San Francisco architect and Docomomo US/Northern California member, Colin Alley, has written a new essay in which he examines the development of the European adventure-playground movement—this movement being based on children having free access to tools, scrap materials, earth, and controlled risk—within the San Francisco Bay Area from the 1960s up to 1979. The essay, which was published on August 26, 2026, links C. Th. Sørensen's 1943 Emdrup "junk playground" and Lady Allen of Hurtwood's work in the UK to the countercultural design environment of the Bay Area and to UC Berkeley's College of Environmental Design.

For many in the Bay, Lake Merritt is beautiful, civic, gleaming, and strange, as only the unwieldy possibilities of public space can conjure. Its mid-century years, 1945-1976, are the focus of Docomomo Northern California’s Tour Day in the spirit of the 2026 national theme of “Recreation and Play”.

Contribute your superlative personal ephemera. Create and share your digitized* slides, negatives, prints, scrapbook items, Polaroids, ticket stubs, flyers, propaganda, stickers, sketches, and digital photos of festival t-shirts, family reunion mugs, DIY art, etc.

Tour Day is the only national program of its kind, devoted to the appreciation of modern architecture in the United States. Tours and events focused on Modern Movement buildings and landscapes are hosted throughout October by Docomomo US chapters, partners, and local preservation advocates across the country.

For Tour Day 2022, Docomomo US/Northern California explored the strange, dizzying, and wonderful urbanism of John Portman's Embarcadero Center.