The following poll closed on Dec. 31, 2025, at midnight.
Earlier this month, Claude, San Francisco’s famed albino alligator and the “unofficial mascot” of the California Academy of Sciences, suddenly died. He was 30, and died of liver cancer.
Now District 7 Supervisor Myrna Melgar is hoping to memorialize Claude’s legacy by renaming a city street “Claude the Albino Alligator Way” — and she’s letting the public weigh in.
“Claude was an icon of a public figure. That’s why we need a public process to decide how to honor him,” Melgar said. “This process will give the public direct influence over how we as a city commemorate his legacy and keep him in our hearts.”
That’s where Mission Local’s poll comes in. See our map below for the streets up for consideration for renaming by the city, all of which neighbor the California Academy of Sciences, where Claude lived for 17 years. Then use the tool below to vote for your preferred street.
On Tuesday, Melgar will introduce a resolution to commemorate Claude. Once we close this poll on Dec. 31, Melgar’s office will officially send the results to the Recreation and Parks commission, which will ultimately decide which street receives the new name. The poll results will be published in early January.
Which street should be named after Claude the alligator?
E
10th Avenue
N
A
8th Avenue
JFK Drive
B
Bowl Drive
de Young
Museum
D
Music Concourse Drive
C
Unnamed road
California Academy
of Sciences
N
A
8th Avenue
JFK Drive
E
10th Avenue
B
Bowl Drive
de Young
Museum
Music Concourse
Drive
D
California
Academy
of Sciences
Unnamed
road
C
Graphic by Kelly Waldron. Basemap from Google Earth.
Eh, we already have a Claude Lane.
There’s already a “Claude Lane” in San Francisco
This is what they are going to spend money on? Nothing against Claude, he was great. But damn bro…how many millions are we in debt? Teachers ain’t getting paid, Mission street has hella pot holes and they wanna rename a street after a dead animal.
To me it’s indicative of what they want to actually spend their time, OUR TIME really as we’re paying their salaries, doing amid the problems you list. Even if it has zero cost they are spending inordinate time and attention to something so niche and fluff, it’s pretty much an insult to anyone with a real issue in SF that they need addressed. Par for the course unfortunately.
Hi Albert!
The cost of putting up a few signs in the park is pretty low; even if it costs more than it should, it’s still going to be the kind of money spent on thumbtacks for the arboretum. This isn’t coming out of the SFUSD budget — which is a wholly different entity — or Public Works.
Municipal government does not operate like Uncle Scrooge’s money bin; the dollars are delineated to discrete purposes. And, on the plus side, this poll isn’t costing you a thing!
Best,
JE
Not The Onion!
This is even more ridiculous than renaming Stow Lake.
If tax monies must be spent on something so imbecilic, how about doing some “cancel culture” on Mark Twain’s favorite war criminal, General Funston who oversaw the murder of hundreds of thousands of Filipinos and rename Funston as Claude Avenue?
While I also like the sound of Fort Claude, the current regime likely loves having the fort named after Funston.
Twain: https://librivox.org/search?title=A+Defence+of+General+Funston&author=Twain&reader=&keywords=&genre_id=0&status=all&project_type=either&recorded_language=&sort_order=catalog_date&search_page=1&search_form=advanced
The name should be “Claude the Albino Alli-way” (credit to my wife!)
I vote for option B, Bowl Drive, & turning it into something like a geoglyph of Claude. It could be paved white & have white stones arranged around it for his body shape & limbs. There is the viewing tower at the De Young Museum that might give a good view of it. Also, the roof garden at the Academy of Sciences could be a good viewing point.
They should rename cross over drive, such a boring name. But if it’s multiple choice, the unnamed street should be Alligator Alley since we have a Claude somewhere else in S.F.
What a waste of taxpayer dollars to rename a street for an alligator. The city is already in debt and there are so many other pressing issues that need to be addressed. Despite having membership to the California Academy of Sciences for a number of years, I wouldn’t want this. Instead, I would want all the streets in Golden Gate Park to be reopened for all visitors, including folks who drive in their cars to visit the museum. I would want taxpayer dollars to go where it needs to go instead of the city trying to nickel and dime us residents for parking inside Golden Gate Park in the future.
You sound insufferable.
Hater Scrooge !!!
Quite correct and well put! She is awesome at squandering money and never meeting the concerns of ordinary residents. This looks good for the real estate industry, she reasons. Budget be damned!
Won’t this get Melgar recalled? Proud SFers are supposed to loathe renaming things.
Oh, wait. It’s only schools that can’t be renamed.
They should name one of the schools they are tearing down after her, Mandelman and Engardio.
Could not give less of one on naming a “street” in the Park that nobody knows.
Honor the creature, not the pundit attention seeking by sf.gov lackeys.