By Thomas P. Campbell : via email (ran in the SFChronicle 11/22/2021)
On Oct. 17, 1989, the Loma Prieta earthquake hit the Bay Area with a magnitude of 6.9. At the de Young Museum, the shock waves inflicted grave damage, leaving the building with a “high potential for partial collapse.” As a result, the de Young
needed to be rebuilt, and despite having a history in Golden Gate Park going back as far as 1894, serious consideration was given to moving the museum downtown. San Francisco residents, however, overwhelmingly supported keeping the museum in its original location. And so it was rebuilt inside the park, where it remains.
Before COVID struck, the de Young drew as many as 1 million visitors per year to Golden Gate Park, including 50,000 San Francisco Unified School District students. We welcomed and continue to welcome low-income visitors and people with disabilities at low or no cost. Every Saturday we offer free admission for San Francisco and the entire Bay Area.
Running a museum in the middle of the city’s largest park, however, while ensuring equitable access to residents in the Bay Area and beyond, is not without its challenges…
Continue reading “What the de Young Museum needs to recover from the COVID pandemic”