Washington Square is an American park in the North Beach district of San Francisco. It was established in 1847 and is one of the city's first parks. The park is bordered by sidewalk cafes and restaurants such as Mama's (restaurant), Park Tavern restaurant and the Liguria Bakery as well as the Sts. Peter and Paul Church. History In the 19th century, the area was used by the Mexican rancher Juana Briones to grow potatoes and raise cattle, before it was designated a city square in 1847 when surveyor Jasper O'Farrell laid out San Francisco's street grid. It became an unofficial dump next to a cemetery, but by the 1860s, it hosted Fourth of July celebrations, and later Columbus Day celebrations and Italian festivals. Originally, it was a complete rectangle, all the way to Powell Street. But in 1873–1875, the City built Columbus Avenue, then known as Montgomery, cutting through the Square. The avenue was built, evidently, because business and banking interests in the Financial District wanted greater interaction with North Beach, which was isolated, geographically, by the hills, the Barbary Coast, and Chinatown. Washington Square was a place of refuge for many fires on Telegraph Hill, notably in 1894 and 1901. It was home for a year for some 600 people who lived in wooden barracks and Army tents after the 1906 earthquake and fire. Ben Franklin statue The Base of the statue is a Temperance fountain donated in 1879 by Temperance crusader Henry D. Cogswell Marini Plaza Separated from the main park by Columbus Avenue, Marini Plaza is a tiny park at the corner of Powell Street and Union Street, named after civic benefactor Frank Marini (1862-1952). Committee to Beautify In the 1950s, a coalition of community groups, the Committee to Beautify Washington Square, spearheaded the effort to redesign the square, eliminating the paths that criss-crossed the park. Landscape architects Francis McCarthy and Douglas Baylis put Lombardy poplar trees in the center of a grassy expanse encircled by paths lined with benches, the configuration we have today; although Lawrence Halprin is often credited with the design, his plans exceeded the available budget. In 1958, the city tried to solve the parking problem by putting a parking garage under the square, a plan that was defeated then but resurfaced periodically until the park was granted landmark status in 2000. Popular culture Washington Square has been featured in many feature films.