The Cliff House, the San Francisco dining institution that has been open in some form for more than 150 years, will close permanently at the end of the month. The restaurant’s current proprietors have said that the pandemic didn’t help matters, but the move was, ultimately, the result of a long-running dispute with the National Park Service, which owns the building overlooking the sea.

Dan and Mary Hountalas have run the restaurant since 1973, and spent years restoring it, according to a history the restaurant sent out, along with a statement about the closure.

The couple “decorated with hand-painted valances, silver-leaf and hand-pressed copper ceilings, Bradbury and Bradbury wall coverings, antique furnishings and historic photographs to create an elegant, comfortable setting that transports visitors to a bygone era,” according to the document.

Now, the statement said, much of the memorabilia collected over the years will be auctioned off, “lost forever.”

My colleague Jim Wilson visited the Cliff House on Monday and captured these images.
The New York Times