Candlestick Park

Candlestick Park was an outdoor stadium located in the Hunters Point area of San Francisco, California, United States. It was the home of Major League Baseball's San Francisco Giants, who played there beginning in 1960 through 1999. It was also the home field of the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League from 1971 through 2013, after which the team moved to Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara. The stadium was also used for live musical performances. The Beatles gave their last full public concert at Candlestick Park on August 29, 1966. The last event held at Candlestick was a concert by Paul McCartney in August 2014. The demolition of the stadium was completed in September 2015. As of 2019, the site was planned to be redeveloped into office space. The stadium was situated at Candlestick Point on the western shore of San Francisco Bay. Candlestick Point was named for the "candlestick birds" (long-billed curlews) that populated the area for many years. Due to Candlestick Park's location next to the bay, strong winds often swirled down into the stadium, creating unusual playing conditions. At the time of its construction in the late 1950s, the stadium site was one of the few pieces of land available in the city that was suitable for a sports stadium, and had room for the 10,000 parking spaces that had been promised to the Giants. The surface of the field for most of its existence was natural bluegrass, but for nine seasons, from 1970 to 1978, the stadium had artificial turf. A "sliding pit" configuration, with dirt cut-outs only around the bases, was installed in 1971, primarily to keep the dust down in the breezy conditions. Following the 1978 football season, the playing surface was restored to natural grass.