Nike Missile Site SF-88L - Atlas Obscura

Nike Missile Site SF-88L

Ride on a fully-restored Nike nuclear-tipped missile elevator from the Cold War. 

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Welcome to Nike Missile Site SF-88L, the most fully restored Nike missile site in the country. During the tense years of the Cold War, from 1953 to 1979, the United States Army built and operated close to 300 Nike missile sites in the United States. These sites were designed to be the last line of defense against H-Bomb carrying Soviet bombers that had eluded the Air Force’s interceptor jet aircraft.

One of those sites was SF-88, in the Marin Headlands just outside San Francisco. Today, Golden Gate National Recreation Area works together with a dedicated group of volunteers to preserve the site as it was during operations to remind visitors of the physical and psychological effects of the Cold War on the American landscape.

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November 22, 2023

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