When I was in high school me and a buddy timed the waves and ran through that tunnel when a rogue wave fill the tunnel and all we saw was white water we turned around to run back out and were instantly lifted up off our feet blown back through the tunnel out the entrance and down into the ocean, I still have a scar on my leg from that 🌊
Went there as a child with my grandmother to swim in the hot pools. She told me of the railroad as she remembered it. During high school the baths were closed but still went there to ice skate. That whole area was fantasy land from Sutros down to the park. All gone now, no play land,no giant merry-go-round, no Hot House, no giant pool at the end of the zoo ( probably where I contracted polio one summer). Gone also, the beautiful Spanish castle, de young museum. San Francisco has lost so much!
That's awesome, my mom and dad have lots of stories about swimming there also. 🏊🏻♂️ There's a big picture of the sutro baths that's been in our house forever.
What was the Spanish Castle? Where was it? I remember back in the 60's there was like a concrete guardhouse that had tumbled half way down the cliff around the Cliffhouse above the Great Highway. I wonder exactly what it was for, I'm guessing Coastal Defense.
Martyinla: the de Young Museum has been replaced by a modern building. Before , the building was made from an old Spanish castle which had been brought over piece by piece. It was unbelievably beautiful with workmanship , tiles, and details difficult to find now. Some of the stonework may still be found in Golden Gate Park used for various things, such as a retaining wall in the Arboretum.
We walked through the tunnel at night in pitch dark. When you got to the part where you hear and smell the ocean to the side of you down there, lets just say its fresh in my memory fifty years later.
My Mom and Dad use to swim there with there friends. They had quite the stories about it. I don’t think. The ruins are visible any more. In the last few years they did some redevelopment there.
Wow, I was born and raised within walking distance of that tunnel, I've seen it but never bothered to hike through it. Thanks for posting. I wonder if that was for the old rail road line that went to the Cliff House?
I believe it was internal for the baths, for water or something, and the line to Cliff House was up above where the hiking trail is now. I used to know for sure, even knew which cable car route ran there, but my memory sucks now.
I researched it recently and learned that they pumped water through these tunnels from the ocean for the baths. They utilized the tides to provide pressure.
When I was in high school me and a buddy timed the waves and ran through that tunnel when a rogue wave fill the tunnel and all we saw was white water we turned around to run back out and were instantly lifted up off our feet blown back through the tunnel out the entrance and down into the ocean, I still have a scar on my leg from that 🌊
You're lucky, ppl have been killed in that spot.
@@jafafa You're absolutely right!!
Great. I remember the tunnel from when I lived in SF years ago.
Went there as a child with my grandmother to swim in the hot pools. She told me of the railroad as she remembered it. During high school the baths were closed but still went there to ice skate. That whole area was fantasy land from Sutros down to the park. All gone now, no play land,no giant merry-go-round, no Hot House, no giant pool at the end of the zoo ( probably where I contracted polio one summer). Gone also, the beautiful Spanish castle, de young museum. San Francisco has lost so much!
That's awesome, my mom and dad have lots of stories about swimming there also. 🏊🏻♂️ There's a big picture of the sutro baths that's been in our house forever.
and with the current people in power it will continue to loose more
What was the Spanish Castle? Where was it? I remember back in the 60's there was like a concrete guardhouse that had tumbled half way down the cliff around the Cliffhouse above the Great Highway. I wonder exactly what it was for, I'm guessing Coastal Defense.
Martyinla: the de Young Museum has been replaced by a modern building. Before , the building was made from an old Spanish castle which had been brought over piece by piece. It was unbelievably beautiful with workmanship , tiles, and details difficult to find now. Some of the stonework may still be found in Golden Gate Park used for various things, such as a retaining wall in the Arboretum.
We walked through the tunnel at night in pitch dark. When you got to the part where you hear and smell the ocean to the side of you down there, lets just say its fresh in my memory fifty years later.
yikes!
Awesome! Thanks for these SF videos. I had no idea this was even here. Silly me. Just saw it from the street.
My Mom and Dad use to swim there with there friends. They had quite the stories about it. I don’t think. The ruins are visible any more.
In the last few years they did some redevelopment there.
I went there a month ago, they're there still. The area has been protected, no development will happen.
Pippetandpossum thank you nice to know!
Wow, I was born and raised within walking distance of that tunnel, I've seen it but never bothered to hike through it. Thanks for posting. I wonder if that was for the old rail road line that went to the Cliff House?
I believe it was internal for the baths, for water or something, and the line to Cliff House was up above where the hiking trail is now. I used to know for sure, even knew which cable car route ran there, but my memory sucks now.
I didn’t know there was a tunnel there!
gee the good ole days!!!!!
..yea..we used to play in and around as kids..it was not a developed tourist site yet,, long before the GGNRA..
I have walked through that tunnel but still have no idea as to what its purpose was.
..yea, me too..why was that built or bored out..???. i will try and find out..
I researched it recently and learned that they pumped water through these tunnels from the ocean for the baths. They utilized the tides to provide pressure.