Golden Gate Park – John McClaren

Golden Gate Park

Rhododendron Grove

John McLaren, Supervisor of Golden Gate Park from 1890 until his death in 1943, detested statues. He hated them with such a passion that he defied the City authorities and persisted in his lifelong crusade to keep Golden Gate Park statue-free. It is fitting, then, that for his efforts McLaren was immortalized in the form of–what else? –a statue, which may be found near the entrance to the Rhododendron Dell that bears his name. Interestingly, the McLaren statue is placed at the very back of a hedged-off grassy space, far from the gaze of visitors. Perhaps those responsible for the statue felt a tinge of guilt. By attempting to conceal the McLaren statue, they were following McLaren’s own policy of “if you can’t beat ’em, hide ’em.” When McLaren lost his battles against those who wanted to erect a statue, he exacted revenge by re-arranging the park to make the statue as unobtrusive as possible. Usually he did so by planting trees, shrubs, and assorted verdant objects on all sides of the offending idol. To this day, most of the dozens of statues that grace (or deface) Golden Gate Park are so well-concealed by McLaren’s greenery that few visitors even suspect their existence.
-Dr. Weirde of FoundSF.com

In this statue McClaren is holding a pinecone and stands directly on the soil, rather than a pediment. The statue was sculpted by M. Earl Cummings, (Cummings is responsible for many of the statues in Golden Gate Park) around 1911. It was refused by McClaren when it was presented as a gift by Adolph Bernard Spreckels. One story says it sat on McClaren’s porch for years.

John McClaren by M. Earl Cummings