There’s a fascinating history to the Sutro Baths ruins in the northwestern corner of San Francisco. When Mayor Adolph Sutro opened the baths in 1896, it was the largest privately owned swimming pool complex in the city. It contained seven different pools - one with fresh water and the others with salt water straight from the Pacific Ocean but each at varying temperatures. An elaborate structure of iron, glass and concrete, housed the baths in a small beach inlet adjacent to the Cliff House. Multiple generations of Bay Area residents swam there until the building was destroyed by fire in 1966 after several years of financial struggle.
Nothing remains today but the remnants of a foundation with lots of broken, rusted pipes and abandoned stairways leading symbolically to nowhere. The ruins are now part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, and are free to all to visit. Just be cautious as you walk along the ridges of the building remains. The parking lot has been recently refurbished, and there are now more places to sit. Visitors from the above parking lot can read signs that describe the history of Sutro Baths starting from its construction through its glamorous heyday and then its declining later years.
One of the most intriguing attractions in the area was the Cliff House Sky Tram, which opened on May 3, 1955, and operated for six years. Cars suspended on wires held up to 25 passengers to take a scenic ride from below the Cliff House across the Sutro Baths basin to a Point Lobos promontory that featured manmade waterfalls. The ride cost a quarter and took about four minutes. The former Cliff House Sky Tram station served as a Golden Gate National Recreation Area visitor's center for several years until it was torn down during the 2000 renovation of the Cliff House. Local resident Ron Biagini took home movies of the Sky Tram in 1960 and posted the footage on YouTube.
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