Alta Plaza Park

Alta Plaza Park covers four square blocks at the top of a steep Pacific Heights hill, recognizable by the broad, tiered staircase that climbs its southern slope from Clay Street. While today it features terraced lawns and panoramic views of the city and the bay, the site was once a barren, dangerous quarry. It remained an abandoned eyesore for years as a man named Milo Hoadley unsuccessfully sued the city for ownership, finally losing his claim at the United States Supreme Court in eighteen eighty-eight.