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 San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. The building overlooks the site of the

Sutro Baths The Sutro Baths was a large, privately owned public saltwater swimming pool complex in the Lands End area of the Outer Richmond District in western San Francisco, California. Built in 1894, the Sutro Baths was located north of Ocean Beach, ...

ruins, Seal Rocks, and is part of the

Golden Gate National Recreation Area The Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA) is a U.S. National Recreation Area protecting of ecologically and historically significant landscapes surrounding the San Francisco Bay Area. Much of the park is land formerly used by the United ...

, operated by the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...

(NPS). The Cliff House is owned by the NPS; the building's terrace hosts a room-sized

camera obscura A camera obscura (; ) is a darkened room with a aperture, small hole or lens at one side through which an image is 3D projection, projected onto a wall or table opposite the hole. ''Camera obscura'' can also refer to analogous constructions su ...

. For most of the Cliff House's history, since 1863, the building's main draw has been restaurants and bars where patrons could enjoy the Pacific Ocean views. Since 1977, these restaurants and bars have been run by a private operator under contract with the National Park Service. In December 2020, the 47-year operator of these amenities announced that it was closing, and it criticized the NPS for not having signed a new long-term lease with any operator since its own prior 20-year lease had expired in June 2018. Dozens of ships have run aground on the southern shore of the Golden Gate below the Cliff House.

First Cliff House (1863–1894)

Anecdotal stories claim that in 1858

Samuel Brannan Samuel Brannan (March 2, 1819 – May 5, 1889) was an American settler, businessman, journalist, and prominent Mormon who founded the '' California Star'', the first newspaper in San Francisco, California. He is considered the first to publici ...

paid $1,500 for lumber salvaged from a ship that foundered on the rocky shore's basalt cliffs near Seal Rocks and built the first Cliff House. While Brannan may have constructed a building there, no historical evidence of this building exists and its role in the origin of the Cliff House remains

apocryphal Apocrypha are works, usually written, of unknown authorship or of doubtful origin. The word ''apocryphal'' (ἀπόκρυφος) was first applied to writings which were kept secret because they were the vehicles of esoteric knowledge considered ...

. The Cliff House was built by Senator John Buckley and C. C. Butler, opened in 1863 and leased to Captain Junius G. Foster."Ashen Heaps", ''The Morning Call'', December 26, 1894, p. 1
(bottom of column 6: "The house was opened in October, 1863..."). It was a long trek on foot from the city and the restaurant hosted mostly horseback riders, small-game hunters or picnickers on day outings. With the opening of the privately built Point Lobos toll road a year later, the Cliff House became a Sunday destination among the

carriage trade A carriage is a private four-wheeled vehicle for people and is most commonly horse-drawn. Second-hand private carriages were common public transport, the equivalent of modern cars used as taxis. Carriage suspensions are by leather strapping an ...

. Later the builders of the toll road constructed a two-mile speedway adjacent to it where well-to-do San Franciscans raced their horses along the way. On weekends, there was little room at the Cliff House hitching racks for tethering the horses for the thousands of rigs. Soon, omnibus, railways and

streetcar A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...

lines made it to near Lone Mountain where passengers transferred to stagecoach lines to the beach. The growth of

Golden Gate Park Golden Gate Park, located in San Francisco, California, United States, is a large urban park consisting of of public grounds. It is administered by the San Francisco Recreation & Parks Department, which began in 1871 to oversee the development ...

attracted beach travelers, in search of meals and a look at the

sea lions Sea lions are pinnipeds characterized by external ear flaps, long foreflippers, the ability to walk on all fours, short and thick hair, and a big chest and belly. Together with the fur seals, they make up the family Otariidae, eared seals. ...

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. In 1883, after a few years of downturn, the Cliff House was bought by

Adolph Sutro Adolph Heinrich Joseph Sutro (April 29, 1830 – August 8, 1898) was a German-American engineer, politician and philanthropist who served as the 24th mayor of San Francisco from 1895 until 1897. Born a German Jew, he moved to Virginia Cit ...

, who had made a fortune in silver by solving the problems of ventilating and draining the mines of Nevada's

Comstock Lode The Comstock Lode is a lode of silver ore located under the eastern slope of Mount Davidson, a peak in the Virginia Range in Virginia City, Nevada (then western Utah Territory), which was the first major discovery of silver ore in the United ...

. After a few years of quiet management by J. M. Wilkens, the Cliff House was severely damaged when the schooner ''Parallel'', abandoned with burning oil lamps and a cargo including dynamite powder, exploded while aground at Lands End early in the morning of January 16, 1887. The blast was heard a hundred miles awayChristine Miller
"Cliff House Disasters"
''GGNRA ParkNews'', Fall 2002, via ''Outside Lands'', October 4, 2002. and demolished the entire north wing of the tavern. The building was repaired, but was later completely destroyed by fire on Christmas night 1894 due to a defective

flue A flue is a duct, pipe, or opening in a chimney for conveying exhaust gases from a fireplace, furnace, water heater, boiler, or generator to the outdoors. Historically the term flue meant the chimney itself. In the United States, they are ...

. Wilkens was unable to save the guest register, which included the signatures of three U.S. Presidents and dozens of world-famous visitors. This incarnation of the Cliff House, with its various extensions, had lasted for 31 years.

Second Cliff House (1896–1907)

In 1896, Adolph Sutro rebuilt the Cliff House from the ground up as a seven-story Victorian chateau, called by some "the Gingerbread Palace", below his estate on the bluffs of Sutro Heights. This was the same year work began on the

in a small cove immediately north of the restaurant. The baths included six of the large indoor swimming pools, a museum, a skating rink and other pleasure grounds. Great throngs of San Franciscans arrived on steam trains, bicycles, carts and horse wagons on Sunday excursions. Sutro purchased some of the collection of stuffed animals, artwork, and historic items from

Woodward's Gardens Woodward's Gardens, commonly referred to as The Gardens, was a combination amusement park, museum, art gallery, zoo, and aquarium operating from 1866 to 1891 in the Mission District, San Francisco, Mission District of San Francisco, California. ...

to display at both the Cliff House and Sutro Baths. The 1896 Cliff House survived the 1906 earthquake with little damage, but burned to the ground on the evening of September 7, 1907.

Third Cliff House (1909–present)

1909–1937

After the fire, Dr. Emma Merritt, Sutro's daughter, commissioned

Reid & Reid Reid & Reid, also known as Reid Brothers, was an American architectural and engineering firm that was active from 1880 to 1932. Established in Indiana by Canadian immigrants, the firm moved to the West Coast and became was the most prominent fir ...

to rebuild the restaurant in a neo-classical style. It was completed within two years and is the basis of the structure seen today. In 1914, the guidebook ''Bohemian San Francisco'' described it as "one of the great Bohemian restaurants of San Francisco. ... while you have thought you had good breakfasts before this, you know that now you are having the best of them all." Cliff House Comp

1937–2003

In 1937, George and Leo Whitney purchased the Cliff House, to complement their Playland-at-the-Beach attraction nearby, and extensively remodelled it into an American roadhouse. From 1955 to 1966, a " Sky Tram" operated across the Sutro Baths basin, taking up to 25 visitors at a time from Point Lobos, enhanced by an artificial waterfall, to the outer balcony of the Cliff House. In 1972, upon the closing of Playland, the

Musée Mécanique The Musée Mécanique (, "Mechanical Museum") is a for-profit interactive museum of 20th-century penny arcade games and artifacts, located at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco, California. With over 300 mechanical machines, it is one of the w ...

, a museum of 20th-century

penny arcade ''Penny Arcade'' is a webcomic focused on video games and video game culture, written by Jerry Holkins and illustrated by Mike Krahulik. The comic debuted in 1998 on the website ''loonygames.com''. Since then, Holkins and Krahulik have establish ...

games, was moved into the basement of the Cliff House. In the early 1970s the land-side exterior of the building was decorated with an expansive mural painting depicting crashing waves, painted by artist-musicians (and future members of San Francisco rock band

The Tubes The Tubes are a San Francisco-based rock band. Their eponymous 1975 debut album included the single "White Punks on Dope," while their 1983 single "She's a Beauty" was a top-10 U.S. hit and its music video was frequently played in the early day ...

) Michael Cotten and

Prairie Prince Charles Lempriere "Prairie" Prince (born May 7, 1950) is an American drummer and graphic artist. He came to prominence in the 1970s as a member of the San Francisco–based rock group The Tubes, was a member of Jefferson Starship from 1992 to ...

. The building was acquired by the

(NPS) in 1977 and became part of the

. In connection with this acquisition, the NPS contracted with Dan and Mary Hountalas as official concessionaires of the property. The NPS renewed its contract with the Hountalas family in 1998, through the family's company, Peanut Wagon, Inc.

2003–2020

In 2003, as part of an extensive renovation, many of Whitney's additions were removed and the building was restored to its 1909 appearance. A new two-story wing was constructed overlooking what were by then the ruins of the Sutro Baths. (The Baths burned to the ground on June 26, 1966.) During the site restoration, the

was moved to Fisherman's Wharf. The Cliff House had two restaurants, the casual dining Bistro Restaurant and the more formal Sutro's. Additionally, the Terrace Room served a Sunday brunch buffet. There was a gift shop in the building, and the historic

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. During the 2013 government shutdown, October 1–17, the US Park Service ordered the restaurant closed. The owners defied the order, but were forced to close. They reopened with permission on October 12, 2013.

2021 closure and future prospects

The concessionaires of the Cliff House reported on December 13, 2020, that they would be closing their doors on December 31, 2020. They blamed losses from the closure due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, and their landlord, the National Park Service (NPS), for delaying a long term-lease; the restaurant had been operating under a series of short-term leases since June 2018. According to the National Park Service's website, a 3.5-year lease had been offered to the vendor (the Hountalas family doing business as Peanut Wagon Inc.) on December 30, which was turned down. On December 31, 2020, the Cliff House's sign was removed. The NPS says that it "is committed to maintaining this iconic building", but that the "solicitation process or a new vendorfor this operation is currently paused as a result of the pandemic." On February 2, 2021 the

San Francisco Board of Supervisors The San Francisco Board of Supervisors is the legislative body within the government of the City and County of San Francisco. Government and politics The City and County of San Francisco is a consolidated city-county, being simultaneously a c ...

passed a resolution urging the NPS to find an immediate vendor for the restaurant while it searched for a long-term tenant. The Park Service confirmed that they planned to do so.

Trademark issues

In the wake of the departure of the Hountalas family and its company as the private concessionaire for the Cliff House, it emerged that the company had secured certain "Cliff House"-related trademarks. This led news organizations to speculate as to whether a future concessionaire would be able to use the "Cliff House" name to protect and promote the identity of the institution.

In popular culture

* The area immediately around the Cliff House is part of the setting of

Jack London John Griffith Chaney (January 12, 1876 – November 22, 1916), better known as Jack London, was an American novelist, journalist and activist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and American magazines, he was one of the first American authors to ...

's novel ''

The Scarlet Plague ''The Scarlet Plague'' is a post-apocalyptic fiction novel by American writer Jack London, originally published in ''London Magazine'' in 1912. The book was noted in 2020 as having been very similar to the COVID-19 pandemic, especially given Lo ...

'' (1912). * Jack London also sets the meeting of Maud Sangster and Pat Glendon Jr. here in ''

The Abysmal Brute ''The Abysmal Brute'' is a novel by American writer Jack London, published in book form in 1913. It is a short novel, and could be regarded as a novelette. It first appeared in September 1911 in ''Popular Magazine''. In the story, a man who wa ...

'' (1913). * An image of the second Cliff House was used on the cover of the album ''

Imaginos ''Imaginos'' is the eleventh studio album by the American hard rock band Blue Öyster Cult. It was released in 1988, and was their last recording with their original record label, CBS/Columbia Records. The album took nearly eight years to c ...

'' by

Blue Öyster Cult Blue Öyster Cult ( ; sometimes abbreviated BÖC or BOC) is an American Rock music, rock band formed on Long Island in Stony Brook, New York, in 1967, and best known for the singles "(Don't Fear) The Reaper", "Burnin' for You", and "Godzilla ( ...

. * The Cliff House appears in a scene in the 1948 film ''

Race Street ''Race Street'' is a 1948 American crime film noir directed by Edwin L. Marin. The drama features George Raft, William Bendix and Marilyn Maxwell. It was one of several collaborations between Raft and Marin. Plot When his bookie pal Hal is k ...

'', starring

George Raft George Raft (born George Ranft; September 26, 1901 – November 24, 1980) was an American film actor and dancer identified with portrayals of gangsters in crime melodramas of the 1930s and 1940s. A stylish leading man in dozens of movies, Raft is ...

, although the interior scene no doubt was a studio-set re-creation. * The Cliff House is featured in the

Ubisoft Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include '' Assassin's Creed'', ''Far Cry'', '' ...

video game ''

Watch Dogs 2 ''Watch Dogs 2'' (stylized as ''WATCH_DOGS 2'') is a 2016 action-adventure game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. It is the sequel to 2014's ''Watch Dogs'' and the second installment in the ''Watch Dogs'' series. It was ...

''. * The Cliff House appears briefly in the 1958 film '' The Lineup'', starring

Eli Wallach Eli Herschel Wallach (; December 7, 1915 – June 24, 2014) was an American film, television, and stage actor from New York City. From his 1945 Broadway debut to his last film appearance, Wallach's entertainment career spanned 65 years. Origina ...

and directed by

Don Siegel Donald Siegel ( ; October 26, 1912 – April 20, 1991) was an American film and television director and producer. Siegel was described by ''The New York Times'' as "a director of tough, cynical and forthright action-adventure films whose taut ...

References

Notes Further reading *

External links

Official National Park Service page

Cliff House Project

CliffHouse.com (website of Peanut Wagon, Inc., concessionaire 1973–2020)

California Legacy Project — ''from

Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has p ...

's "Early Rising as Regards Excursions to the Cliff House," published in

The Golden Era ''The Golden Era'' was a 19th-century San Francisco newspaper. The publication featured the writing of f.e.g. Mark Twain, Bret Harte, Charles Warren Stoddard (writing at first as "Pip Pepperpod"), Fitz Hugh Ludlow, Adah Isaacs Menken, Ada Clar ...

magazine, 1864''.
Cliff House renovation, 1998-2006. Collection guide, California State Library, California History Room.

c.1902 photograph of the Cliff House by Robert Augustus Henry L'Estrange
{{authority control National Park Service Golden Gate National Recreation Area Landmarks in San Francisco Restaurants in San Francisco Richmond District, San Francisco 1863 establishments in California Restaurants established in the 19th century Buildings and structures completed in 1863 Buildings and structures completed in 1896 Buildings and structures completed in 1909 Reid & Reid buildings Neoclassical architecture in California Gilded Age mansions