San Francisco Cliff House 1902

by Unknown

Title

San Francisco Cliff House 1902

Artist

Unknown

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Photograph - Digital Reproduction

Description

San Francisco Cliff House 1902

The Original Cliff House (1863-1894)
After the Gold Rush, San Francisco's population exploded and the city's downtown area got very crowded with new buildings and neighborhoods. Real estate developers, eager to make more money, saw Lands End and its unparalleled beauty as a new place to develop. They constructed the Cliff House in 1863 as a fashionable resort for the wealthy. The modest one-story wood-frame structure was skillfully situated on top of the cliff overlooking Seal Rocks, providing breathtaking panoramic views of the Pacific Coast line.

During the mid-19th century, trekking out to Lands End was expensive and took several hours by horseback. To help people travel to this faraway place, a private company constructed a brand new road called Point Lobos Avenue. Eventually, a horse-drawn stagecoach made the trip every Sunday from downtown San Francisco out to Lands End. Because only wealthy citizens could afford to travel all the way out to the remote resort, the Cliff House was considered a very exclusive place. For many years, the guest register bore the names of three U.S. presidents as well as prominent San Fran¬cisco families such as the Hearsts, the Stanfords and the Crockers. However, by the late1870s the Cliff House had declined in popularity. In an effort to attract new customers, the managers offered gambling and alcohol and as a result, the resort became shabby and unrespectable.

In 1881, Adolph Sutro, the self-made millionaire, philanthropist, and later mayor of San Francisco, bought the Cliff House from the original owners. He had plans to re-establish the restaurant as a wholesome, family-friendly venue and for next few years, he remodeled rooms, hired new management and lured families back to the restaurant. Sutro also began construction on a railroad that would transport more people to this seaside attraction. Unfortunately, a very tragic event happened on Christmas Day, 1894 when fire destroyed the original wood-frame Cliff House.

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January 4th, 2013

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