Well done piece.
We tracked down the status of some of San Francisco's abandoned, beloved institutions
By Andrew Chamings, Editor-at-Large Jan 11, 2026 - SFGATE
Perched on a cliff, overlooking one of the best views in the world, sits an abandoned, broken-down diner. For years, local families and tourists alike grabbed burgers and drank milkshakes at Louis’ Restaurant at Lands End while watching the waves crash over Seal Rock. A short walk down the hill sits another carcass of a once-iconic building, the Cliff House. The resilient San Francisco institution has survived an exploding dynamite-laden ship and a devastating fire. Today, it’s empty, its doors chained and padlocked as they have been since the pandemic. Perhaps both Louis’ and the Cliff House are destined to end up like another San Francisco institution in ruins below them, the Sutro Baths — once a bustling pleasure pool, now a murky puddle of graffiti and rubble, visited only by rats and seagulls.
Through bureaucracy, sky-high rents or just neglect, these and many more famous buildings in our city are sitting empty. All cities have empty historic sites, but as San Francisco seems to be finally pulling out of the pandemic doldrums, shouldn’t our best buildings be open for business? We decided to figure out why these and many other spots across the city, like Julius’ Castle on Telegraph Hill, or the Alexandria Theater in the Richmond, are ghosts today. For each of the following spots, we asked the owners and district supervisors when, if ever, they might open their doors to San Franciscans again.
Why San Francisco's most iconic buildings are sitting empty
Greg