With a broad, sunny lawn and clusters of willow, cypress and sycamore trees, this pentagonal park occupies the heart of North Beach. The popular neighborhood gathering spot was donated to the city by its first mayor, John W. Geary, and set aside as a public park in 1847 by Jasper O'Farrell, surveyor of San Francisco's downtown street grid. After Columbus Avenue sliced off its southwest corner (now called Marini Plaza) in 1873, the park was landscaped to Victorian taste with shade trees and a broad, curving path for promenading. Hundreds of refugees camped here during the year following the 1906 earthquake and fire. Today, elderly Asians gather each morning to practice t'ai chi, a graceful form of martial arts, and Italian retirees spend hours on the benches facing Union Street. Visitors and locals alike often picnic on the grassy lawn.