Cliff House U S. National Park Service
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Open to the public in 1909, the Cliff House carried on the tradition of sumptuous dining rooms and elegant entertainment. The longtime proprietors of the Cliff House, a 157-year-old iconic San Francisco restaurant with breathtaking ocean views once enjoyed by Mark Twain, announced this week that they would be forced to close by the end of the year. They cited both coronavirus restrictions and their landlord, the federal government, stalling on a long-term lease, as factors in their decision.
Seal Rock
The building was repaired, but was later completely destroyed by fire on Christmas night 1894 due to a defective flue.[9][11] Wilkins was unable to save the guest register, which included the signatures of three U.S. This incarnation of the Cliff House, with its various extensions, had lasted for 31 years. Third Cliff HouseThe Cliff House fell into disrepair after Sutro died. Though the resort survived the 1906 earthquake with only $300 in damage, it burned to the ground a year later.
Closure of iconic Cliff House ends a remarkable era of San Francisco's history
The growth of Golden Gate Park attracted beach travelers, in search of meals and a look at the sea lions sunning themselves on Seal Rocks just off the cliffs, to visit the area. In 1877, the toll road, now Geary Street, was purchased by the city for approximately $25,000. Today's world-famous Cliff House, part of the Sutro Historic Landscape District, is the latest in three incarnations of this destination for locals and tourists.
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This time, Sutro carried out an elaborate construction plan and created a marvelous Victorian confection on the cliff, which included a ballroom, several restaurants, museums, etc. The first Cliff House was built in 1863 and became a place for the wealthy residents of SF to come out to the ocean in their carriages and dine. Sutro Lands End Partners, LLC, has reached an agreement to lease the former Cliff House from the National Park Service, which administers the land where the building is located.
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Later years attracted a less-rarified clientele, one more interested in gambling and debauchery than fine cuisine. The Cliff House is at the end of Point Lobos Avenue, just below the parking lot for the Visitor's Center at Point Lobos and 48th Avenue. Yes, even though the Cliff House is closed, you can still get into the camera. The building is still there, but the sign is gone because the previous tenants owned the name. The Victorian Cliff House survived the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, but burned down a year later. The Cliff House was badly damaged in 1887 when a ship carrying dynamite ran aground nearby and blew up.
San Francisco’s Cliff House restaurant to reopen in 2024 - KRON4
San Francisco’s Cliff House restaurant to reopen in 2024.
Posted: Wed, 13 Sep 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
Generations of San Franciscans and countless visitors have dined at the Cliff House and enjoyed the gorgeous ocean views. The Cliff House is a neo-classical style building perched on the headland above the cliffs just north of Ocean Beach, in the Outer Richmond neighborhood of San Francisco, California. The building overlooks the site of the Sutro Baths ruins, Seal Rocks, and is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, operated by the National Park Service (NPS). The Cliff House is owned by the NPS; the building's terrace hosts a room-sized camera obscura. It was around this time that the most recent Cliff House proprietors – and the family of Tom Hontalas, the owner of Louis’ – entered the scene. In its place, Adolph Sutro built a Victorian palace, an eight-story structure crowned with fanciful turrets and towers and occupied by galleries, lunch rooms, and shops.
Sutro Heights Park
The Cliff House had two restaurants, the casual dining Bistro Restaurant and the more formal Sutro's. There was a gift shop in the building, and the historic camera obscura is on a deck overlooking the ocean. Peanut Wagon continued to manage Cliff House operations and worked with the Park Service during the extensive site restoration that was completed in 2004.
New lessees plan to reopen SF Cliff House after 'significant remodel' - SFGATE
New lessees plan to reopen SF Cliff House after 'significant remodel'.
Posted: Wed, 13 Sep 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
The new resort, designed specifically for dining, dancing and entertainment, had several private dining rooms, parlors, bars, and kitchens at the ground level. Private lunchrooms, a large art gallery, a gem exhibit, a photo gallery, a reception room, panoramic views from large windows and an open-air veranda were all located on the upper floors. Although this elegant building survived the 1906 earthquake, sadly, it was no less fire proof than the first Cliff House. World War I and the Great Depression took their toll on the Lands End area and the Sutro family sold the Cliff House in 1937 to other operators.
Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy
There have been a whole series of Cliff Houses over the years, the style changing with the times. So whatever is coming next won't be called the "Cliff House", unless the current negotiations are successful in selling the name to the new operators. The long-time tenants took the name, "Cliff House", and even the sign, with them when they left. The Cliff House was closing, permanently, largely due to the difficulty of operating a restaurant during the Covid closures. Hontalas’ grandfather, Louis, immigrated from Greece in 1906 at 11 years old. His older brother, who arrived before he did, opened a restaurant called the Cliff Cafe.
Up until his death in 1897, Sutro built up the area, which came to include concession stands, saloons and boarding houses, Martini said, evidence of which was all discovered after the National Park Service bought the land in 1977 and conducted an archeological study. At the place where San Francisco drops into the ocean, a door is shutting on a vibrant chapter of the city’s history. Hi Neighbor Hospitality Group—the local mini-chain that owns “fine-casual” San Francisco restaurants like the Madrigal and Trestle, as well as Mama Oakland and the considerably more upscale Vault—will consult on the famed seaside operation’s revival as well. Your support helps fight climate change and promote park sustainability—please give now. First Cliff HouseBetween the 1860s and 1880s, the Cliff House was an exclusive resort, patronized by only San Francisco’s most elite families.
The Cliff House was not the first of the city’s beloved restaurants to close. In fact, it follows their neighbor, Louis’ Restaurant, the only other independent restaurant remaining on that oceanfront stretch of road, in shuttering for good during the pandemic. The Cliff House, the world-famous restaurant at the western edge of San Francisco, has been vacant since 2020, and for months, the National Park Service has kept mum on the identity of the business that would replace it.
Sutro fixed up the building again, only to have it burn down in 1894. Adolph Sutro, creator of the Sutro Baths and Sutro Heights Park, bought the Cliff House in 1883 with the idea of pulling it out of a slump and making it family-friendly again. Apparently it had gotten a bad reputation for riffraff and scandalous behavior. The SS Ohioan, a cargo ship, ended up on the rocks near the Cliff House on a dark night in 1936. The Cliff House sits at Point Lobos, right at the entrance to San Francisco Bay. This was a prime spot for shipwrecks before radar; strong currents, rocks and dense fog made for a lethal combination, especially at night.
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