Cliff House Project
A Program of Western Neighborhoods Project

[ Chambers ] [ CC Butler Purchase ] [ Samuel Tetlow ] [ 1863 ] [ Mark Twain ] [ Wreck of the Ann Parry ] [ James Cook ] [ Wreck of the Elizabeth Owens ] [ Jack Lee ] [ Rosa Celeste ] [ 1868 ] [ Brignardello Wreck ] [ George Francis Train ] [ Ralph Waldo Emerson ] [ Josephine Wilcutt Wreck ] [ King Kalakaua ] [ General Sherman ] [ King Philip Wreck ] [ Grant ] [ Ben Butler ] [ Hayes ] [ Sutro Visits Lands End ] [ Sutro Purchase ] [ Ocean & Park RR ] [ Foster Leaves ] [ Adelina Patti ] [ Bridge Collapse ] [ OB Pavilion ] [ Sutro Heights Opens ] [ Baldwin Tightrope ] [ Boyton ] [ Atlantic Wreck ] [ Baldwin ] [ Parallel Wreck ] [ Aquarium ] [ Ferries and Cliff House RR ] [ Davison Bros ] [ Capt Jack Williams ] [ John Williams ] [ balloon ] [ Bullet hits Cliff House ] [ Harrison ] [ Boxers ] [ Millie Lavelle ] [ Sutro Baths Opening ] [ Andrew Carnegie ] [ Storm 1892 ] [ Leland Stanford ] [ Balloon Crash ] [ Sutro fights with Southern Pacific ] [ Burglary 1894 ] [ Sutro Elected Mayor ] [ Xmas fire ] [ 1895 ] [ Caroline Miskell ] [ 1896 ] [ Storm 1896 ] [ Sutro Railroad ] [ Vanderbilt ] [ Olcott ] [ Airship ] [ Mayor Phelan ] [ William Jennings Bryan ] [ High Dive ] [ Sutro Illness ] [ John Harris ] [ Sutro Death ] [ Post Office Branch ] [ Rockefeller ] [ Train wreck ] [ Dive Cancelled ] [ Wireless ] [ CSAA ] [ Storm 1900 ] [ Storm 1901 ] [ Shriners Visit 1901 ] [ McKinley ] [ Henri Turot ] [ Moonlight Run ] [ Reporter Wreck ] [ Shriners Visit 1902 ] [ Buffalo Bill ] [ Political Banners 1902 ] [ Pacific Cable ] [ Roosevelt ] [ Union Strike ] [ Coast to Coast ] [ Debt ] [ Storm 1904 ] [ Storm 1904 Sept ] [ Storm 1905 ] [ Knights of Columbus ] [ Reopens ] [ Cliff Line ] [ Radio ] [ Storm 1905 Dec ] [ Storm 1906 Jan ] [ Earthquake ] [ Minor Fire ] [ Storm 1906 ] [ Remodel ] [ Fire ] [ Atlantic Fleet ] [ 1908 ] [ 1909 ] [ Fannie Brice ] [ Taft ] [ Telegraph Tower ] [ Landslide 1916 ] [ War Takeover Threat ] [ Rudolph Valentino ] [ Sarah Bernhardt ] [ Closes 1918 ] [ Reopens 1920 ] [ Remodel 1922 ] [ DPW Roadwork ] [ Shriners 1922 ] [ Prohibition Bust 1923 ] [ Prohibition Bust, 1925 ] [ Landslide ] [ Faux Rock ] [ Coffee Shop Opens ] [ Closes 1925 ] [ Storm 1926 ] [ Ohioan Wreck ] [ Charles Sutro Death ] [ Whitney Purchase ] [ 1949 Remodel ] [ Sutro Baths Sold ] [ Skytram ] [ Sold 1964 ] [ Baths Fire ] [ Blue Cliff House ] [ 2003 Remodel ] [ Closed 2021 ]

First Cliff House
1863
 

Carleton Watkins
Image from the Blaisdell Collection

Lawrence and Houseworth, Cliff House and Seal Rocks
Scan courtesy of Dan Carson
(reverse)

 

Cliff House, first version
From ebay seller (11/2022):  This is a 40-50 year old Copy Film Negative from the original Cosmopolitan Art & Photographic Co. photograph.
Film Negative Measures 2 3/8" x 3"

The Bancroft Library

1866c Teams at the Cliff House stereo, Houseworth 410 (J. Paul Getty Museum).jpg

Watkins' Pacific Coast, #773
Photo by Carleton E. Watkins
Courtesy of Bob Schlesinger

stereoview (full)
eBay image

Watkins' Pacific Coast. #777
Photo by Carleton E. Watkins
Courtesy of Bob Schlesinger

Watkins' Pacific Coast, #781
Photo by Carleton E. Watkins
Courtesy of Bob Schlesinger

Cliff House and Seal Rocks, Harper's Weekly - Oct 26 1867
Image courtesy of Carlo Guglielmino

Happy New Year card, courtesy of Lin Holland (click here for reverse)
(according to one source, this illustration was originally published in "Picturesque America",
1872, by D. Appleton, artist: R. Swain Gilford)

Appleton's Journal of Popular, 1870

aluminum postcard (reverse)
(ebay image)

Photo of painting, courtesy of E. Lauterbach
(close-up of structure below)

Daily Alta California - 7 February 1863
(first mention of the "new hotel")

Daily Alta California, 4 May 1863
This article describes the Cliff House as "now being build"

Daily Alta California - June 15 1863
This story implies the Cliff House is open for business, but possibly a "soft" opening as it concludes with the line
"A week passed at his place, when the new house is finished, will be as beneficial and delightful as a voyage to the Sandwich Islands"

Daily Alta California, 28 June 1863
This article describes the Cliff House as "just opened by Foster"
 

Daily Alta California - 6 July 1863
Installation of new mirror

Daily Alta California - 1 November 1863

Santa Cruz Weekly Sentinel - Jun 25 1864

Based on the above stories the Cliff House opened for business
between May 4 and June 28, however later accounts differ...