San Francisco’s Best Pumpkin Patch? Clancy’s Pumpkin Patch

You get a gourd, you get a gourd! Everyone gets a gourd — from San Francisco’s Clancy’s Pumpkin Patch!

We’re suckers for all things gourds, especially those that are carve-able. There’s something that remains so welcomingly tactile about sailing on a sea of pumpkins and navigating your way through them by way of your senses. In an increasingly digital world, these analog practices exist as nostalgic escapism.

There’s no San Francisco fall activity that exudes this notion more than a trip to Clancy’s Pumpkin Patch. (They also have a seasonal Christmas tree farm that’s been running in San Francisco for over seven decades now.)

With one of its two locations located next to the San Francisco Zoo, Clancy’s Pumpkin Patch has remained a cultural fixture since it first opened its location near Ocean Beach in 1979. (Yes, reader: You can expect to go grab and snag and buy all varieties of pumpkins and gourds at both this location and 1620 7th Avenue.) To this day, many of the same attractions and quirks, and specialty breeds of pumpkin still remain.

Clancy’s Pumpkin Patch and Trees are unique among a carousel of come-and-go business that has infiltrated the city; it’s a third-generation, entirely San Francisco-based company that shows no signs of slowing down; it also hasn’t taken to expanding its footprint to other parts of the Bay Area — which is reassuringly frank; if it isn’t broken (read: the gourds and trees are still selling like hotcakes) don’t fix it.

Interestingly enough, these pumpkin patches came second in Clancy’s business model. The beloved seasonal company first started selling Christmas trees starting in December 1949. The goal was simple: They wanted to bring San Franciscans the finest and freshest trees available from farms along the west coast, particularly those in Oregon. Suffice it to say decades later, they’ve succeeded in that objective — each and every year.

After 30 years of success selling evergreens, Clancy’s opened San Francisco’s first Pumpkin Patch in 1979. Nowadays, you can find all kinds of gourds, corn stalks, and indigenous corn all in abundance and available for purchase.

Oh! Remember that proximate nod to the SF Zoo? Zoo-goes and members will get 10% off purchases at Clancy’s nearby pumpkin patch throughout the holiday season. Parking is free at both locations and well-behaved pets are welcome to tag along.

Go grab all the decorative gourds, motherfuckers…. and, simultaneously, support a local business that’s been around for much longer than most of us have been alive.

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