SAN FRANCISCO, CA – DECEMBER 31: The Cliff House’s exterior sign is removed from the restaurant located along Point Lobos Ave in San Francisco, Calif., on Thursday, Dec. 31, 2020. The family run restaurant is closing after decades of service. (Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group)
SAN FRANCISCO — The celebrated Cliff House exterior sign came down at noon Thursday, ending its time and drawing decades of family-run restaurant service to a close.
A crowd of several dozen people came out to watch the letters brought down by hand, and booed when the last letter was removed and loaded into a pickup truck taking it off to storage after about thirty minutes.
As a boombox played Tony Bennett’s own iconic standard “I Left My Heart in San Francisco,” one woman held a sign that read “Love you, Cliff House” as two others sang beside her, dressed warmly against the bright midday chill.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - DECEMBER 31: The Cliff House's exterior sign is removed from the restaurant located along Point Lobos Ave in San Francisco, Calif., on Thursday, Dec. 31, 2020. The family run restaurant is closing after decades of service. (Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group)
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - DECEMBER 31: Cliff House Executive Chef Kevin Weber speaks to a group, as the exterior sign is removed from the restaurant located along Point Lobos Ave in San Francisco, Calif., on Thursday, Dec. 31, 2020. The family run restaurant is closing after decades of service. (Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group)
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - DECEMBER 31: The "H" from Cliff House's exterior sign is lowered to the ground as the sign is removed from the restaurant located along Point Lobos Ave in San Francisco, Calif., on Thursday, Dec. 31, 2020. The family run restaurant is closing after decades of service. (Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group)
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - DECEMBER 31:
Joseph Amster dressed as Emperor Norton looks on as the Cliff House's exterior sign is removed from the restaurant located along Point Lobos Ave in San Francisco, Calif., on Thursday, Dec. 31, 2020. The family run restaurant is closing after decades of service. (Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group)
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - DECEMBER 31: The "H" from Cliff House's exterior sign is removed from the restaurant located along Point Lobos Ave in San Francisco, Calif., on Thursday, Dec. 31, 2020. The family run restaurant is closing after decades of service. (Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group)
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - DECEMBER 31:
Joseph Amster dressed as Emperor Norton looks on as the Cliff House's exterior sign is removed from the restaurant located along Point Lobos Ave in San Francisco, Calif., on Thursday, Dec. 31, 2020. The family run restaurant is closing after decades of service. (Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group)
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - DECEMBER 31: The "E" from Cliff House's exterior sign is carried out to an awaiting truck as the sign is removed from the restaurant located along Point Lobos Ave in San Francisco, Calif., on Thursday, Dec. 31, 2020. The family run restaurant is closing after decades of service. (Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group)
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - DECEMBER 31: People watch as the Cliff House's exterior sign is removed from the restaurant located along Point Lobos Ave in San Francisco, Calif., on Thursday, Dec. 31, 2020. The family run restaurant is closing after decades of service. (Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group)
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - DECEMBER 31: House of Flowers florist Roxane Rockwell, left, and Cliff House Executive Chef Kevin Weber chat under the empty framework where the restaurant's exterior sign used to hang along Point Lobos Ave in San Francisco, Calif., on Thursday, Dec. 31, 2020. The family run restaurant is closing after decades of service. Rockwell has been the house florist at the restaurant for over two decades. (Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group)
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - DECEMBER 31: The "C" and "H" from the Cliff House's exterior sign is packed into a truck as the sign was removed from the restaurant located along Point Lobos Ave in San Francisco, Calif., on Thursday, Dec. 31, 2020. The family run restaurant is closing after decades of service. (Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group)
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - DECEMBER 31: The Cliff House's exterior sign was removed from atop the restaurant located along Point Lobos Ave in San Francisco, Calif., on Thursday, Dec. 31, 2020. The family run restaurant is closing after decades of service. (Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group)
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - DECEMBER 31: The Cliff House's exterior sign is packed into a truck as the sign was removed from the restaurant located along Point Lobos Ave in San Francisco, Calif., on Thursday, Dec. 31, 2020. The family run restaurant is closing after decades of service. (Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group)
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - DECEMBER 31: The Cliff House's exterior sign was removed from atop the restaurant located along Point Lobos Ave in San Francisco, Calif., on Thursday, Dec. 31, 2020. The family run restaurant is closing after decades of service. (Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group)
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - DECEMBER 31: The Cliff House's exterior sign was removed from atop the restaurant located along Point Lobos Ave in San Francisco, Calif., on Thursday, Dec. 31, 2020. The family run restaurant is closing after decades of service. (Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group)
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In a social-media post Wednesday night, Dan and Mary Hountalas, who have managed the restaurant since 1973, said “days of negotiations” between their Peanut Wagon Inc. company and National Park Service representatives that “appeared to lead to a workable solution for all parties involved” came to an end earlier Wednesday.
“At 11:00 a.m. this morning, December 30, 2020 we were informed by the NPS, in a last-minute change of mind, that they were going back to their original offer, which is financially unfeasible to both Peanut Wagon, Inc. and our potential partner,” the post read in part.
“The Cliff House will no longer be a restaurant and no longer available for the public to enjoy as it has for the past 157 years. We invite all interested parties to join us tomorrow to witness the heartbreaking end of the iconic Cliff House, which began in 1863.”
It was recently announced that the Cliff House restaurant would close following expiration of restaurant operator Peanut Wagon, Inc.’s contract with NPS on 12/31/20. Over the past weeks, NPS has considered all possible options to allow Peanut Wagon, Inc. to continue to operate. pic.twitter.com/BPDX6PUCDx
— Golden Gate National Recreation Area – Alerts (@GGNRANPSAlerts) December 31, 2020
In a statement Wednesday evening, a National Park Service representative said the park service had negotiated in good faith and considered its operations to allow Peanut Wagon Inc. to operate the restaurant, including what it called “a new three-and-a-half-year term to avoid an interruption of services to the public.”
“The NPS is committed to maintaining this iconic building,” the statement said in part.
“The NPS has a great appreciation for the Hountalas family and all they and the Cliff House restaurant have meant to San Francisco and San Franciscans over the course of many decades. We will work with Peanut Wagon, Inc. to allow them the time necessary to safeguard and remove their property. We remain committed to providing an exceptional experience for residents and visitors to the Bay Area and look forward to welcoming the public back in the future.”
Reports of the iconic restaurant’s impasse over lease negotiations and closures linked to the COVID-19 pandemic earlier this month led the Hountalas family to say up to 180 workers would be left jobless.
In a social-media post, incoming San Francisco district supervisor Connie Chan shared a picture of her family visiting the restaurant in January 2020.
“Today, I want to thank the Hountalas family for their dedication in caring for the Cliff House which allowed my family and I to enjoy almost three decades of great memories,” Chan said in part, adding that she was committed to working with federal elected leaders, the park service and local communities to keep the site “accessible to all San Franciscans.”
