Sea Cliff (sometimes spelled Seacliff) is an affluent neighborhood located on the
West Side of
San Francisco
San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
. Known for its large houses and ocean views, Sea Cliff is one of nine master–planned
residence parks in San Francisco; its master plan was developed by landscape architect
Mark Daniels.
["Mark Daniels: Landscape Architect of Forest Hill, Sea Cliff and More"]
Western Neighborhoods Project, Outsidelands.org, April 2, 2003. Sea Cliff has become one of San Francisco's most elite residential areas.
Location
Sea Cliff is adjacent to the
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...
and
Baker Beach, southwest of the
Presidio of San Francisco
The Presidio of San Francisco (originally, El Presidio Real de San Francisco or The Royal Fortress of Saint Francis) is a park and former U.S. Army post on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula in San Francisco, California, and is part ...
, and east of
Lincoln Park
Lincoln Park is a park along Lake Michigan on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois. Named after US president Abraham Lincoln, it is the city's largest public park and stretches for from Grand Avenue (500 N), on the south, to near Ardmore Avenu ...
.
Characteristics
Houses in the Sea Cliff neighborhood are large and many offer views of the Pacific Ocean, the
Golden Gate Bridge
The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the strait connecting San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean in California, United States. The structure links San Francisco—the northern tip of the San Francisco Peni ...
, and the
Marin Headlands
The Marin Headlands are a hilly peninsula at the southernmost end of Marin County, California, United States, located just north of San Francisco across the Golden Gate Bridge, which connects the two counties and peninsulas. The entire area is p ...
. A small public beach named
China Beach
''China Beach'' is an American war film, war drama television series set at an evacuation hospital during the Vietnam War. The title refers to My Khe Beach in the city of Da Nang, Đà Nẵng, Vietnam, nicknamed "China Beach" in English by Amer ...
is located in the neighborhood, as well as the head of a trail to
Lands End, a park within 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 Unite ...
.
There are several buildings in Sea Cliff by notable architects:
* 9, 25 and 45 Scenic Way, built in 1914; architect,
Willis Polk (1867–1924)
* The Hanson House at 126 27th Avenue, built in 1907; architect, John Charles Flugger (1865–1930)
* 50 Scenic Way, built in 1921 for Maude Strowbridge; architect,
Julia Morgan
Julia Morgan (January 20, 1872 – February 2, 1957) was an American architect and engineer. She designed more than 700 buildings in California during a long and prolific career.Erica Reder"Julia Morgan was a local in ''The New Fillmore'', 1 Febr ...
(1872–1957)
* 60 McLaren Avenue and 455 Sea Cliff Avenue; architect,
Albert L. Farr (1871–1947)
* 8 Sea Cliff Avenue; architect, Edward G. Bowles (1871–1939).
Residents
Sea Cliff contains the residences for the consuls general of Switzerland, South Korea, and The Netherlands.
Some of the neighborhood's more famous current and past residents include:
*
Ansel Adams
Ansel Easton Adams (February 20, 1902 – April 22, 1984) was an American landscape photographer and environmentalist known for his Monochrome photography, black-and-white images of the American West. He helped found Group f/64, an association ...
, photographer
*
Larry Baer,
San Francisco Giants
The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...
CEO
*
Luke Brugnara
Luke Dominic Brugnara (born ) is an American commercial real estate investor and developer. Brugnara became known for purchasing real estate in downtown San Francisco during the 1990s. He was convicted of tax evasion in 2010; in 2015, he was ...
, real estate tycoon
*
Jack Dorsey
Jack Patrick Dorsey (born November 19, 1976) is an American businessperson, who is a co-founder of Twitter, Inc. and its CEO during 2007–2008 and 2015–2021, as well as co-founder, principal executive officer and chairman of Block, Inc. (deve ...
, founder of
Twitter
Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...
and
Square, Inc.
*
Donald Fisher
Donald George Fisher (September 3, 1928 – September 27, 2009) was an American billionaire businessman and philanthropist. He co-founded the Gap Inc. clothing stores with his wife Doris F. Fisher.
Early life and education
Fisher was born i ...
,
Gap founder
*
Kevin Gausman, former San Francisco Giants pitcher
*
Eileen Gu, freestyle skier
*
Kirk Hammett
Kirk Lee Hammett (born November 18, 1962) is an American musician who has been the lead guitarist of heavy metal band Metallica since 1983. Prior to joining Metallica, he co-formed the thrash metal band Exodus in 1979. In 2023, Hammett, along ...
,
Metallica
Metallica is an American heavy metal band. It was formed in Los Angeles in 1981 by vocalist and guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...
guitarist
*
Paul Kantner
Paul Lorin Kantner (March 17, 1941 – January 28, 2016) was an American rock musician. He is best known as the co-founder, rhythm guitarist, and a secondary vocalist of Jefferson Airplane, a leading psychedelic rock band of the counterculture of ...
,
Jefferson Airplane
Jefferson Airplane was an American Rock music, rock band formed in San Francisco, California, in 1965. One of the pioneering bands of psychedelic rock, the group defined the San Francisco Sound and was the first from the San Francisco Bay Area, ...
guitarist
*
Eugene Levy
Eugene Levy (born December 17, 1946) is a Canadian actor and comedian. Known for portraying flustered and unconventional figures, Levy has won multiple accolades throughout his career including four Primetime Emmy Awards, a Grammy Award, and ...
, actor
*
Cheech Marin
Richard Anthony "Cheech" Marin (born July 13, 1946) is an American comedian and actor. He gained recognition as part of the comedy act Cheech & Chong during the 1970s and early 1980s with Tommy Chong, and as Don Johnson's partner, Insp. Joe Dom ...
, actor
*
Clinton Reilly, real estate mogul
*
Linda Ronstadt
Linda Maria Ronstadt (born July 15, 1946) is an American singer who has performed and recorded in diverse genres including rock, country, light opera, the Great American Songbook, and Latin music.
Ronstadt has earned 11 Grammy Awards, three A ...
, singer
*
Walter Shorenstein, real estate investor
*
George Soros
George Soros (born György Schwartz; August 12, 1930) is an American investor and philanthropist. , he has a net worth of US$7.2 billion, Note that this site is updated daily. having donated more than $32 billion to the Open Society Foundat ...
, hedge fund investor
*
Tom Steyer
Thomas Fahr Steyer (; born June 27, 1957) is an American climate investor, businessman, hedge fund manager, philanthropist, environmentalist, political candidate and liberal activist. Steyer is the founder and former co-senior-managing-partner ...
, hedge fund manager and 2020 presidential candidate
*
Sharon Stone
Sharon Vonne Stone (born March 10, 1958) is an American actress and film producer. Known for primarily playing femmes fatales and women of mystery on film and television, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1990s. She is the ...
, actress
*
Robin Williams
Robin McLaurin Williams (July 21, 1951August 11, 2014) was an American actor and comedian known for his improvisational skills and the wide variety of characters he created on the spur of the moment and portrayed on film, in dramas and comedie ...
, comic actor
See also
*
49–Mile Scenic Drive
References
{{authority control
Neighborhoods in San Francisco
Richmond District, San Francisco
Populated coastal places in California
Upper class culture in the United States