[3] The lake is home to some early San Francisco architecture: the remains of Alban Nelson Towne's 1101 California Street, Nob Hill house can be found by the lake, between JFK Drive and Crossover Drive.

[4] After the 1906 earthquake and fire devastated the building, his wife presented the portico, popularly known as Portals of the Past to the park in 1909.

[3] All that remains of the mansion are the ionic columns of the entrance, which stand in isolation.

The site is mentioned in Alfred Hitchcock's film Vertigo (1958) as a place where Madeleine Elster (Kim Novak) enters a trance and becomes possessed.

The "Portals of the Past" also play a significant role in the novel License to Ensorcell (2011) by Katharine Kerr.