Ina Coolbrith Park

This guide to Ina Coolbrith Park on San Francisco's Russian Hill tells the story of the ten-year-old girl who rode into California on the saddle of mountain scout James Beckwourth and grew up to become the first poet laureate any American state ever named. Born Josephine Smith, niece of Mormon leader Joseph Smith, she survived an abusive early marriage and remade herself as Ina Coolbrith, hosting writers like Bret Harte at her house on nearby Taylor Street. Climb the steps built into this hillside in the 1930s and look toward Coit Tower and the bay.