San Francisco’s historic Cliff House dispute bubbles over again

“The Cliff House will no longer be a restaurant and no longer available for the public to enjoy as it has for the past 157 years,” they wrote. “We invite all interested parties to join us tomorrow to witness the heartbreaking end of the iconic Cliff House, which began in 1863.”

The park service unit, on its website and Twitter account, said it “has considered all possible options to allow Peanut Wagon, Inc. to continue to operate” past the expiration of its lease on Thursday.

“As a result, today (Dec. 30) the NPS offered a 3 1/2 year term to avoid an interruption of services to the public. Unfortunately, the restaurant operators did not accept this offer,” the park service unit said. “This decision, however, does not mean the Cliff House building will permanently close. The NPS is committed to maintaining this iconic building.”

The park service statement described the closure as a “temporary suspension of services” and said it intends “to welcome the public back in the future.”

The park service statement expressed appreciation for the long tenure of Dan and Mary Hountalas and said they would be “allowed the time necessary to safeguard and remove their property.”

The Cliff House ended in-house dining in March, due to the pandemic. After 10 weeks of offering only takeout service, the restaurant shut down to diners as the pandemic gained momentum. The operators said they attempted to try takeout-only service in early June, but after 10 weeks of that, closed down completely in mid-July, saying the restaurant was losing too much money as a takeout-only operation.

The last long-term contract between the Cliff House and the National Park Service expired in June 2018, and the restaurant had been operating since then under a series of short-term contracts, the current one set to expire on Dec. 31.

The owners said earlier in December that COVID-19 had exacerbated the situation, but maintained the problems go back to the 2018 expiration of the last 20-year contract.

“The National Park Service should have selected an operator on a long-term basis to ensure the continued operation of this national treasure,” the Hountalases said at the time.