Cliff House is a former restaurant perched on the Point Lobos headland of the San Francisco Peninsula just north of Ocean Beach, overlooking Seal Rocks offshore and the site of the former Sutro Baths onshore, about 6.5 miles (10.5 km) west of downtown and at the west end of the Richmond District of San Francisco, California. Point Lobos was named by early Spanish settlers after the lobos marinos—the sea lions that once hauled out on the offshore rocks. The geologic formations of the peninsula fall into two distinct groups: bedrock and surficial deposits, which differ greatly in age, lithology, and topographic expression. The older group—bedrock—comprises the sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic rocks of the Franciscan Complex, which date from the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. The younger group, consisting of unconsolidated surficial deposits from the Pleistocene and Holocene epochs, is predominantly made up of dune sand and water-laid sand, mud, and clay, but also includes extensive deposits of slope-wash alluvium, landslide debris, and artificial fill. The Franciscan Complex is a formation of various rock types—predominantly sedimentary but also volcanic and metamorphic—exposed along much of western California. It derives from the active border between oceanic and continental tectonic plates. Ranging in age from the Late Jurassic to the Late Cretaceous, the formation comprises rocks that have been repeatedly folded, shattered, and sheared after deposition. Thickness measurements at several locations suggest that the formation may exceed 50,000 feet (15,240 m). On the San Francisco Peninsula, however, the Franciscan Complex may be as much as 10,000 feet (3,048 m) thick. It consists of about 80 percent graywacke sandstone, 10 percent shale and siltstone, 6 percent mafic volcanic rocks, 3 percent radiolarian chert, and less than 1 percent conglomerate, limestone, and schist. These rocks have been intruded by ultramafic, mostly serpentine, bodies. Fossils found in the formation on the peninsula date to the Cretaceous period. The formation is exposed in the sea cliffs from Cliff House to Baker Beach, where it reaches a thickness of about 2,350 feet (716 m).

Discovered by Europeans in 1769, the San Francisco Bay area was home to two Native American tribes: the Ohlone on the San Francisco Peninsula and the Coast Miwok on the Marin and Tiburon Peninsulas. These peoples fashioned tools and ornaments from seashells, rocks, and plants and subsisted mainly on marine life, as shown by extensive middens—some dating back 3,500 years. The first European visit came when Sergeant José Francisco Ortega led a small party from the Portolá expedition’s base in San Pedro Valley near modern Pacifico about 11 miles to the south. Gaspar de Portolá’s expedition, which had begun in Baja California as Spain sought to colonize Alta California, had planned to settle at Monterey Bay but, failing to recognize it, pressed north. On November 1, 1769, Ortega’s party left Ocean Beach’s sand dunes, ascended Point Lobos, and saw Point Reyes in the distance—previously obscured by the Golden Gate—before turning east to view San Francisco Bay. Point Lobos was revisited in 1773 or 1774 by Commandante Fernando Rivera with Father Francisco Palou’s party. In August 1775, a small boat under Juan Manuel de Ayala became the first vessel to enter the Golden Gate. In 1776, Captain Juan Bautista de Anza brought colonists to the region. After resting in Monterey, his group camped at Mountain Lake on March 27 and erected a cross at Fort Point the following day to mark the site for a military post. At the time, Fort Point was set against high, unstable serpentine cliffs. The Presidio was established on September 17, 1776, about half a mile from Fort Point, while a mission was sited roughly 3 miles southeast near a small creek. Mexico gained independence in 1821 and acquired California as a province in 1822. After secularizing the mission in 1834, authorities approved a port, and by 1847 the settlement numbered about 400. The gold rush in 1848 swelled that figure to 20,000 by 1849. In 1960, San Francisco’s population reached 750,000; today it stands at roughly 900,000.

The Cliff House has had five major incarnations. The first was built in 1858 using salvaged timber from a ship that foundered on the cliffs below. Groundbreaking for a new hotel began in February 1863 as the bluff was graded for Point Lobos Road. The building, perched at the road’s western end and overlooking Seal Rocks, began construction by late March and was completed by early May. Subsequent structures were built or significantly altered in 1896, 1909, 1937, and 2003. Operated by a National Park Service concessionaire, the Cliff House closed in 2020 because of the pandemic and delays in securing a long-term operating contract. It featured two restaurants, a gift shop, and a historic camera obscura on a deck overlooking the ocean. Adjacent to the Cliff House are the former Sutro Baths, a privately owned saltwater pool complex built in 1896 and once the world’s largest indoor swimming pool. Constructed by Adolph Sutro—a wealthy entrepreneur and former mayor of San Francisco—the baths occupied a small beach inlet below the Cliff House. The Cliff House and Sutro Baths were served by two rail lines. The Ferries and Cliff House Railroad ran along the cliffs of Lands End from the baths to a terminal at California Street and Central Avenue (now Presidio Avenue). A second line, the Sutro Railroad, operated electric trolleys to Golden Gate Park and downtown San Francisco; both lines were later absorbed by the Market Street Railway. The Sutro Baths burned in June 1966 and now lie in ruins within the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and the Sutro Historic District. Read more here and here. Explore more of the Cliff House and Point Lobos here: