Crissy Field, East Beach "Runway"

Hannah, here is the history of the ground in this picture, that you, your mom (she took the picture) and I are walking on, known as Crissy Field (thanks, Wikipedia and nps.gov)...

The story of Crissy Field is inexorably linked to the early history of aviation in the United States. Named in honor of Major Dana Crissy, Crissy Field was the military’s first Air Coast Defense Station on the Pacific coast. Between the World Wars, research and innovation at Crissy Field helped develop the air power that proved essential to the Allied victory in 1945. Here, flying records were set, long-distance flights started and ended, and early aviators charted territory above the clouds.

The area was originally a rich salt marsh and a gathering ground for Indians. It later served as the landing site of Spanish explorers and Russian, English and Boston traders. Following the conclusion of the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition it became one of America's foremost military airfields and a portion of the Presidio army base.

Major Henry 'Hap' Arnold led the successful effort to change the name to Crissy Field in honor of Major Dana H. Crissy, who crashed and died on 8 October 1919 in a de Havilland DH-4B during an Air Service transcontinental reliability test while attempting a landing at Salt Lake City, Utah.
During the 1920’s, Crissy Field’s place in aviation history was secured through a series of record-breaking long-distance flights. In 1924, the first successful Dawn-to-Dusk transcontinental flight ended at Crissy Field. Later that year, the army's Round-the-World Race stopped at Crissy Field, with Lieutenant Lowell H. Smith of Crissy Field leading the flyers upon their return. In 1925, two navy seaplanes took off from Crissy Field in the first attempt to fly from the continental United States to Hawaii. Expected to last twenty-six hours, the trip took twelve days and was only partially completed by one plane, whose crew had to be rescued at sea. Two years later, army lieutenants Lester J. Maitland and Albert F. Hegenberger readied their three-engine Fokker Bird of Paradise at Crissy Field and flew non-stop to the islands.

Though initially perceived as an ideal location for a coastal airfield, Crissy Field was not without flaws. Wind and fog often contributed to poor flying conditions and the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge in 1937 made flights around the bay even more difficult. Moreover, Crissy Field’s proximity to the water made it a potentially easy target for enemy ships. In 1936, shortly after the activation of Hamilton Field in Marin County, Crissy Field closed as a first-line air base.

After the air corps left Crissy Field, the administration building was occupied by the headquarters of the 30th U.S. Infantry Regiment and the landing field was routinely used as an assembly area for troop mobilization. During World War II, temporary wooden barracks were erected at both ends of the airfield and the former air mail hangar became barracks and classrooms for the army's top-secret Military Intelligence Service Language School. Here, second-generation Japanese Americans—called Nisei soldiers—were trained as battlefield interpreters.

In the years after World War II, the Sixth Army Flight Detachment operated light airplanes and helicopters from the paved runway that replaced the grass landing strip on Crissy Field. By this time, Crissy Field traffic consisted primarily of liaison flights and MedEvac flights bringing wounded Vietnam soldiers from Travis Air Force Base to Letterman Hospital (which is now George Lucas' Studios). In 1974, Crissy Field was finally closed to fixed-wing aircraft, although helicopter operations continued for several years.

In 1962, along with the entire Presidio Army Base of San Francisco, it was designated a National Historic Landmark. The airfield was closed in 1974.

Crissy Field was redesigned by Hargreaves Associates in 1994, and it passed from being a military airport into an open space that is now part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. In order to create the new site, 87,000 tons of hazardous materials were removed from the site itself and the tidal wetlands were redesigned to simulate the wetlands that existed before the military appropriated the site and used the area as a dump and landfill location. During 1998-2000, individuals and groups from schools, civic organizations and corporations planted over 100,000 native plants, in efforts to restore natural systems. Community volunteers are still an important part of the efforts to maintain long-term stewardship of Crissy Field.