1868
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This version of the Cliff House shows the original 1863 structure surrounded by additional wings on both sides. |
Daily Alta California - 26 April 1868
Advertisement, Sacramento Daily Union - Sept 19, 1868
Taber Photo
Note cables between shore and outcrops. Click
here for close-up.
Courtesy of Dennis O'Rorke
Collection
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Cliff House ca1890,
A.J. McDonald
Courtesy of the John Martini Collection
"A J McDonald" "CLIFF HOUSE & SEAL ROCK, S.F." "No. 5
Market St."
Courtesy of Dennis O'Rorke
Collection
Courtesy of Frank Mitchell
Courtesy of Glenn D Koch Collection
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After considerable analysis the above photo is believed to date between 1887 (when the canal was built) and Dec 1894 (when the structure was destroyed by fire). The bridge to Flag Rock is already destroyed. This image points out structural comparisons. |
Courtesy of Frank Mitchell
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A unique camera angle, as viewed from Flag Rock
Note the small structure where the road leaves the beach. This is the only
photo I've seen that shows it.
Image courtesy of Dennis O'Rorke
Courtesy of Bob Schlesinger
Photo by Carleton E. Watkins
Courtesy of Bob Schlesinger
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"I came across an 1870s SF newspaper article that
explained that "LS" on the front of the Cliff House was a sort of
pun. The letters stood for two Latin words (that I now can't
remember) that also appeared on the corner of legal documents of the
era that translated to "place for the seal" -- referring to the
embossed legal seal. The pun, of course, was that the Cliff
House was also the 'place for the seal.'" Zoe Heimdal: “LS” actually stands for “locus sigilli”, Latin words meaning. “the place for the seal”. A google search uncovers the following passage from Bret Harte's book "Under the Redwoods" (published 1901), in a story titled "Bohemian Days in San Francisco" (pg 153)... My Bohemian wanderings were confined to the limits of the city, for the very good reason that there was little elsewhere to go. San Francisco was then bounded on one side by the monotonously restless waters of the bay, and on the other by a stretch of equally restless and monotonously shifting sand dunes as far as the Pacific shore. Two roads penetrated this waste: one to Lone Mountain--the cemetery; the other to the Cliff House--happily described as "an eight-mile drive with a cocktail at the end of it." Nor was the humor entirely confined to this felicitous description. The Cliff House itself, half restaurant, half drinking saloon, fronting the ocean and the Seal Rock, where disporting seals were the chief object of interest, had its own peculiar symbol. The decanters, wine-glasses, and tumblers at the bar were all engraved in old English script with the legal initials "L. S." (Locus Sigilli),-- "the place of the seal."
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If you zoom in on the left structure, you will see
what looks like the letters "LS". John Martini contributes the
following... (11/12/2010)
to anyone who can identify the
structure on the beach, foreground left side.
Courtesy of Frank Mitchell
Courtesy of Frank Mitchell
Harper's New Monthly Magazine,
1872
"CALIFORNIA - How to go There and What to See By The Way, by Charles
Nordhoff"
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This engraving was taken from a page of an old history book, Pecularities of American Cities by Captain Willard Glazier, 1886. Engravings were common in books during the 19th century, before photos became more economical. The image was scratched into wood or metal and then used to make the print on the paper. Update: this same engraving also appears in a book titled "The Golden State" by McClellan, published 1872 |
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THE CLIFF HOUSE AND SUTRO PARK, SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA
Drawn by Charles Graham
Harper's Weekly,
April 30 1887
Stoddard, 9-15-1893
This 1893 letterhead shows the
existence of JM Wilkin's shell shop. The later 1896 Cliff House also
had a shell shop.
Courtesy of B. Richardson
An 1890c
signed original California Watercolor by H. Arding (Born In California
1870),
Shows a blue sky and families enjoying the day at the Cliff House
Courtesy of
Kristine Vessey
Email for sales information:
kristinevessey@aol.com