In a quiet corner of the Presidio, a small fenced plot contains about 450 pet graves from the 1950s through the 1990s, when military families stationed at the base buried their cats, dogs, birds, hamsters, and at least one goldfish here. The hand-painted headstones and handwritten epitaphs are funny, touching, and sometimes heartbreaking.
It is a five-minute detour if you are walking through the Presidio, and one of those small, strange places that makes San Francisco feel different from other cities. The cemetery is always open and easy to miss -- look for a small white fence along McDowell Avenue near Crissy Field.