It’s an old drill: You walk in, marvel at the beauty and tranquility of the garden, have some tea in the Zen-like tea house, then stop in the gift shop for some snow-globes and gigantic foam sports hands.
Now some people want to take Golden Gate Park’s famed Japanese Tea Garden and make it into something — get this — tasteful and culturally relevant. From the San Franciso Chronicle:
Two years after a public fight over the future of Golden Gate Park’s Japanese Tea Garden, the city’s Recreation and Park Department is seeking proposals from companies interested in leasing and managing the garden’s tea house and gift shop. Unlike the practice in years past, however, applicants will be judged on their ability to bring an authentic, culturally sensitive experience to the more than 400,000 people who visit every year. The Recreation and Park Commission will vote today on whether to move forward with a request for bids that outlines those requirements.
Oh, what will they think of next? Soon enough, we’ll be hearing about plans to turn Fisherman’s Wharf into someplace you’d actually want to go.
S.F. seeks cultural authenticity for Tea Garden [Sf Chronicle]
Let’s Dream of a Non-Wretched Fisherman’s Wharf [SFist]
[Photo: Via Jose C Silva/flickr]
