4 days ago
- Business
- San Francisco Chronicle
S.F. landmark will be torn down as part of major Fisherman's Wharf redesign
Alioto's Restaurant, the classic seafood spot that was a gathering place for Bay Area families for nearly 80 years before shuttering in 2020, will be demolished and replaced by a new public plaza as part of a $10 million plan by the Port of San Francisco to reimagine the historic heart of Fisherman's Wharf.
Port Director Elaine Forbes said the agency spent several years looking for a new operator for the 11,000-square-foot Alioto's, but the sheer size and dilapidated condition of the three-story structure — and the multimillion-dollar investment needed to make it structurally sound — made it a tough sell.
'It's just a relic, essentially, a relic of an important history, but it is not the future,' Forbes said.
Knocking down Alioto's and building a plaza are the centerpiece of a package of wharf improvements that will include the lighting of the lagoon and the demolition of a crumbling former smokehouse that has been used for storage in recent years. The port expects to complete the first phase next year while starting work on a longer-range project that will include seismic and sea-level rise protections.
Forbes said removing Alioto's would give the public access to the lagoon where San Francisco's fishing boats are docked and where locals can line up to buy fresh fish and crab off the vessels. The view of the lagoon that lured so many families to Alioto's for graduation and birthday celebrations — the brightly-painted Monterey Hull fishing boats with the Golden Gate Bridge beyond — would be available to anyone visiting the new public piazza.
Alioto's was one of six major Fisherman's Wharf restaurants that closed, and didn't reopen, when the pandemic lockdown started more than five years ago. The port has found new operators for three of the spaces: Chasca Rio will open at 340 Jefferson St., which used to house Pompei's Grotto; Everett & Jones Barbeque will take over the former Lou's Fish Shack; and Castanola's will reopen with a new operator and concept, which has yet to be announced.
But three legacy spots overlooking the lagoon at the foot of Taylor Street — Alioto's, Fisherman's Grotto #9 and Tarantino's — proved to be too spacious and run-down to be attractive at a time when there is little demand for cavernous seafood eateries designed to cater to groups of 10 or 12.
Having a trio of shuttered waterfront structures discourages visitors from continuing past Taylor Street as they meander north on the waterfront from Pier 39, according to Mike Rescino, who docks his charter fishing boat Lovely Martha in the lagoon near Alioto's. It has put a damper on his business.
'When they see a row of closed restaurants all they do is say, 'Nothing is here,' and turn around and walk back to Pier 39,' Rescino said.
For decades the port, which owns 7.5 miles of San Francisco waterfront, managed Fisherman's Wharf with benign neglect. Its restaurants were humming, its crab stands packed, its bread bowls full of chowder, and its stalls along Jefferson Street bright with Alcatraz-themed fleece. With many of the city's piers crumbling, the wharf was the least of the port's problems.
'It was working magically,' Forbes said.
But while cioppino and crab continued to draw millions of visitors to the wharf, even before the pandemic it was clear that the jumbo, family-friendly seafood joints that were so popular in the '60s and '70s and '80s were becoming obsolete. Revenue was down and it was unclear that the three businesses would survive until the end of their 66-year leases, which expire in 2036.
What had been 'a private economic engine that the port was there to support,' was now 'in need of more defined intervention,' said Deputy Port Director Michael Martin.
Taryn Hoppe, who owns several businesses in the neighborhood and is the president of the Fisherman's Wharf Community Benefit District, said she feels 'a little wistful' about the history that will vanish with the removal of Alioto's, but said 'overwhelmingly, this is a big deal in a good way.'
'This is what we have been asking for,' she said. 'There is really no other option. You can't lease that space. It's falling apart, and we have always wanted to open up more access to the fishing fleet and that lagoon area.'
She credited the port, an enterprise agency that mostly funds its activity through rent from its properties, with proposing a $10 million project that will not directly generate revenue.
'We needed the port to kick-start something major, a turn of the tide of that Taylor Street area where these buildings are impossible to lease and falling apart,' she said.
What will become of the two multilevel vacant restaurant spaces next to Alioto's — Fisherman's Grotto #9 and Tarantino's — remains to be seen. The two buildings will be activated with temporary ground-floor uses while the plaza is built, according to the port. It's possible that one or both could benefit from overlooking the new plaza — a food hall or interactive museum, perhaps — but the structures could also eventually be demolished to expand the open space and access to the lagoon.
Alioto's got its start in 1925 when Sicilian immigrant Nunzio Alioto Sr. began selling crab and shrimp cocktail at Stall #8. By 1938, the family had built the first restaurant at Fisherman's Wharf. It became known for its cioppino, a fish stew, as well as the turquoise and black sign that sits on top of the building.
Woody LaBounty, executive director of the preservation group San Francisco Heritage, called Alioto's 'a long-standing stalwart for people who grew up in San Francisco.' Its sign was part of a cityscape that was seen in movies and television shows like 'The Streets of San Francisco.' He compared the sign to the Golden Gate Bridge and the cable cars.
'It's really sad. Alioto was one of our top 10 legacy bars and restaurants, we hate to lose those sort of things,' he said.
But, he said a preservation campaign to save the building is unlikely. 'If you ask anyone who grew up in the city, 99% of people are going to say, 'Do not let that go,'' he said. 'But it's hard if there is not a business model that can be successful right now.'
Port spokesman Eric Young said the termination agreement for the Alioto lease gave the family the rights to the restaurant name and the 'number 8,' but the sign and other property left behind belong to the port.
'The port welcomes an engagement with the Alioto family to develop interpretive signage at the plaza that would honor the family's contribution to the wharf,' Young said.
He said the port would 'safeguard the signs from the restaurant.'
The new chapter comes as the wharf remains one of the most visited places in San Francisco in 2024, with 10 million visitors, a number which is down from 15 million in 2019. Forbes emphasized that the investment is part of a larger effort to make sure the wharf is relevant, both to locals and tourists.
Other efforts include attracting the Skystar Observation Wheel, the ferris wheel that was moved in 2023 from Golden Gate Park; installing new furniture, greenery and pop-up containers on the promenade along Little Embarcadero; and building a new $6 million floating dock along Al Scoma Way to enhance off-the-boat fish sales and waterside excursions.
'We are the custodian of Fisherman's Wharf,' Forbes said. 'It's been this endurable, magical place for San Francisco that has really driven economic well-being, but also the identity of who we are as a city.'
David Beaupre, who operates planning for the port, said it's important that the work on the Alioto's property start as soon as possible. Removing the heavy 11,000-square-foot building will relieve pressure on the pier substructure that 'has not seen major investment since the 1960s.'
'We are hoping to do it quickly, because time is not on our side,' he said.
