Built to serve the waterfront workers and new settlers in 1861, on what was then the waterfront to the south of Islais Creek, when the total population of San Francisco was around 60,000 and prior to the adjacent Islais Creek estuary having been filled with debris from the Great Quake and fire in 1906, The Old Clam House at 299 Bayshore Boulevard is the City’s oldest, continuously operating, restaurant.
That being said, The Old Clam House hasn’t been recognized by the City as an official landmark or Historical Resource.
And with that in mind, The Old Clam House, which remains temporarily shuttered by the pandemic, is now on the market with an offering price of $2.75 million, a price which includes the business, liquor license and building.
And yes, the 3,792-square-foot corner parcel is zoned for development up to 65 feet in height.
That is a lot of shells……
I have been a number of times. Quite good. Also quite a bit expensive. A fun nod to San Francisco past and present.
Is the billboard above the building gone, or has it been airbrushed out of the photo? That corner of Bayshore would be dire for residential. Hope it sticks around as a good food/drink option for east bernalites.
I haven’t been down there since early 2020 but in Street View imagery dated Dec. 2020 and aerial imagery dated 2021 the billboard is absent.
I love this place so much. It used to be my go-to place for breakfast on the weekend until they eliminated the breakfast menu. I have spent many hours sitting at that bar with some fish n chips, etc. Hoping if a another group takes it over they can keep all of the good things about it and improve upon the things that need attention.
Wow, this really ought to be preserved. I’m usually super skeptical of a lot of the historic designations (“historically significant” car wash station from 1970), but this building seems worth saving.
I agree, and I think it probably actually does need saving as well. The floors and walls in there are pitched all over the place. In one sense it’s kind of fun to feel like one is at sea when inside a seafood restaurant! But structural integrity questions leap right out ….
“the 3,792-square-foot corner parcel is zoned for development up to 65 feet in height”
Should be more…100..200…1850′; but still we’ll take what we can get: ‘doze this wreck and put up some luxury housing (w/ one or two BMR units).There are plenty of old run-down restaurants with crooked floors left in the Bay Area … 🙂
Had you going there for a minute tho, didn’t I ??
Yeah, you did! I really hope this is bought by careful owners. The restaurant that has operated there for the last ? years was a good spin on a traditional menu. Maybe the folks at Woodhouse Fish Co. might consider this? It’s a great treasure, all in all.
Well they’re clearly waiting for some sort of shoe to drop on Bayshore, what with parcel after parcel left adrift despite great traffic for more retail. But sitting below all that diesel belching truck traffic is just plain unhealthy and sooty.
“[…] despite great traffic for more retail.”
Curious that a light industrial/ warehouse district in a city with such dwindling light industrial/ warehouse property that the remaining such properties ask office-level rent needs even more retail upscaling in a city that already has a historic glut of vacant retail.
Could the next crisis for the developer mob in SF be that they’re running out of down-zoned properties to upscale? Jesus wept.
You seem to have forgotten Jesus was a carpenter – Nazareth Local (somthing-or-other) – he might just be very sympathetic to developer concerns.
My (perhaps imperfect) understanding is that He hath toiled mainly on bespoke kitchen and bath remodelings in the private dwellings in that land, and was loathe to venture forth unto the upzoned leviathan heresies that cursed the soil whereupon they sprung.
Don’t think there was much wood in either of those back then. I heard he did mostly porches and fences…with an occasional shop front. In fact was waiting on a code compliance inspection , it got delayed over the weekend and….well, I’m sure you can guess the rest.
I heard He knew a guy in planning…
Only $2.75 million ? A reader here should just buy it. 🙂
What about Tadich Grill? Est. 1849
While Tadich is the oldest “continuously run restaurant in California,” the space it now occupies on California Street, into which it moved in 1967, was built in 1909.
In addition the restaurant didn’t become the “Tadich Grill” until 1887, when John Tadich purchased and renamed the restaurant (which started as a coffee stand on Clay Street).
I believe the semantics over “continuously operated” will ultimately determine bragging rights in this contest; specifically: How long a gap (in operations) is permitted? Presumably anything in the (1906) Fire Zone will have to forfeit for want of having been destroyed – do street kitchens count? Well, there’s the “how long?” issue again…
Continuously operated in the same location. Oy vey.
Run the BRT south van ness and loop the line over Cesar Chavez to bayshore and cargo way. the Portrero hospital and portrero Hill redevelopment coupled with new manufacturing and other buildings going up and proposed nearby show that with a decent transit spur it could link out to BVHP or San bruno ave and Schlage and link some of the people and districts more with a transit upgrade.. Maybe a few more sites along bayshore flip or change with new density would be a good change in the area for some improved streetscape (not just the bike lanes) but landscaped sidewalk areas and storefronts or retail options that feed into Bernal and San bruno ave..
Look at you talking all of this sense. But MTA would have to be strategic. And the City would have to care about minorities. If only all your sense-making could lead toward pragmatic action. Maybe the MTA could spend ten years to study it and then put in the wrong sized tracks. Oh wait, that already happened.
Very cool place. Eating there always feels like stepping back in time. It’s crazy that it’s not designated historic.
Oh Hell No! Pitchforks at the ready.
wild this isn’t a historic landmark but the eagle is, which has only been a leather bar for a few decades
kind of the narrow view on the eagle…if you actually thought about its difference in meaning to the city, to those who frequented in its day…