Another thing of great import that you need to know is that the Golden Gate Bridge is not in Golden Gate Park. The SF end of the Golden Gate Bridge is in a completely different park called The Presido (which is really a former military base, and the presumed future location of Star Fleet Headquarters). Golden Gate Park is located a bit further south (one end on the ocean, the other end up against the Haight), and while it's a neat place in it's own right, it is difficult to understand why it's called "Golden Gate Park" (Note). (The "Golden Gate" referred to here, of course, is the mouth of the San Francisco Bay which the Golden Gate Bridge spans... it's existence was known from overland expeditions years before ships knew how to find it, which is one reason it figures so heavily in Western/American history and/or mythology, and no the rest of this won't be this pretentious. I hope.)

But all right, so you want to see the Golden Gate Bridge, but you don't want to admit it? Here are two possible ways out of this dilemma:

1. Go to Baker Beach. The north end of Baker is a decent nude beach, though a bit on the crowded/social side. Female visitors may want to brace themselves for the occasional troop of losers fully dressed in gangsta garb, shambling down the beach on a clumsy ogling session. Male visitors may want to brace themselves for (or just embrace?) the large gay male population. In any case, Baker Beach is just a bit west of the Golden Gate, and you'll get a nice view from there. Note: the water will be quite cold, even in August.
   
   
2. Go check out the Wave Organ, which is on the end of the wave break that protects the harbor area just east of the Golden Gate. The Wave Organ is an attempt at a sound sculpture using the sloshing sounds of waves in reinforced concrete tubes. As sound sculpture, it only gets a B in my opinion. But as a place to hang out, it's pretty cool. Note that it, and the jetty it's located on was built with stone from a demolished graveyard. I can't identify any actual *headstones* in the construction, but it definitely has that look. A nice place to sit in the moon light, wondering what they did with the graves themselves... (Reference)