Yerba Buena Gardens

The Yerba Buena Gardens are just on the other side of the street. As you may know, Yerba Buena was the original name of San Francisco. Allow me to tell you it’s story while you wander through the gardens. At first, there were the Mohaves, who peacefully inhabited the bay area. Then came the Jesuits, later expelled by the King of Spain to bring in his Franciscan missionaries. Yes, of course, you now see the connection with the city’s name. They founded the first tiny town of Saint Francis of Assisi. A few years later, the English and other colonists settled on a hill, as did the Russians, who formed Fuerte Ross in 1812. In 1821, California came under Mexican sovereignty and the whole area was named Yerba Buena, which is the Spanish name for wild mint, as the hills were carpeted with it. In 1846, during the Mexican-American War, the city was taken by the Americans and Yerba Buena was renamed San Francisco in memory of the first mission of the Franciscan friars. And to finish the story, you have to know that, Mexico and the United States signed the Hidalgo Treaty in 1878. This was no good news for the Mexicans, as they were to lose all of California, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah. A small insignificant loss, right? That’s about it for the name of the garden a little bit of Californian history. There are many more points of interest here. At the far end of the gardens is the Moscone Center, San Francisco’s largest convention center. To the left is the YBCA, the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, which divides the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art into two parts, the one you’re in and the other across the street. As for the waterfall fountain in front of you, which separates the esplanade section from the rest of the gardens, it’s the Martin Luther King memorial, named Revelation. You’ll see a photo of the pastor and several of his best-known quotes, translated into several languages. If you’re traveling with children, you should know that behind the Moscone center, you have a whole area that kids love, with an antique carousel, an ice rink, a playground, and the Museum of Creativity, which is dedicated to them.