San Francisco One Step Closer to Avenue Accolade for Albino Alligator

San Francisco is now one step closer to renaming a street in Golden Gate Park after Claude, the city’s beloved albino alligator who died in December 2025.

Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously passed a resolution urging the Recreation and Parks Commission to commemoratively name an as-yet-undecided street in the park, where Claude lived at the California Academy of Sciences, “Claude the Alligator Way.”

“Everybody loves Claude, I mean, seriously. We just had his birthday, or, I’m sorry, his hatch day, this past year, and everyone came out. We had a shrimp-flavored cake,” said District 7 Supervisor Myrna Melgar, who sponsored the resolution. “There’s just so much love for Claude out there.”

Originally hatched in a Louisiana alligator farm in 1995, Claude was transported to the Academy of Sciences in 2008 and lived there for 17 years. He had just celebrated his 30th “hatch day” in September 2025 before dying two months later due to liver cancer.

Claude was known for drawing locals and tourists alike who wanted to get a glimpse of the rare albino reptile, known for his gentle demeanor. He’s also the main character in a children’s book.

“Claude later became a cultural icon of San Francisco — known for his quiet charisma, distinctive appearance, and unwavering ability to enchant school groups, tourists, and longtime residents,” reads the resolution. “His presence … deeply enriched the educational and scientific experience of visitors and cemented his status as one of the City’s most cherished animal ambassadors.”

The parks and recreation commission is expected to consider whether to commemoratively rename one of the park streets after Claude later this month.

Kat Anderson, president of the city’s Parks and Recreation Commission, appeared at the Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday and spoke in support of the idea to rename a street.

Exactly which stretch of road will be renamed has yet to be determined. Local news publication Mission Local recently released results of a poll of which street residents would like to be renamed in honor of Claude. The results were clear, with the majority of the 6,900 respondents choosing Music Concourse Drive, located between John F. Kennedy Drive and Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. The street runs directly in front of the Academy of Sciences.

City leaders said they don’t expect this renaming process to be controversial, and it follows the recent renaming of other honorary landmarks.

In January 2024, the city moved to rename Stow Lake in Golden Gate Park to Blue Heron Lake. The lake had previously been named after William Stow, a former California Assembly speaker known for anti-immigrant policies, racist views and attempts to push Jewish people out of California.

Similar to the process with “Claude the Alligator Way,” the city teamed up with a local publication to run a poll of residents asking what they would want to rename the lake. Blue Heron won.

“Claude was a little bit different. And in the wild, he might not have lived to the age he did at the Academy of Sciences,” Melgar said. “I think that it is a really good lesson for kids about our need for stewardship of the natural world, but also that in San Francisco, we welcome, you know, every oddball who is a little bit different.”