Ocean Beach, running along the west coast of San Francisco, is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and administered by the National Park Service. Noteworthy for its strong current and waves, Ocean Beach is popular with surfers and parasailers. During the late spring and summer, the beach is frequently covered with San Francisco's characteristic fog, limiting temperatures to 50 - 55 °F. Typical beach weather is more likely in the late fall or early spring.
Tags: beach ocean sign ocean beach SF San Francisco sfist San Francisco-Bay Area Bay Area California Golden Gate National Recreation Area GGNRA NPS National Park Service Sutro District
Ocean Beach, running along the west coast of San Francisco, is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and administered by the National Park Service. Noteworthy for its strong current and waves, Ocean Beach is popular with surfers and parasailers. During the late spring and summer, the beach is frequently covered with San Francisco's characteristic fog, limiting temperatures to 50 - 55 °F. Typical beach weather is more likely in the late fall or early spring.
Seal Rocks is a rock formation island found offshore at the north end of the Ocean Beach. Its name is derived from the population of Steller's sea lions (Eumetopias jubatus) and California sea lions (Zalophus californianus) who used to haul out on the rock. This formation, once part of a coastline that extended between eight and twenty miles westward of its current position, but filled in following the last ice age, were formed over the years by waves, wind, and the movement of sand.
The Cliff House is a restaurant perched on the headlands on the cliffs just north of Ocean Beach at 1090 Point Lobos Avenue. Its current and fifth incarnation features two restaurants, the casual dining Bistro Restaurant and the more formal Sutro's; and its Terrace Room serves a Sunday Brunch buffet. Now part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, operated by the National Park Service, the Cliff House features a gift shop and the Camera Obscura on a deck overlooking the ocean. During its most recent renovation, the Musée Mécanique was moved to Fisherman's Wharf.
The first Cliff House was built in 1858 by Samuel Brannan, a prosperous ex-Mormon elder from Maine, using lumber salvaged from a shop that foundered on the basalt cliffs below. The second Cliff house, built for Captain Junius G. Foster, catered mostly to horseback riders and day trippers until the opening of the Point Lobos toll road and eventually Golden Gate Park opened it up. In 1883, the Cliff House was bought by Adolph Sutro, who rebuilt it after it was first damaged by an explosion from an abandoned schooner loaded with dynamite in 1883 and then completely destroyed by a chimney fire in 1894. The replacement, a seven-story Victorian Cheateau opened the same year as his Sutro Baths, pulling in throngs of visitors.
The Cliff House survived the 1906 earthquake with little damage but burned to the ground in 1907. Dr. Emma Merritt, Sutro's daughter, commissioned a new neo-classical style building which was completed by 1909. In 1937, George and Leo Whitney purchased the Cliff House, complementing their Playland-at-the-Beach, and extensively remodeled it into an American roadhouse. When the NPS acquired the building in 1977, many of Whitney's additions were removed and it was restored to its 1909 appearance. In 2003, an extensive further renovation added a new two-story wing overlooking the Sutro Bath ruins.
Tags: Seal rocks cliff house ocean beach beach coast restaurant SF San Francisco sfist San Francisco-Bay Area Bay Area California Golden Gate National Recreation Area GGNRA NPS National Park Service Sutro District
Seal Rocks is a rock formation island found offshore at the north end of the Ocean Beach. Its name is derived from the population of Steller's sea lions (Eumetopias jubatus) and California sea lions (Zalophus californianus) who used to haul out on the rock. This formation, once part of a coastline that extended between eight and twenty miles westward of its current position, but filled in following the last ice age, were formed over the years by waves, wind, and the movement of sand.
Ocean Beach, running along the west coast of San Francisco, is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and administered by the National Park Service. Noteworthy for its strong current and waves, Ocean Beach is popular with surfers and parasailers. During the late spring and summer, the beach is frequently covered with San Francisco's characteristic fog, limiting temperatures to 50 - 55 °F. Typical beach weather is more likely in the late fall or early spring.
Tags: seal rocks pacific ocean ocean coast ocean beach rocks SF San Francisco sfist San Francisco-Bay Area Bay Area California Sutro District
Seal Rocks is a rock formation island found offshore at the north end of the Ocean Beach. Its name is derived from the population of Steller's sea lions (Eumetopias jubatus) and California sea lions (Zalophus californianus) who used to haul out on the rock. This formation, once part of a coastline that extended between eight and twenty miles westward of its current position, but filled in following the last ice age, were formed over the years by waves, wind, and the movement of sand.
The Cliff House is a restaurant perched on the headlands on the cliffs just north of Ocean Beach at 1090 Point Lobos Avenue. Its current and fifth incarnation features two restaurants, the casual dining Bistro Restaurant and the more formal Sutro's; and its Terrace Room serves a Sunday Brunch buffet. Now part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, operated by the National Park Service, the Cliff House features a gift shop and the Camera Obscura on a deck overlooking the ocean. During its most recent renovation, the Musée Mécanique was moved to Fisherman's Wharf.
The first Cliff House was built in 1858 by Samuel Brannan, a prosperous ex-Mormon elder from Maine, using lumber salvaged from a shop that foundered on the basalt cliffs below. The second Cliff house, built for Captain Junius G. Foster, catered mostly to horseback riders and day trippers until the opening of the Point Lobos toll road and eventually Golden Gate Park opened it up. In 1883, the Cliff House was bought by Adolph Sutro, who rebuilt it after it was first damaged by an explosion from an abandoned schooner loaded with dynamite in 1883 and then completely destroyed by a chimney fire in 1894. The replacement, a seven-story Victorian Cheateau opened the same year as his Sutro Baths, pulling in throngs of visitors.
The Cliff House survived the 1906 earthquake with little damage but burned to the ground in 1907. Dr. Emma Merritt, Sutro's daughter, commissioned a new neo-classical style building which was completed by 1909. In 1937, George and Leo Whitney purchased the Cliff House, complementing their Playland-at-the-Beach, and extensively remodeled it into an American roadhouse. When the NPS acquired the building in 1977, many of Whitney's additions were removed and it was restored to its 1909 appearance. In 2003, an extensive further renovation added a new two-story wing overlooking the Sutro Bath ruins.
Tags: Seal rocks cliff house ocean beach beach coast restaurant SF San Francisco sfist San Francisco-Bay Area Bay Area California Golden Gate National Recreation Area GGNRA NPS National Park Service Sutro District
Ocean Beach, running along the west coast of San Francisco, is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and administered by the National Park Service. Noteworthy for its strong current and waves, Ocean Beach is popular with surfers and parasailers. During the late spring and summer, the beach is frequently covered with San Francisco's characteristic fog, limiting temperatures to 50 - 55 °F. Typical beach weather is more likely in the late fall or early spring.
Tags: beach ocean beach coast SF San Francisco sfist San Francisco-Bay Area Bay Area California Golden Gate National Recreation Area GGNRA NPS National Park Service Sutro District