Residents in San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury neighborhood awoke Monday to discover someone had painted numerous swastikas all over a popular neighborhood park.

Around a dozen swastikas were scrawled in white paint on the pedestrian walkway around Buena Vista Park, a wooded hillside in the iconic neighborhood that offers dramatic views of the Bay Area.

Max Szabo was walking his dog with his wife on Monday morning and made the alarming discovery along with other neighbors around the park.

“It’s chilling,” said Szabo, who works as a spokesman for the San Francisco district attorney’s office. “I don’t think a lot of people that do this kind of thing really understand what they are symbolizing.”

Szabo said he had family members who died in the Holocaust and Monday’s discovery was extremely troubling.

“Who ever did this is preaching hate in an area that spawned the summer of love,” he said.

Officials with San Francisco Recreation and Park’s Department said they have dispatched crews to remove the graffiti.

“We will never allow anything like this to stand,” said Tamara Aparton, a spokeswoman for the department. “Our parks are places of peace and respite and vile symbols of antisemitism and hate have no place there — or anywhere in civilized society.”

Park officials said they reported the incident to the Police Department, which is handling the investigation.

Evan Sernoffsky is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: esernoffsky@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @EvanSernoffsky