Cliff House Restaurant Contents Up For Auction In SF

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — The vintage contents of San Francisco's iconic Cliff House, a 157-year-old, landmark restaurant that permanently closed New Year's Eve 2020, are scheduled to be sold at an online auction, Thursday through Saturday, March 11-13.

Available to nostalgia collectors — or locals, whose hearts shattered with the shutdown news — are such one-of-a-kind memorabilia as historic furnishings, dishes, silverware and stemware, plus exotic finds from Playland at the Beach amusement park, the 1890 Paris World's Fair and the Sutro Baths.

Cliff House owners blamed the restaurant's closure on both the pandemic and contract delays with the National Park Service. Former proprietors Dan and Mary Hountalas, operators since 1973, and the NPS, owners of the land and building, were in a contract-renewal dispute since 2018. The Hountalases said in December that COVID-19 exacerbated the problems, and the eatery shuttered for good Dec. 31., 2020.

Fast-forward to 2021, and the auction of Cliff House's legendary collectibles soon will be underway.

Situated cliff-high above Ocean Beach, the restaurant stood since the Civil War as a testament from bygone eras to modern-day, with patrons frequenting the establishment for its history, views, fine dining and as a go-to, family-celebration destination.

From those wayback days and up for auction are:

• Sutro Baths original swim suits, bathhouse lockers and vintage posters;
• One-of-a-kind Playland pieces, including a 10-foot cowboy statue and carved wood carousel horse;
• Nautical items;
• Vintage menus, postcards and autographed movie star photos;
• Thousands of assorted beer, champagne, wine and martini glasses;
• Hundreds of decorative chairs and tables;
• Vintage and custom lighting fixtures;
• Alcohol and wine (to licensed resellers only);
• Silver flatware, dinnerware and serving utensils.

Bidding for restaurant and kitchen equipment, plus memorablilia, begins online Thursday and Friday, March 11-12, with Rabin Worldwide at this link.

A separate sale of vintage, celebrity-autographed photos will be Saturday, March 13 with Turner Auctions + Appraisals at this site. Among the celeb-headshot signers are Cary Grant, Shirley Temple, Judy Garland, Humphrey Bogart, Ginger Rogers, Jack Haley, Hedy Lamarr, George Raft and Jackie Cooper.

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