The Guide to San Francisco Public Restrooms for Runners!!!

#393 - I put together a list of most of the public restrooms on running routes in San Francisco. This does not include public restrooms in department stores and cafes. I already know I left a few off, so sorry if I left your favorite pitstop off. I tried my best. It was a lot of fun thinking of all the places I could think of and seeing some of the map I forgot about! I know I forgot two restrooms at Land's End. I forgot about the restrooms directly behind the Legion of Honor and the port o poddys at the parking lot for the USS San Francisco Memorial. I hope you like it! 

Transcript

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Hidden West share stories you might not hear anywhere else. Want to know why the last chance grade might be the most dangerous bit of highway in California? Why did the Japanese drop bombs on the western part of the U.S.? And where is the state of Jefferson? All these stories and more about what makes the Western U.S. so great are here. There's a new story published every week. Check out Hidden West on YouTube. Welcome to Martha Runs the World, a podcast with a new take on running, fitness, and all things health oriented. I'm Martha Hughes, your host, and each week I present a new topic that is of interest to all runners. Hi and welcome to episode 393 of Martha Runs the World. Thank you so much for joining me. I appreciate it each and every week. This week I'm going to give you the definitive guide of public restrooms in San Francisco for runners. Now, this list includes public restrooms, but it does not include restrooms in department stores or other businesses. You'll have to find those on your own. It does include restrooms in parks and along the courses in the areas that I'm going to talk about. Now, a short note if anything has changed since the last time I visited an area or if the city is doing maintenance at the time you're out on your run, I have no control over that. So just use this as a guide. Nothing is set in stone. And I'm sure I'm going to leave something out. So forgive me if I forget your favorite restroom in your favorite park. Yes, we all have a favorite if you run in any place at any time, you have a favorite restroom. We all do. It's not weird. We're runners. We're weird anyway. We are weird to our non-running friends anyway. Um let me see. Oh yeah, if you hear little clicking sounds, it's because I'm going back and forth uh from my recording to the map so I can keep myself on target. I have divided up the sections into six different sections. Um, the embarcadero, north waterfront, west San Francisco into two parts, Golden Gate Park, and everything else. Alright, so you'll see what I'm doing. Of course, you can do all the sections at once, or you can string a couple together, or do part of one, or whatever you want to do. This is just a way that I can put them into different sections and not make it such a long course or such a slog as I like to say. Alright, so the first section I'm going to cover is the embarcadero, and that's from the dog patch neighborhood to Ghirardelli Square. Alright, so let me start with that. Now I'm gonna go south uh to north, starting at Crane Cove Park. I love this park. It's fairly new, and it's a really pretty park, and you get some really nice views of the bay that you wouldn't normally get from anywhere else in San Francisco. However, there are no restrooms here unless you're a YMCA member, and then you can use the restroom at the YMCA. But other than that, there are none there. So keep going north, and then you go along, you keep going on Terry Francois Boulevard, and the bay is on your right, and you'll see some really nice views and keep going. You go past Chase Center and the Bayfront Park, which is really new. I think that's the newest park in the city. So you go past these places and there are water stations, but again, no restrooms. Keep going north. The first restroom is in China Basin Park, and it's really nice. The restroom is very clean, always clean. It's open for both sexes. There are a few restrooms like that in San Francisco. The stalls are very private, they have the stall doors are from top to bottom, so they can't see you at all. But the wash basins, the sinks, and everything that the general area is for men and women. It's not my favorite type of restroom, but they're very popular right now in the city, and it's better than nothing, and they're clean. So take it as it is. I have never run past there when it's been closed and but I don't go down there late at night or very early in the morning. They should be open for you if you run at normal hours. Alright, and that's a really nice park anyway, and it's nice to there's a water station, of course, there, and you can take a break. You can get really nice views of Oracle Park where the Giants play, and it's just really, really nice area. Alright, now you're gonna keep running north along the bay, and um there are restrooms right next to Oracle Park, but I have never been there when they've been open, and I think they're only open when the Giants play, so if you're there before or after a game, they might be open. I don't know. Um the next sets though are at the ferry building, so you're gonna keep running north along the bay, and the bay is always on your right side, of course. And the ferry building has two sets of men and women's bathrooms. Um now they are great bathrooms, except I would not try to use them on Saturday or Tuesday mornings when they have their farmers' markets, unless you don't mind waiting in lines. There's a better one just north of that, and I'll tell you about that in a minute. Other times those facilities are great, and remember a lot of tourists use those restrooms, so always look under the stall to see if they're taken because tourists don't know to do that for some reason. I don't know. I I when I'm a tourist in other areas, I do, but apparently tourists visiting here don't know that. So there you go. Keep going north. There's a standalone public restroom in Pier 7 if you care to use that one. It's one of those temporary ones, those French style ones that they used to charge. Now they're free. So you can use that one if you want. There's a water station there as well. Now, the next public restroom at Pier 9 is my very favorite in the whole San Francisco. Please don't share this with your non-running friends. We don't want to overcrowd this location. It's truly a great public restroom. If a public restroom can be considered great. You might walk right past it, you may never see it, you may not know it's even there. It's very unassuming. But if you walk in the driveway, see Pier 9 is where all the dining cruises are, and um you may not know that, or you may not even have seen it. There's a driveway there and it goes through the pier, and then on the left, it'll be there. It's there. And um there's men and women's, and they're really nice. They're always nice, they're beautiful, they shouldn't be crowded unless there's a big event happening, like a fleet week or something like that. It should never be crowded. So that's the one to use if you need one. That it's really nice. Okay, the next restrooms are at Pier 39, and Pier 39 is a tourist haven. So um if it's middle of the day, I wouldn't try to use those unless you want to go all the way to the end of Pier 39 and use the ones down there. For some reason, the tourists don't walk all the way down to the end or something. I don't know. They use the these are the closest uh bathrooms to the beginning of Pier 39, but they don't use the ones all the way to the end. And if you do go down to the end, you can also uh go and check out the sea lions on the piers, uh on the sea lion piers if you want to you want to check those out. All the tourists do. If you want to see them, it's kind of fun. Alright, so that is that takes care of Pier 39, and then you're still going north, and then at Gary Delhi Square there is another set, really nice ones. Um not many people know about them, they're not really visibly marked. So you want to go up the stairs at Gary Deli Square and then through the square area where the fountain is, go past that, and then on the left, they are you go down some down some stairs and it's there, and it's I've never been there when it's crowded, so and they're quite nice, so that takes care of that. And that is the embarcadero restrooms. Okay, the next set is the north waterfront, and this takes care of Fort Mason to Golden Gate Park, and this section starts at Fort Mason, which is the next area. Sometimes I will do the area from like Ferry Building up to Golden Gate Park, which is a really nice run. So you can include both this and part of the embarcadero. But this starts at Fort Mason, and the restrooms are located near the Bay Street parking lot. So if you're on Fort Mason and you go down, you want to go to the left area and make that broad circle around, and the restrooms are there. They're not terrific, but they are usable. And um there's a water station there as well. And then um from there you walk out of Fort Mason and you go down to the Marina Green. Now you can stay on the wider part, but it gets really crowded if it's later in the day or if it's midday. Or you can take the other part, you can stay to the right and go along the bay, which gets windy out there, but it's always less crowded. Okay, the first set of restrooms that you will find there is at Marina Green East, which is that little uh spot of lawn that is near the exercise area, the outdoor exercise area, and there are bathroom restrooms there. Um I think restrooms is just a nicer way to put it. It's certainly better than they say in Europe, they say toilets, which is so icky. I don't know. I I don't like that. But anyway, so you those are available for you, and I always forget about them for some reason. I don't know why I don't think about them, but they are there. Now you're going along the bay, and this is the best part. I always try to go along the outer edge of the marina green because if you just stay on the main area, it gets really crowded, and even though it's windy out there towards the water, it's just better for me. I I like it more. So you're out there, and then um once you get done with this outer part, there's another set of restrooms there when you get done with the marina green, and there's water there as well, and there's usually a Phil's coffee truck there in the mornings if you want coffee. It's available. Now you're going to go west on the wide sidewalk or path, which gets crowded, and you have to stay there. There's nowhere else to go. And you're going to go past the San Francisco Marina Yacht Harbor and check out all those expensive boats. I'm a land lover, so boats don't really do a whole lot for me, but if you love boats, that's the place for you. Now on the opposite end of the harbor, there's a little marina green, is what it's called, and another restroom. I've used this one a lot, and it's usually fairly clean. It's nothing special, but it's there. Now that'll lead you down to the Golden Gate Promenade Promenade which is dirt and gravelly and sandy, and this is uh where I usually go. I don't stay on the on the pavement if at all possible. And um you want to stay on that, and you can check out the uh the views of the Golden Gate Bridge if it's not foggy or cloudy. And the the beach is there, and lots of people bring their dogs out, and it's just a really nice beach, and it's a nice place to run or walk or whatever you want to do. And then just before you get to the marsh area, there are restrooms down on your left, and there's also outdoor showers for windsurfers and to wash your dogs off if you need, and there's water as well. And um, there's also extra porta potties if the main restrooms are full, if there's big events happening. Usually they're not, so you don't really have to worry about it. You may realize that the air doesn't work, so if you have bring extra tissue out to dry your hands off after you wash them is helpful. That one's not the best restroom, let me tell you. The promenade is great, it's just a really nice place to um to run. It does get crowded, but there's plenty of room for everyone, and everyone does go there. Now, as you move closer to the bridge, you'll get past the marsh and the big green area, Chrissy Field, get past all that, and then there's the picnic areas, and you get past that. Then there's more restrooms there. There's also a a warming hut where you can buy coffee or snacks or if you want something. Then past those, there are more restrooms there. And uh those are fairly they're they're okay. I mean, nothing to write home about, but they're nice. They're alright, I guess. I I don't know if they're nice, but they're alright. You get past all that, and then if you want to go to the to Fort Point and clap your hands on Hopper's hands, you can do that. And then there are more a couple sets of restrooms there as well. If you want to go up to the Golden Gate Bridge, you take the steps up to Golden Gate Bridge and get some great views up there, and then there's the public area before you get on the bridge. There's a public area there that usually gets crowded, and there are restrooms and water available there as well. And you can take and there's buses there if you want to take it back down to where you were, if you don't want to circle back, or if you want to keep going and follow more of the course, you can. But this is the end of this section. And the next section is the West San Francisco, the northern part. This will take you from Golden Gate Bridge to Golden Gate Park. Uh, you start at Golden Gate Bridge and in the square area, I don't know what they call that. Square, Golden Gate Bridge Square, I I don't know. But you want to go back to the bike and and the pedestrian path that you were on, and you're gonna go under the bridge and stay, but you're not going on the bridge at all. You're gonna go under the bridge to the west side of the bridge. And there are lots and lots of tourists here. If you're there on the weekend, or if you're there w when it's not early and it's a little bit later, it will be crowded. And the tourists don't understand, American tourists don't really understand bike paths very well, especially in the if if they're not used to using bike and pedestrian paths, they don't understand that in the bike paths you don't stand, you don't do anything unless you have a bike. And you can tell they've never visited the Netherlands. I'll I'll tell you that. Because I learned how to use pedestrian paths and and get out of bike paths from being there, because if you stand in a bike path in the Netherlands, you get yelled at big time. Anyway, so it's a really cool section once you get past all the touristy stuff. You go under the bridge is really neat anyway. So take pictures if you want. It's really, really neat. The construction of the bridge is just it amazes me that we can that as human beings we can make such magnificent structures as this bridge. And I live here and I do it all the time, and I think it's magnificent. I like going under it better than I do going on it because going on it is nice your first time, but it's noisy and it's crowded, and it's just it's more frustrating for me because I've done it a bunch of times and I don't really like to go on it. So there you go. Alright, so now you're on the west side of the bridge, and now keep to the right and go up a dirt path. Well, you can't go to the left because that's for bicycles anyway. So you want to keep to the right and go up the dirt path, and then you will uh soon get to a metal footbridge, and you have a choice. Now you can go straight across the footbridge, and that will lead you up to a a little bit of an easier way if you want, and that's fine. Or you can go down the stairs and follow the trail, and you can see more of the uh the batteries, which are these cement structures that were built in the 1800s as defense systems to protect the the bay from anyone who were attacking. They didn't know if the San Francisco Bay was going to be attacked by the Confederates. They didn't know, so they built all these batteries along the coast. Both will lead you up to the top of the hill, and once you get to the top of the hill, there's a nice place to rest. There's no amenities there. You get these beautiful views, if you don't have fog or overcast, of the Pacific Ocean and Seacliff, which is the most expensive neighborhood in San Francisco, or the Marin Headlands, and they're all gorgeous areas, and they're really nice, and you can take a look at them. Now, once you're at the top of the hill, that's all downhill for about a mile, and it's a really fun run. It's a dirt trail that leads along Lincoln Boulevard, and it's really fun. A dirt trail, even if you're not used to dirt trails, this is a really neat one. So remember to keep uh to pick your feet up, don't shuffle, and look out for other runners who will be barreling down that trail. Bicycles can't go on that trail, they shouldn't, but look out for them because some don't follow the rules. But it's a fun little trail, and it's a little over a mile long, and it'll get you down to the end of it, and then you'll see on the right there's a steeper trail that goes down to Baker Beach, and you want to take that trail. Actually, really fun. It's a little steeper, so if you don't feel like running, you can go a little slower or you can walk it, and um that'll get you down to Baker Beach, which is a really pretty, pretty beach in the Presidio. On the left, there is another set of restrooms, and there's a water station that kind of sort of works sometimes. It's very slow if it does work, so be patient. But the restrooms are okay. And this is the only restroom until the Citro Bath ruins, so you want to use it if you need to. So from Baker Beach, you follow the fence and stay to the right, and you walk through the sand to the second parking lot, and then you stay to the right, walking through more sand, and then you go up these stairs into the neighborhood of Seacliff to 25th Avenue. And if you're walking into a neighborhood, you're walking the right way. That's perfect. Okay, so you take the 25th Avenue to Seacliff Avenue to El Camino del Mar, and you're in Land's End Trail, which is another amazing trail. And now the trail does get very crowded unless you go there early. And even if it's crowded, it's still worthwhile. So the restrooms are in the visitor center after the Citro Bath Ruins. So you go through this trail, lots of stairs. It's still it's a tough trail, it's but it's not long and it's fun, and you'll enjoy the trail. So after that, Land's End Trail, uh, Citro Bath Ruins, and the visitor center and the restrooms there are really nice, and there's water there too. And then the next part is really, really fun because it's all downhill until you get to Ocean Beach. That's a great place to run. And then you get to the flat part of Ocean Beach, and then you run straight, and then um to Golden Gate Park, which is the end of this section. Now there may be porta potties at Ocean Beach, there sometimes is. Um if not, there will there are restrooms at the uh athletic fields and soccer fields in Golden Gate Park, which aren't far away, or there will be some at um at Sunset Dunes, which isn't that far away as well. But that leads to the next section, which is West San Francisco's Southern part, and that starts at Golden Gate Park, and uh to Sunset Dunes, which is a new city park. And I talked about that in a short not that long ago, so you can look that up if you want. Now, um you'll have a lot of space to run on the Great Highway as it's closed to street traffic. It's two miles down flat. Flat and straight. It's not the most exciting place to run, let me tell you. Now there are a couple restrooms here, not very many, so you'll have to wait a while. On Teravell Street, there is a set of restrooms. At the end of the Great Highway at Sloat, there is. Now, if there is some that they just reopened or they just opened that are new, I don't know about them, and I apologize if I missed them. Those are the two restrooms that are available on at Sunset Dunes. So then when you get to uh the Great Highway in Sloat, then you have to go around the park and then to get to Lake Merced. And at Lake Merced, there are two sets of porta potties, one at each end of the lake. You can go there as well. And there's none at Fort Funston, so you want to use the ones at Lake Merced. Alright, so now that is it. Now Golden Gate Park is a really big park, and I'm gonna try to get every restroom. If I miss a couple, I apologize ahead of time because it's just really big. Okay, I'm gonna start with the northeast end, and I'm gonna work my way west on the north, and then I'll zip south, and then we'll do the south, the southwest end, and then end at the southeast end, if that makes any sense. It took me a while to figure that out. Am I going west? Am I going east? Am I going north? Am I going south? What am I doing? Okay, so all right, so we're gonna start here. The first restrooms at this end are to the west of the Conservatory of Flowers, and you can run to JFK Drive from there. And JFK Drive is close to traffic for a while, so it's a fun place to run. And then on this side, the next restroom is a Blue Heron Lake, and um you can use those. You can go up to the lake if you want and run there if you want, and the the restrooms are up there. Now you're staying on the north side, and we're continuing running west, and you get to Lindley Meadow, and I believe there is a restroom in the meadow. Uh if I rem if I'm remembering wrong, I do apologize. Now you're continuing west and you get to Spreckles Lake. Now you have two choices of restrooms. There is one at the end of Lindley Meadow across the street on your left, or you can go across forward, uh, continuing west and go to one across the street from Spreckles Lake. They're both fine. You know, they're nothing to write home about, but they're available. The next restroom on this side of the park that you're on is a JFK and Chain of Lakes Drive East. And the next set of restrooms, there's two sets of restrooms, are the ones at Beach Chalet Athletic Fields. Now these are amazing bathrooms. They're probably the best. The second, my second favorite in all of San Francisco. There are two sets and two water stations, lots of tables and benches as well. I usually wind up taking a break here. I always joke and say that this is one of my aid stations. When I ever I pass here, I intentionally take a break here because it's so nice. Usually when I'm there, there aren't any s soccer games or any games going on either, so it's pretty quiet, but you may find things different. Um But the bathrooms are always, always nice and clean, and the uh the water stations are great. And like I said, there's plenty of places to sit and take a break. You're gonna run south and you're gonna go start going east from the southwest side. And the first restrooms you'll find on this side going east are at the southeast side of the polo field. And they're okay. I mean, they're not usually not that dirty, and like I said earlier, they're nothing to write home about. That's the only restroom on the south side until you reach 19th Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. That's another one there. Again, it's it's kind of the same kind of bathroom. It's one of those old, old ones that they have in the park. Now keep going east on MLK Drive, and you'll see the Japanese tea house and the band concourse on your left, and there's a restroom on Music Concourse Drive just in back of the band concourse. Sometimes it's kind of hard to spot, but it is there. Now you want to stay on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and you get to the baseball diamonds. There's a restroom there that's unmarked on the map, but I've used it many times, so unless I've closed it, it should be available. If you keep going east on MLK, you come to Bowling Green Drive, and there's a restroom right at the top of the hill on Bowling Green, overlooking the playground and the merry-ground. And then MLK turns into Kieser Drive, and there's restrooms at Keyser Stadium if it's open when you're running that area. They have a really nice track there if you want to do some track running. I don't know the hours it's open, so I can't help you there. The last restroom that I know of in Golden Gate Park is at Flywheel Coffee, which is located in Golden Gate Park at Standing and Page Streets. They have one restroom there, so there's usually a line of people who bought coffee. So if you went there, the coffee's really good too. So that is Golden Gate Park. Now here are some other ones that I don't have any set course for, but if you want to use them, if you're in the area running, you can find them. Okay, and they're little parks all over the place. The panhandle is the stretch of green that sticks out from Golden Gate Park. It's a great way to increase your mileage. It starts at Stanyan and you can go either Fell or Oak Street. If you stay on the Oak Street side, it's just for pedestrians. There's no bicycles. If you go on the Fell side, you do have to share the path with bicycles, so just an FYI. The Oak Street used to be dirt until they paved it over, which is unfortunate. But oh well, they did what they did. The restroom is next to the playground, and the cross street is Ashbury, and they're not the best. I don't really like them. I use them if I have to, but they're better than they used to be. Trust me on that. If I tell you that, trust me. Now if you want to run up to Twin Peaks, it's a great, great fun run, and it's fun to run it's more fun to run down, let me tell you. There are restrooms up there. They're the self-cleaning French type, and they're pretty clean and they're free. They used to charge for those. They're pretty nice, so you'll there I think they have two of them up there, so you will have restrooms available. Corona Heights Park, there is a restroom there just off States Street. I have not used this one. Let me know if you have and let me know how it is. Mission Dolores Park in the Mission District. The restrooms here are pretty good. Just don't try to use them. If it's a weekend afternoon in warm weather, the place gets mobbed. You will have to wait a very long time. Um Pine Lake Park, Stern Grove. Stern Grove is where they have all the free concerts. I'm going to one next month. Um and if you want to use it, I would say it's a good bathroom. I would just not use it on a Sunday afternoon during a free concert. But any other time is fine. Now the Presidio ones, I didn't mention a couple a few of them because they weren't on the course that I I was talking about. And here are the ones that I didn't mention. Paul Goodfield, next restrooms here next to the ball field. El Pole and Spring, portable pit toilets are here and they're not terrible. They really aren't. Mountain Lake, the restrooms here are pretty good. It does get busy in this area, and since it's so close to the neighborhood, it really it's busy almost all the time. These are decents. It's kind of like the restrooms at China Basin Park in that they're for both sexes, but the stalls are very private with just a shared wash area. So they're that weird kind, but uh, you get used to them after a while. The main parade area, which is pretty close to the transit center, just across the street. They have some portable restrooms set up in a semi-permanent basis. Since they have food trucks here a lot, they have the restaurants available a lot, so they leave them. I think they leave them there permanently, or they're there now. It comes in very handy for us runners because we're not just there for the food trucks, we're there all the time. And then the last one I'm thinking of is Glen Canyon, and it's been a long time since I've been here, but I remember the restrooms were not bad. And if I've left off any, any bathrooms, just let me know, and you can say, Well, I remember using these in last week and they weren't batty, but you can talk about them. I would appreciate the help. I can add them to the list. But until then, this is my definitive guide to public restrooms in San Francisco. All right, so that is it, and thank you so much for joining me. I appreciate it. My email is Martha Renserworld at Shmel.com, and until next week, let's tie up our shoelaces and go for run.