By Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez for KQED
Mar 13, 2001

Sutro Baths bathing suits. Italian porcelain muses. A carved wooden grizzly bear. A cowboy sculpture from Playland-at-the-Beach. An oil painting of San Francisco’s wealthy 24th mayor, Adolph Sutro.

These eclectic items, and more — roughly 60 items in total — were saved from the closure of San Francisco’s historic Cliff House restaurant for the posterity of the public this weekend.

By Matthias Gafni for the SF Chronicle
March 14, 2021

Nicole Meldahl had trouble sleeping. For a little over two weeks, her nonprofit Western Neighborhoods Project had raised $180,000 to buy as many historic items as it could from the Cliff House, and now it was the day of the auction.

“That didn’t sit well with a group of local organizers who believe the collection belongs to the public. Spearheaded by a community history nonprofit, the Western Neighborhoods Project, and two local fine art galleries, the effort, dubbed Save the Cliff House Collection, aims to raise enough money to buy some of the collection’s most culturally valuable objects at the auction and preserve them for the public for years to come. “
Clara Liang for the Sf Weekly

A San Francisco man suspected of breaking into the iconic Cliff House and stealing historic memorabilia in January, nearly one month after the restaurant announced its permanent closure, has been arrested and charged with burglary, authorities said.

OLIVIA WYNKOOP for the SF Examiner

History buffs working to keep Cliff House collection in public view
Funds needed to buy up historic building’s contents at auction

…“Both Muses are being auctioned off separately, creating the tragic possibility that they will be split up and never seen together again. Unless we can line up the chance to rescue them as the pair they were created to be,” the post reads. “We would love to find these wonderful San Francisco treasures a forever home and keep these ladies dazzling near the sea…”

Organizer Alexandra Mitchell of ACT Art Conservation said her work as a conservationist gives her a strong inherent interest in protecting pieces of heritage and history from being disassembled. The Cliff House’s preservation campaign, however, is what she calls an “angel project” — a pro bono effort to protect works she’s admired over the years as a city native.

Nicole Meldahl, Executive Director of the Western Neighborhoods Project explains the importance of the collection.

Authorities are searching for two people suspected of stealing historic memorabilia from San Francisco’s Cliff House nearly one month after the restaurant announced its permanent closure.