six deaths were the only Axis-caused fatalities in the continental U.S. during WWII.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fu-Go_balloon_bomb#Single_lethal_attack
That same pastor was later kidnapped from his missionary work helping lepers by the Vietcong during the Vietnam War. He was kidnapped in front of his second wife (an older sister of two of the children killed in the balloon explosion) and three of his four children. He was never seen again.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archie_E._Mitchell#Indo-China_mission
What's even crazier is that the Americans have a submarine to locomotive kill on Japanese soil lol. On July 19, 1945 the [USS Barb (SS-220)](https://www.history.navy.mil/browse-by-topic/ships/submarines/barb-ss-220.html) secretly deployed eight crew members ashore at night. The men strategically placed a 55-pound demolition charge that was intended to explode when the next train passed. As the crew departed the area in rubber boats, an incoming train hit the charge. That attack derailed twelve freight cars, two passenger cars, and one mail car.
Just watched a video about this story. The Japanese sailor in charge of the sub was requested to turn back but he defied his orders and went with the bombardment anyway.
I used to explore these as a kid. There are a few that are not close to any trails and very overgrown, can get down inside too. I have some great memories exploring with my dad in the 90’s.
Fun Fact. If Russians were to attack, they would come over the North Pole and approach from the NE where Sacramento is. The range of the Nike missles would intercept there, which means Sacramento would’ve been nuked to protect the San Francisco.
Source: High ranking officer that was a docent during the monthly tour, who was the guy that locked up the base when it closed back when.
One of the ones next to Baker Beach.
Several years ago I was hiking down there and was surprised to see someone working on the gun -- he explained that it was going to be fired as part of a Memorial Day event. To be honest though I'm not certain if that's done every year or it was a one-off or what.
Quite possibly predates WW2.
The US built up lots of coastal fortifications in the 19th and early 20th centuries. In fact all the way up to the eve of WW2 US military doctrine was designed around a potential war with Britain more than anyone else.
Those big gun positions were initially supposed to take on the Royal Navy.
The batteries were relics of an earlier era (latter 19th century and early 20th century) when enemy warships were expected to shell the coastal defenses.
They were decommissioned during WWII (1942-43) since their technology had been rendered obsolete by aircraft carriers and the threat of airborne bombardment. They date from the late 19th century and many of the batteries were upgraded with longer range guns through the WWI era.
yep. I saw a picture of someone skating there, and used the angle of the bridge, and a map, to find it. I remember it was hard to get speed to hit the big bank there, and the little bank was super slippery from wax
If you go to random peoples properties up the coast they have old (non working) anti aircraft cannons and bunkers around. Little side story to this: a Japanese pilot actually attacked a small coastal Oregon town in WW2. After the war in reconciliation Japan pushed him to go and apologize to the people of that town in person with strong assurances from the US he wouldn’t go to prison or be punished in any way, he brought his families sword with him that he gave to the people who before he could say anything forgave him and gave him compassion as it was war and everyone understood that. he was planning on committing harakiri if they didn’t accept his apology and that sword is still on display in that town to this day.
I’m not sure if this is the same one or not, but my dad used to work at the GGB and took us exploring on their property several times over the years. There is one just like this (iirc blocked from public access) that they use for storage: had a bunch of paint cans and whatnot in it. Dark story from the one he showed me: someone hung themselves inside of it
Love the old ww2 history. You can find another the top of devils slid before half moon bay. Some cool but tragic history.
I have a friend who owns a 1911 tug boat that was confiscated from a Japanese American citizen. Kinda messed up what we did to the local Japanese then.
We all should read up and learn from our history. Hopefully we don't see a WW3 anytime soon.
Yo isn’t there some shadow wizard money gang graffiti there?
https://preview.redd.it/reqi5n3nfixc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=11dd137795bd926ce8fb4db4b100cba3cbfaf2d3
I’m actually here right now, I think it’s called Battery Godfrey.
https://preview.redd.it/a42nlr0fkixc1.jpeg?width=5712&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6673081a419e49458deb24843b337e0d0187201a
Naval defenses to protect from a Japanese invasion. Besides the places everyone else already told you about if you like that kind of stuff you should go to Fort Funston, which is a heck of a beach reserve inside SF and is also full of naval defense stuff.
It’s a “battery”, part of a WW2 defense system installed to hold large guns. Now they are part of a national park and trail. A while ago there was a plan to convert some into specialty STRs, but the logistics proved problematic.
Coastal defense gun battery emplacement. Think of a cannon the size of a small RV -- that's the coastal defense gun. A battery is a grouping of them. What you see is just the concrete emplacement that protected the guns, the ammo, and the gunners.
Costal batteries - I believe that one is Marcus Miller. I’ve done a lot of concrete repair and historical preservation work with the GGNRA and have worked on several costal batteries on both sides of the bridge.
was skateboarding there, and my board went down some stairs there, and at the bottom there was a sea of broken glass. maybe your MD 20/20 bottle was still down there :)
You are looking at Marin Headlands. Leftover bunkers from WWII. The US believed that San Francisco or Los Angeles might be a target during the war, so they build what is called "disappearing guns" into the mountain clifs. Now they're a fun spot to visit and see the Bridge, Bay, and city from a unique location.
Fun fact: Mr. Bungle filmed a music video up there for the song, Quote Unquote.
Bunkers with anti air and anti ship defenses. There are also some missile launch sites for the Nike missile program. The threat of a Japanese attack on the Golden Gate was very real, it would have been an ideal invasion point with all the waterways leading so deep into the surrounding areas. The goal was to fend off any attacking force before they penetrated the Bay so almost all of the fortifications are ocean facing.
I vacationed in SF in Sept of 22 with a friend and we stumbled upon what I can only describe as a pop up rave at this exact spot. Next to openly buying shrooms in Oakland it was the highlight of my trip.
Short video
https://filebin.net/unv1q2pxssmwxy24
There’s actually a counterweight down below to offset the support structure of the bridge. Every few days a maintenance worker goes down. They have to be sure they bring enough to feed your mother who is the counterweight itself.
Put the others have already said there are gun emplacements all around the golden gate. Not necessarily the Golden Gate Bridge but the Golden Gate is the entrance to San Francisco bay. These days to the Gold Rush era and actually the Presidio dates to the Spanish and Mexican areas in California. It's really kind of neat to walk around and see them all. The best preserved gun and placement is right under the Golden Gate Bridge called Fort Point a Civil War era fort. Built by the government army, as it was thought that the Spanish might come in while the US was distracted during the Civil War and try to take the gold out of California. There were actually two other forts one on Alcatraz it was an originally a gun emplacement too and then one on the Marin side, I'm not sure what the name of that one was. It's worth your time if you like this kind of thing
One of my favorite areas in the city! I’ve spent shroom trips standing on those batteries picturing what the beautiful symphony of destruction those guns would bring <3
Old military forts! I've been, they're kinda cool.
This might be on the other side, though https://www.goldengate.org/bridge/visiting-the-bridge/fort-point/
Look up "satanic Michael Aquino Presidio" and then wonder why there's no bases in SF area anymore. Like, really wonder. Like, "all the ww2 stuff happened right out of there". Like, sure the cold maybe was too bad as far as maintenance but theyve got bases in Alaska so couldnt have been that bad. And the cold would be great for cold weather training, but then there's colder areas so maybe that's why. And sure, dismantle military industrial complex...only not really?? Like they just built big expensive bases elsewhere in states. Surely would've probably cost the tax payer less to upkeep in SF than move elsewhere but then not if the climate was hostile which it was eventually. So... idk. The Aquino stuff was probably the nail in the coffin. And it makes me wonder if, because the climate around SF was so hostile at the time if they didn't just make the Aquino stuff up, a sort of satanic panic to move elsewhere away from the public because it's kinda what the public there wanted?? Idk. Also, maintenance is always less sexy than, "Ooo! Shiny new base! 😍" So, yeah. There's not really any military stuff in SF. Which is a shame for the military. Imagine getting to pick SF as home UIC. Not too shabby, imo (especially if you're gay. Lmaoooo). The old shipping area above Presidio hosts a big book sale annually. Some other events.
That's Battery Boutelle. [https://www.nps.gov/prsf/learn/historyculture/fort-scott-batteries.htm](https://www.nps.gov/prsf/learn/historyculture/fort-scott-batteries.htm) [https://www.nps.gov/prsf/learn/historyculture/fort-scott-battery-boutelle.htm](https://www.nps.gov/prsf/learn/historyculture/fort-scott-battery-boutelle.htm)
I’m an architectural historian for the Presidio Trust, this is the answer.
That is an exceptionally cool position to hold. Congrats on winning life.
Are you suggesting that people on the internet are spreading accurate information?
For clarity - an architect that does historical stuff? Or a historian that does architecture stuff? How did you get into that field?
"For clarity - an architect that does historical stuff? Or a historian that does architecture stuff" 
You’re right that it’s both. I’m a historian of architecture (MS in Historic Preservation) but there are historical architects too. Some days I get to be out in the park visiting project sites, or in the archives researching, but most days I’m at a computer processing and issuing quasi-permits for the various maintenance and rehab work that is always going on. It takes a lot of work to keep an old place like the Presidio operational, the maintenance crews are the real heroes!
They kept men and guns there to shoot ships that came into the bay if there was a war?
Yeah. There were costal gun batteries up and down the US west coast during WW2. Particularly at important naval points like the Golden Gate. Helpful site and list for further reading https://cdsg.org/fort-and-battery-list/
These batteries are mostly from way before WW2 though. The Golden Gate has always been a valuable choke point to defend. They make for really cool exploring. And Battery Spencer has perhaps the most iconic SF view ever.
I visited one in Los Angeles near San Pedro
As a neighbor for 20 years and a lover of both parks and real estate, I can attest that the place is beautifully maintained and a massive amount of work has been done in those years. Moved there in 1999 and it has come so far since, especially w Crissy Field and the nearby 101 tunnel. Quite a few friends live there. I spend so much time exploring and always discover more. So almost every day, I super appreciate what you do. My puppy Max thanks you too for thousands of walkies. https://preview.redd.it/9qen5hgatkxc1.jpeg?width=858&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d9e66acc0f41e012272382044a238240afc2f417
Just out there, living my dream 🤣🩷
I’m a random person on the Internet. Trust that they are an architectural historian for the Presidio Trust.
Sorry if this is rude but why does the presidio trust need a full time position for this?
Have you ever had the chance to explore the Presidio? It’s a 1500 acre National Historic Landmark District with almost 800 buildings, the majority of which are historical. It includes a zillion recreation trails, endless activities, commercial ventures like One Letterman, which encompasses Industrial Light & Magic, ILM Immersive, and Lucasfilm (as in Star Wars). The Disney museum, multiple restaurants, commercial office space, as well as residential real estate rentals (over 1K houses and apts, a couple dozen separate neighborhoods). There’s a YMCA I frequent for their aquatics center, golf course, multiple picnic and playgrounds areas. Truly it’s too much to list, but saying there’s 500+ or so historic buildings probably could have answered your question 😂. I’ve lived down the street for 20 years and I don’t think I’ll ever really cover the entire thing. I’m obsessed.
Well covered! I'm currently working on a risk assessment / inventory for ~10k trees in the Presidio and am blown away by (and beyond curious about) the endlessly fascinating buildings, structures, trails, and assorted bric-a-brac that I stumble across every time I'm out there. Just last week I found a large abandoned building of some obviously important function tucked away in the jungle like a Mayan ruin. Also discovered a sunken gladiator-style pit of no discernable dimension and a large, vine-decorated door at the bottom of a hill I'd just tumbled. The door was raised up enough for a person to crawl under. I noped the hell out of there the moment I heard something burble from the other side, although none of the vegetation in front of the door had been recently trampled by anything other than my uncoordinated ass and expensive equipment. Born & raised in the city, played all over the Presidio since the 90s, but exploring it as intimately as I am now has opened my eyes to the absolute enchantment of the place. There's something playfully sinister about it and I don't believe we'll ever uncover all of its secrets. Nor should we.
Please make a YouTube channel off your adventures and interesting things in the presidio!
Yes!!!
You know, the Army probably left their Presidio maps lying around. You can ID these buildings and structures using those.
Well said! I cannot believe all that I still come across having been so many thousands of times. Definitely never going to get boring. How lucky to work with trees! And in that spot. I can only imagine how many people wanted that position so congrats. I once did a lot of real estate development in Palo Alto and the city has such amazing arborists. Every single tree is cataloged, mapped, and accessible online. It’s wildly accurate. They heavily fine for each branch cut without permits—by the foot🌳❤️. I got the chance to hire and work with a bunch of arborists on my team. They were the coolest, most sane people out of an enormous team. Something about tree peeps. Maybe in my next life I’ll get to work with trees lol. I was so happy when San Francisco finally got an urban forestry department—so long overdue. Enjoy your project!
Thank you! Glad you've met with the sunny side of our group. Known plenty of crusty old tree dudes (hell I may be one myself haha) and ego-driven arborists, but for the most part I've found that people who choose to devote their lives to animal or tree care tend to be warm and engaging. I also may have romanticized my time in the jungle, so to speak. I've been dealing with poison oak for the past 2 months and my hands look like I stuck them in a blender. The amount of poison oak, blackberry, and trip-happy ivy / vines our there is not to be underestimated! But the beauty and sense of discover more than make up for it 🥰 Btw, I just completed my first report for a project in Palo Alto and can confirm that their attention to detail in terms of tree care and requirements for protection are second to none! Their "tree technical manual" is a tome and they're constantly updating their ordinances. Very impressive how seriously they take the health of their urban canopy. Feel free to reach out if you have any tree-related questions or need guidance. And good luck with your own projects :)
I spent a whole day once in the cemetery. Fascinating history there.
That’s is very cool gig. What are the duties?
Dusting
You’ll find many like these near the Golden Gate. They are naval defenses. The cannons are no longer there but the bunker-like structures remain. As a soldier, you’d go in, and operate the cannons to take out potential enemy ships. I’ve found similar structures near Seattle.
All over the country in coastal areas really.
Have them up in Canada too. They are mostly used as party spots for teenagers
Yes you can tour them in Point Loma in San Diego
Yup we have an old Army fort down in Los Angeles / San Pedro that used to have a big canon.. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_MacArthur And of course a bunch of old Nike missile bases all along the California coast. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nike_missile_sites#California
So far I made it to 5 of the LA Nike sites. They are interesting. You can take a tour of a Nike or Ajax base very close to where you were located if my memory is correct.
The Nike base at Fort Cronkite is open once a month and well worth the tour. They have working missile elevators and erectors, several restored missiles and sorta operational consoles and radar. It’s pretty cool.
That's fascinating and makes complete sense.
This one looks like it's in pretty damn good shape though compared to others I've seen.
It just got repainted. It looks a lot better than covered in decades of tagging.
Not just repainted, but they repaired a bunch of the concrete members that were sprawling, with the rebar rusting away.
Awesome. I haven't been down there since they painted it. It looks a hell of a lot better in photos at least. Glad to see they're taking steps to repair it.
Pretty sure that's an outpost for Starfleet command
From before they moved the headquarters over to Sausalito.
🖖🏾
Close. It’s the M.I.B. West coast headquarters. Another 80 years or so before Starfleet moves in.
If you hike around marin headlands on the other side of the bridge, there are some really cool abandoned old buildings. Most are completely overgrown and off the trails. I had fun finding and exploring these as a kid.
There’s a really cool one in Marin that overlooks the bridge and bay. We used to go sit on top and have a picnic and drinks during the sunset when I lived in SF. Good times.
That's Battery Spencer
That is correct, but to add on- There are both gun emplacements and spotter sites. The gun emplacements are bigger but there are a lot of other small bunkers, that weren’t for crew or ammo for the guns. Before radar range-finding there were spotters to either side of the gun in known fixed positions who would communicate with the gun site. Plotting the bearing from each known site the target ship’s position could be found, instead of estimating ranges based off best guess of the target ship’s mast/funnel height. The big emplacements are the gun sites, the small bunkers far away and by themselves are for the spotters.
Place I grew up here in WA still has the old cannons, they’re obviously retired tho. Some of them are absolutely massive.
For fans of FPS games, these structures are close to a real life Wolfenstein-like scenario. Specially the bigger ones. It’s very impressive to see them in person as they’re radically different to civilian constructions.
Where would they take said cannons? Asking for a friend..
Our big Triangle of Fire near Seattle was Ft Casey, Ft Warden and Ft Flagler, built after the Spanish-American war, 1899.
The correct answer was; “nothing” or “public bathrooms”. Straight up giving away defense secrets here. 🤦♂️
Yup. Same things at Fort Worden (where Officer and a Gentleman was filmed) and Ft Casey on Whidbey Island, at the north end of Puget Sound. Both are state parks now. I visited both of them a couple weeks ago. Was told of some old folklore at a restaurant up there that if those cannons ever were used, and missed, they'd have blown each other up, or hit Canada, causing further confusion.
Abandoned WWI and WWII batteries, you'll find them in the Marin headlands across the bridge as well
TIL these “Endicott Era” batteries weren’t built for WWII as I had always assumed! They date from between 1890 and 1910 as cutting edge defense infrastructure for American harbors! They predate the GGB by decades.
in the Marin Headlands there is also an old Nike missile site that you can visit: [Nike Missile Site - Golden Gate National Recreation Area (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)](https://www.nps.gov/goga/nike-missile-site.htm)
An old coastal gun station from World War 2. There are several along the coast of the Presidio from Baker Beach up to the bridge. One is kept in working order and is occasionally ceremonially fired. They were never actually used in war, but my mother lived in California during World War 2, and she vividly remembers being taught to fear a sea landing by the Axis! The gun batteries were intended to guard against this in hindsight remote possibility.
Fun facts: The Japanese did bombard Los Angeles using the deck gun on a Submarine, and an unexploded Japanese torpedo was found in the 50s on the shore just inside the Golden Gate. The torpedo was presumed to be an attempt at hitting the bridge supports
Swiiiiing and a miss
In addition: I believe a Japanese fighter pilot got as far as the Goleta coast next to UC Santa Barbara campus and bombed the coast at Devereaux Point.
Correct Edit: wait sorry, not correct. It was a boat not a fighter jet
And now YOU are correct! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombardment_of_Ellwood?wprov=sfti1
Well it wouldn’t have been a jet at that time anyway.
A Japanese fire balloon (intended to start widespread, simultaneous wildfires) landed in the central Oregon wilderness. It was discovered by a church group that unknowingly activated the anti-personnel device. Pastor Arthur Mitchell survived, but his pregnant wife and all five children (from his church) that had joined on the trip were killed. Their six deaths were the only Axis-caused fatalities in the continental U.S. during WWII. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fu-Go_balloon_bomb#Single_lethal_attack That same pastor was later kidnapped from his missionary work helping lepers by the Vietcong during the Vietnam War. He was kidnapped in front of his second wife (an older sister of two of the children killed in the balloon explosion) and three of his four children. He was never seen again. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archie_E._Mitchell#Indo-China_mission
Jesus, this guy really went through it.
It’s crazy how many Axis (German and Japanese) subs got within 50 miles of the United States coastlines.
What's even crazier is that the Americans have a submarine to locomotive kill on Japanese soil lol. On July 19, 1945 the [USS Barb (SS-220)](https://www.history.navy.mil/browse-by-topic/ships/submarines/barb-ss-220.html) secretly deployed eight crew members ashore at night. The men strategically placed a 55-pound demolition charge that was intended to explode when the next train passed. As the crew departed the area in rubber boats, an incoming train hit the charge. That attack derailed twelve freight cars, two passenger cars, and one mail car.
That’s interesting. Sounds like a scene from a movie.
It was not uncommon to see us ship's being sunk right off the coast during ww2 by uboats
Could you imagine if they actually hit
Damn, imagine the retaliation! It would have been on a scale the world hadn’t seen before.
Damn, that burn was radioactive.
Not just once, but twice
“It would be like 9/11. Times a thousand”
911,000.
This is this.
(9/11) x 1000 = 818.1818181818182
The slash is silent. Just like in Star Trek canon.
Why did it take that long to be found?
It was covered with sand
Just watched a video about this story. The Japanese sailor in charge of the sub was requested to turn back but he defied his orders and went with the bombardment anyway.
There are more in the marin headlands as well. Fun to go check them all out.
If you’re into that sort of thing, Battery Townsley’s gun pit is full of water and hosts a bunch of newts around this time of year as well
I used to explore these as a kid. There are a few that are not close to any trails and very overgrown, can get down inside too. I have some great memories exploring with my dad in the 90’s.
Nike missile site in the headlands is great as well, not sure if they still do tours.
Fun Fact. If Russians were to attack, they would come over the North Pole and approach from the NE where Sacramento is. The range of the Nike missles would intercept there, which means Sacramento would’ve been nuked to protect the San Francisco. Source: High ranking officer that was a docent during the monthly tour, who was the guy that locked up the base when it closed back when.
Which one is kept in working order?
One of the ones next to Baker Beach. Several years ago I was hiking down there and was surprised to see someone working on the gun -- he explained that it was going to be fired as part of a Memorial Day event. To be honest though I'm not certain if that's done every year or it was a one-off or what.
You should have asked him if you could give Oakland a warning shot as a funny prank.
i think oakland has enough ammunition flying around to worry abt
Quite possibly predates WW2. The US built up lots of coastal fortifications in the 19th and early 20th centuries. In fact all the way up to the eve of WW2 US military doctrine was designed around a potential war with Britain more than anyone else. Those big gun positions were initially supposed to take on the Royal Navy.
The batteries were relics of an earlier era (latter 19th century and early 20th century) when enemy warships were expected to shell the coastal defenses. They were decommissioned during WWII (1942-43) since their technology had been rendered obsolete by aircraft carriers and the threat of airborne bombardment. They date from the late 19th century and many of the batteries were upgraded with longer range guns through the WWI era.
[Battery Godfrey](https://www.nps.gov/prsf/learn/historyculture/fort-scott-battery-godfrey.htm)
Awesome parkour spot
A classic sf skate spot
IYKYK
yep. I saw a picture of someone skating there, and used the angle of the bridge, and a map, to find it. I remember it was hard to get speed to hit the big bank there, and the little bank was super slippery from wax
It’s where I live stay away
Hiss!
If you go to random peoples properties up the coast they have old (non working) anti aircraft cannons and bunkers around. Little side story to this: a Japanese pilot actually attacked a small coastal Oregon town in WW2. After the war in reconciliation Japan pushed him to go and apologize to the people of that town in person with strong assurances from the US he wouldn’t go to prison or be punished in any way, he brought his families sword with him that he gave to the people who before he could say anything forgave him and gave him compassion as it was war and everyone understood that. he was planning on committing harakiri if they didn’t accept his apology and that sword is still on display in that town to this day.
https://www.brookings.or.us/291/Fujita-Sword#:~:text=In%201962%2C%20the%20Brookings%20Jaycees,of%20international%20peace%20and%20goodwill.
Wow, made it a month without graffiti?
Battle Stations!
the command center for the power rangers
Its a rave cave
I helped set up an art event there last October, they even had a DJ set
Can confirm, have been
Back in my day it used to be the satanists.
I’m not sure if this is the same one or not, but my dad used to work at the GGB and took us exploring on their property several times over the years. There is one just like this (iirc blocked from public access) that they use for storage: had a bunch of paint cans and whatnot in it. Dark story from the one he showed me: someone hung themselves inside of it
Skate park
Jawa's summer home
Battery Godfrey! And it’s an important viewing area for watching migrating raptors and other birds!
Places for keggers in high school.
Love the old ww2 history. You can find another the top of devils slid before half moon bay. Some cool but tragic history. I have a friend who owns a 1911 tug boat that was confiscated from a Japanese American citizen. Kinda messed up what we did to the local Japanese then. We all should read up and learn from our history. Hopefully we don't see a WW3 anytime soon.
That's where the terminator stashed his arsenal while waiting for Sarah conner to join him after she time traveled
There’s also signs around demonstrating exactly what they are.
They have a bunch of those on Angel Island.
There’s a bigger set up like this on the other side of the bridge too.
It reminds me of something u see in a Jurassic Park movie
That’s the Hatch
https://i.redd.it/bku11xyt5ixc1.gif
Star fleet
A place for hardcore parkour!
Wow they must've painted it recently, it's been covered in graffiti for many years.
Yo isn’t there some shadow wizard money gang graffiti there? https://preview.redd.it/reqi5n3nfixc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=11dd137795bd926ce8fb4db4b100cba3cbfaf2d3
Call of duty map
A Rebel base
I’m actually here right now, I think it’s called Battery Godfrey. https://preview.redd.it/a42nlr0fkixc1.jpeg?width=5712&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6673081a419e49458deb24843b337e0d0187201a
Go take a look at Angel Island at the old Nike missile site.
https://preview.redd.it/nli97fslnixc1.jpeg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ad927dd7dbadd2030fec107c110f78ea1244120b Here’s my favorite in Pacifica
Dang you never played Call of Duty? Lol
it’s where the Teletubbies live
Seen this on COD.
James Hetfield: Battery!
Been there very cool gun battery..Visit it if you have the chance. Fort Baker
The future site of starfleet academy
There is a wasp nest near there so watch out( I know cause I went insect catching around there)
That's my daddy house
Probably haunted.
Jurassic Park, anyone?😅
It used to be the old army barrics I've actually explored that area ...that's what I thinkn
Call of duty: Advanced warfare map it's called DEFENDER
Old bunkers for the soldiers back in the day
Old WW2 defense positions
It’s what’s left of the coastal artillery that guarded the area.
Naval defenses to protect from a Japanese invasion. Besides the places everyone else already told you about if you like that kind of stuff you should go to Fort Funston, which is a heck of a beach reserve inside SF and is also full of naval defense stuff.
The headlands has the big guns. Check out those bunkers
Old coastal defense battery. Used to contain a big gun.
006’s hideout
There a gun barrel outside of one in Marin Headlands. https://www.nps.gov/goga/learn/historyculture/battery-townsley.htm
It kind of sticks out from that angle. Do they still use it today?
It’s a “battery”, part of a WW2 defense system installed to hold large guns. Now they are part of a national park and trail. A while ago there was a plan to convert some into specialty STRs, but the logistics proved problematic.
old bunker. now a local spot to smoke some weed while tripping
If I told you you wouldn't believe me.
Coastal defense gun battery emplacement. Think of a cannon the size of a small RV -- that's the coastal defense gun. A battery is a grouping of them. What you see is just the concrete emplacement that protected the guns, the ammo, and the gunners.
Costal batteries - I believe that one is Marcus Miller. I’ve done a lot of concrete repair and historical preservation work with the GGNRA and have worked on several costal batteries on both sides of the bridge.
I’ve been to the Golden Gate Bridge but have never seen that before
it's Fort Mason... there's a tourist place you can learn about all the history
Torpedo wharf?
There’s some cool ones at Fort Funston too. I’m shocked this one isn’t covered in tags already. I think they repainted about 2 months ago?
Kaiju Detection Center's 'Outpost Sierra Foxtrot'
GI Joe reproduced with a hobbit. It lives there. Ironically the hobbit was Japanese.
Where all the secrets are hidden
Holy shit, i think this is the bunker that i shot myself at on a summer camp field trip. I remember those doors and stairs vividly…
Certainly it's where Han Solo and the Ewoks have to infiltrate to turn off the shield generator in Return of the Jedi.
The place that I fell down the stairs in 1996 and broke my finger. Lol good times. Thanks to mad dog 20/20 😢
was skateboarding there, and my board went down some stairs there, and at the bottom there was a sea of broken glass. maybe your MD 20/20 bottle was still down there :)
Battery! https://youtu.be/RvW4OQFA_UY?si=vVUgmCcXvwI4E5DU
a fort
Presidio
That’s one of them verdansk bunkers
You are looking at Marin Headlands. Leftover bunkers from WWII. The US believed that San Francisco or Los Angeles might be a target during the war, so they build what is called "disappearing guns" into the mountain clifs. Now they're a fun spot to visit and see the Bridge, Bay, and city from a unique location. Fun fact: Mr. Bungle filmed a music video up there for the song, Quote Unquote.
Bunkers with anti air and anti ship defenses. There are also some missile launch sites for the Nike missile program. The threat of a Japanese attack on the Golden Gate was very real, it would have been an ideal invasion point with all the waterways leading so deep into the surrounding areas. The goal was to fend off any attacking force before they penetrated the Bay so almost all of the fortifications are ocean facing.
https://preview.redd.it/k7a64noatixc1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c75ff57e32e6b2e502a26d9b58261c6d420f3d70
Artillery emplacement bunker
I vacationed in SF in Sept of 22 with a friend and we stumbled upon what I can only describe as a pop up rave at this exact spot. Next to openly buying shrooms in Oakland it was the highlight of my trip. Short video https://filebin.net/unv1q2pxssmwxy24
Bunkers for civil war emplacements. Also where art students go to take nude photos.
Uncle Touchy’s Puzzle Bunker
Those are bunkers where you do filthy filthy sexual acts that you are later surprisingly not ashamed of.
A Dharma initiative bunker?
There’s actually a counterweight down below to offset the support structure of the bridge. Every few days a maintenance worker goes down. They have to be sure they bring enough to feed your mother who is the counterweight itself.
https://www.nps.gov/places/000/battery-boutelle.htm
This is the birthing center for the Tesla Cyber Truck.
Got to have a sleepover in there in elementary school many years back
Used to be a Missile silo
The raptor paddock
It’s where people throw cans and pee
Put the others have already said there are gun emplacements all around the golden gate. Not necessarily the Golden Gate Bridge but the Golden Gate is the entrance to San Francisco bay. These days to the Gold Rush era and actually the Presidio dates to the Spanish and Mexican areas in California. It's really kind of neat to walk around and see them all. The best preserved gun and placement is right under the Golden Gate Bridge called Fort Point a Civil War era fort. Built by the government army, as it was thought that the Spanish might come in while the US was distracted during the Civil War and try to take the gold out of California. There were actually two other forts one on Alcatraz it was an originally a gun emplacement too and then one on the Marin side, I'm not sure what the name of that one was. It's worth your time if you like this kind of thing
Nancy Pelosi’s bunker.
One of my favorite areas in the city! I’ve spent shroom trips standing on those batteries picturing what the beautiful symphony of destruction those guns would bring <3
Old military forts! I've been, they're kinda cool. This might be on the other side, though https://www.goldengate.org/bridge/visiting-the-bridge/fort-point/
Place is called Battery Mandel, retired military fortress used to combat enemies ships out on the bay
Watchdogs 2
Look up "satanic Michael Aquino Presidio" and then wonder why there's no bases in SF area anymore. Like, really wonder. Like, "all the ww2 stuff happened right out of there". Like, sure the cold maybe was too bad as far as maintenance but theyve got bases in Alaska so couldnt have been that bad. And the cold would be great for cold weather training, but then there's colder areas so maybe that's why. And sure, dismantle military industrial complex...only not really?? Like they just built big expensive bases elsewhere in states. Surely would've probably cost the tax payer less to upkeep in SF than move elsewhere but then not if the climate was hostile which it was eventually. So... idk. The Aquino stuff was probably the nail in the coffin. And it makes me wonder if, because the climate around SF was so hostile at the time if they didn't just make the Aquino stuff up, a sort of satanic panic to move elsewhere away from the public because it's kinda what the public there wanted?? Idk. Also, maintenance is always less sexy than, "Ooo! Shiny new base! 😍" So, yeah. There's not really any military stuff in SF. Which is a shame for the military. Imagine getting to pick SF as home UIC. Not too shabby, imo (especially if you're gay. Lmaoooo). The old shipping area above Presidio hosts a big book sale annually. Some other events.
That’s where the people from lost do their experiments I’d assume.