Alice Eastwood Garden
The Alice Eastwood Legacy Garden was created in 1971 by the San Francisco Garden Club as a living memorial to one of its original members and first female curator of Golden Gate Park, Alice Eastwood. It began as a demonstration shade garden with a small gazebo and benches, situated directly inside the San Francisco Botanical Garden’s entrance. It was formally dedicated in 1974.
In 1990, the SFGC and Neiman Marcus jointly sponsored a benefit for the AEG redesign and renovation. In 1992, SFGC also presented $11,000 to the San Francisco Botanical Garden for the Alice Eastwood Memorial Observation Deck, designed by noted landscape architect Ron Lutsko, at the pond on the John Muir Nature Trail.
Following a spring 2017 fundraiser, a $15,000 check was presented to the SFBG as seed money to restore and augment the Alice Eastwood Garden. That soon expanded into participation in the SFBG’s capital campaign to renovate a nearly 2-acre space anchoring its NE corner. In four short months, our Garden Club raised another $15,600, matched by an anonymous donor, for a grand total of $46,600 dedicated to renovation.
On the bright sunny morning of October 23, 2019, SFGC members participated in a ribbon-cutting ceremony for SFBG’s newly renovated area which included the Alice Eastwood Legacy Garden morphed into a much larger area, now the SFBG Celebration Garden. Our original marker, a chiseled rock honoring Alice Eastwood, still adorns the entrance path. In her remarks, Stephanie Linder, SFBG Executive Director, gave an enthusiastic shout out to the SFGC as long and faithful civic partners.
