Lloyd Lake (San Francisco)
| Lloyd Lake | |
|---|---|
_DH000025_(644498663).jpg) | |
| Location | Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, California |
| Coordinates | 37°46′13″N 122°28′56″W / 37.77028°N 122.48222°W[1] |
| Basin countries | United States |
Lloyd Lake is a lake in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, that is the home to a wide variety of non-native, non-migratory birds. Birds to be found within the lake area include geese, Pekin ducks, Muscovy ducks, Campbell ducks, mallards, gulls and pigeons.
The lake is also home to some early San Francisco architecture : the remains of Alban Nelson Towne's 1101 California Street, Nob Hill house can be found by the lake, between JFK Drive and Crossover Drive. After the 1906 earthquake and fire devastated the building, his wife presented the portico, popularly known as "Portals to the Past", to the park in 1909.
Lloyd Lake is named in memory of Reuben Headley Lloyd, the park commissioner.
The site is mentioned in Alfred Hitchcock's film "Vertigo" (1958) as a place where Madeleine Elster (Kim Novak) enters a trance and becomes possessed. In their book "Footsteps in the Fog", Jeff Kraft and Aaron Leventhal note the care with which Hitchcock described the precise location of "Portals of the Past" even though the site is never actually shown in the film.
A number of urban myths exist concerning both Lloyd Lake and the Portals. Some relate sightings of ghostly figures or small floating luminous globes. The location was described by Spiritualists of the early 20th century as "a place that opens the receptive soul to dangerous influences. It should not be visited carelessly." No corroboration or evidence of any kind exists to support such urban legends concerning Lloyd Lake. The Portals are often referred to by locals as the "Shadowbox" because of supposed occult occurrences and sightings.
Arthur Conan Doyle, an avid Spiritualist, visited the site during his 1923 stay in San Francisco. There is no record of Conan Doyle's reaction.
"Portals to the Past" also play a significant role in the novel License to Ensorcell (2011) by Katharine Kerr.