Sigmund Stern Recreation Grove, Public park in Parkside District, San Francisco, United States.
Sigmund Stern Recreation Grove covers 33 acres along Sloat Boulevard between 19th and 34th Avenues, about two miles south of Golden Gate Park. It is made up of several sections, including the Concert Meadow, the West Meadow and Pine Lake Park, whose Pine Lake is one of San Francisco's three natural lakes. The Works Progress Administration built the original landscaping and facilities.
Rosalie Meyer Stern, daughter of Marc Eugene Meyer, gave the 33-acre site along Sloat Boulevard to San Francisco in 1931 and named it for her husband Sigmund Stern, a philanthropist and nephew of Levi Strauss. The Works Progress Administration built the original landscaping and facilities. Concerts began in 1932, and the festival has run annually since 1938. A $15 million renovation by landscape architect Lawrence Halprin followed in 2005.
Since 1938, the Stern Grove Festival has presented free summer concerts in the natural amphitheater, drawing audiences of up to 20,000 people.
The grove lies along Sloat Boulevard between 19th and 34th Avenues, about two miles south of Golden Gate Park. The main entrance at the top of the slope was closed for a few weeks after a eucalyptus fell in February 2025 and reopened in March; the toppled entrance sign had not been replaced as of April. Seating on the slope opposite the stage is built into stone-walled terraces and bleachers.
Pine Lake, the grove's natural lake, sits within Pine Lake Park, one of the sections making up the 33-acre site. The 2005 renovation by landscape architect Lawrence Halprin added drainage improvements and erosion control around the grounds, and the terraced stone seating facing the stage dates from that work.
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