A trademark dispute has been resolved so the Cliff House can still be called the Cliff House when it reopens under new ownership, though apparently that reopening is now delayed until near the end of 2026.
The last we’d heard of the beloved and historic Land’s End restaurant the Cliff House, which closed in late 2020 and its iconic lettered “Cliff House” signage came down when the restaurant owners could not renew their lease with the property owners at the National Park Service, the new owner said a new restaurant there would not open until late 2025. Welp, here it is now late 2025, and still no new restaurant, which we were originally told would open in late 2022.
And there is also the matter of the name “Cliff House.” While restaurants there have had that name since at least 1910, and possibly earlier, longtime owners Dan and Mary Hountalas had trademarked the name “Cliff House,” and did not seem amenable to just handing it over for free.
Today there is some very good news, plus some slightly discouraging news, on the Cliff House front. The Chronicle reports that the new restaurants being developed there will still be called the Cliff House, thanks to some creative work by the Hountalas family and a neighborhood historic preservation group. But the opening of any new restaurants there will be delayed by yet another year, as the five years of vacancy along the crashing waves of the oceanside have not been kind to the building.
But first, the name Cliff House is remaining intact. That’s thanks to a just-announced deal where the Hountalas family is donating the trademark — and those white lettered signs — to a neighborhood historic preservation group called the Western Neighborhoods Project. (That group also scooped up a reported $180,000 worth of historic Cliff House memorabilia that was up for auction in early 2021.) Per the Chronicle, the Hountalas donation "includes all trademarks, domains and social media accounts connected to the business, original recipes, and the famous Cliff House sign."
Another report today on SFGate adds that the Western Neighborhoods Project and the new restaurant owner Alexander Leff "plan to discuss a broader licensing and partnership agreement in the coming weeks."
“We wanted to make sure somebody who cares about the history of San Francisco, the history of Lands End and the story of that marvelous building would be the ones that would take charge,” Mary Hountalas said in an interview with the Chronicle. “We felt very strongly that it needed to be protected, and these people could do it.”
The Western Neighborhoods Project is understandably thrilled.
"We’re very excited because this will stop a longtime cycle of private concessioners taking ownership of this space and doing whatever they want with it,” the group’s executive director Nicole Meldahl told SFGate. “The Hountalas family deciding to give this to a nonprofit with no business affiliation and not a property owner is truly incredible, and signals a foresight for the longevity of the Cliff House’s history.”
When she says "longtime cycle of private concessioners," she means the many restaurant owners who've come and gone over the last 160-plus years, many of whom sold off their old memorabilia.
Though now to the letdown news: The Cliff House will not reopen until late 2026. The restoration costs to the long-vacant building in a very precarious weather location have doubled from a reported $10 million to $20 million. There is facade damage and elevator damage to deal with, windows and doors have been damaged, and the waterproofing has fallen into neglect. (Plus a car hit the place once, remember?) The initial construction on these repairs is expected to start in December.
Once open, the reborn Cliff House is expected to have four restaurants operated by Hi Neighbor Hospitality Group (The Vault, Trestle, The Madrigal). One of these is expected to be a high-end seafood restaurant, another a family-style burger joint, plus a coffee-and-pastry place, and a fourth restaurant which has still not been determined.
SFGate adds the coffee shop could be open a little earlier than the others, perhaps by summer 2026. But more importantly for nostalgic beachcombers, SFGate adds that the white lettered Cliff House signage may be back up “relatively soon.”
Image: Hatim A via Yelp
