Opened in October 2006, Victoria Manalo Draves Park spans two acres in San Francisco‘s SOMA and is located on Folsom Street, between 6th and 7th streets. The park features a ball field, basketball court, bathrooms, a children’s play area, a community garden, a landscaped zone, picnic area, and play field.
The park was named after Victoria Manalo Draves, a Filipino-American competitive diver and Olympic gold medalist, who achieved historical milestones as the first American woman to secure two gold medals in diving and the initial Asian American to attain Olympic gold. Raised in SOMA, she and her twin sister attended the nearby Franklin School (now Bessie Carmichael). Despite facing racism in both her personal life and diving career, Draves triumphed over adversity, culminating in her remarkable performance at the 1948 Olympics in London.
