The Trocadero is a historic building located in
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 ...
. Formally it was a lively
roadhouse at the turn of the 20th century it had offered gambling at roulette tables and dancing, as well as the best trout pond in California.
The building is listed as a
San Francisco Designated Landmark
This is a list of San Francisco Designated Landmarks. In 1967, the city of San Francisco, California, adopted Article 10 of the Planning Code, providing the city with the authority to designate and protect landmarks from inappropriate alteration ...
, since April 15, 2022.
History
It was opened in 1892, in a wooden building that had been brought around
the Horn and was by reputation the first house built in San Francisco west of
Twin Peaks
''Twin Peaks'' is an American Surrealist cinema, surrealist Mystery film, mystery-Horror film, horror Drama (film and television), drama television series created by Mark Frost and David Lynch. It Pilot (Twin Peaks), premiered on American Broad ...
, on the "rancho" of George Greene and the Greene family.
The first seeds of Australian
eucalyptus
''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of more than 700 species of flowering plants in the family Myrtaceae. Most species of ''Eucalyptus'' are trees, often Mallee (habit), mallees, and a few are shrubs. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalyp ...
had been sown here, about 1871.
Appropriately, it was at the Trocadero that
Abe Ruef
Abraham Ruef (September 2, 1864 – February 29, 1936) was an American lawyer and politician. He gained notoriety as the corrupt political boss behind the administration of Mayor Eugene Schmitz of San Francisco during the period before and after ...
was found hiding, after his indictment in the notorious municipal graft trials of 1907.
In the 1930s,
Bernard Maybeck
Bernard Ralph Maybeck (February 7, 1862 – October 3, 1957) was an American architect. He worked primarily in the San Francisco Bay Area, designing public buildings, including the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco, and also private houses, ...
recast the Trocadero Inn into a children's playground and renamed it the
Sigmund Stern Recreation Grove.
On March 11, 2023, a large
eucalyptus tree
''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of more than 700 species of flowering plants in the family Myrtaceae. Most species of ''Eucalyptus'' are trees, often Mallee (habit), mallees, and a few are shrubs. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalyp ...
fell on the Trocadero, causing severe damage and flooding. The building reopened in 2025.
Other uses
In San Francisco, "Trocadero" continued to have a connotation of stylish nighttime fun. In its heyday, the late 1970s and early 1980s, the
Trocadero Transfer
The Trocadero Transfer, or The Troc, was an after hours nightclub, dance club in operation from December 1977 to the late–1990s in San Francisco, California, U.S.. It was located at 520 4th Street at Bryant in the SoMa neighborhood. The club has ...
was regarded as the best hard-core—and largely
gay
''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'.
While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...
—
disco
Disco is a music genre, genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightclub, nightlife, particularly in African Americans, African-American, Italian-Americans, Italian-American, LGBTQ ...
on the
West Coast. It was among the half-dozen musical style-setters in the country.
Today, the Trocadero is used as the setting for the haunted house at the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department's Scaregrove Halloween Festival,
and the seasonal Stern Grove Music Festival.
See also
*
Trocadero (disambiguation), consequently, Trocadero is the name of several restaurants and clubs throughout the world
References
External links
SFmuseum.org: Trocadero and the Stern Grove Remembertheparty.com: Trocadero Transfer
{{Authority control
Restaurants in San Francisco
Sunset District, San Francisco
Drinking establishments in the San Francisco Bay Area
Restaurants established in 1892
1892 establishments in California
1930s disestablishments in California
Defunct restaurants in San Francisco
San Francisco Designated Landmarks