[ Previous Page ] [ Home ] [ Next Page ] [ Maps ] [ Phone Directory ]
Adolph Heinrich Joseph Sutro, the 24th mayor of San Francisco, once owned one-twelfth of the City including the north-western coast where the Cliff House and Sutro Baths ruins now stand. Sutro purchased the Cliff house in 1881 and converted it from a haven for gambling, drinking and prostitution to a posh playground for San Francisco's elite, former presidents and writers such as Mark Twain. Three Cliff House structures were built on this site and each met with similar unfortunate disaster. The cur rent Cliff House overlooks Ocean Beach and Seal Rocks and is a popular place to catch a sunset. Located behind the Cliff House is the Museé Méchanique, a penny arcade museum and Camera Obscura, a replica of the darkroom invented by Leonardo Da Vinci.
North of the Cliff House are the remains of the Sutro Baths, once the world's largest swimming pool. Seven
indoor fresh and saltwater swimming pools were housed under a giant glass canopy until the structure burned
in 1960.