S.F. landmark, Alioto's, will be torn down as part of major Fisherman's Wharf redesign
S.F. Chronicle / 6-7-25
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.
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.
Link (paywall): https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/fishermans-wharf-aliotos-redesign-20361252.php
According to the link, Alioto's was one of six wharf restaurants that closed during the pandemic and never reopened. Three other legacy institutions overlooking the lagoon proved to be too spacious and run-down to be attractive at a time when there is little demand for restaurants that cater to large groups.
Alioto’s got its start in 1925 when a Sicilian immigrant named Nunzio Alioto Sr. began selling crab and shrimp cocktail at Stall No. 8. The family had built the first restaurant at Fisherman’s Wharf by 1938.
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Fisherman's Wharf had a chance to evolve into a smaller version of Seattle's Pike's Market IMO, but, as the link points out, the port, which owns 7.5 miles of San Francisco waterfront, managed Fisherman’s Wharf with "benign neglect."
When I lived in S.F. in the 80's and 90's I never went there for anything expect to show it to out-of-town visitors. It was exactly then -- in the 80's and 90's -- that it could have responded to the California renaissance in food and wine that was happening in other parts of The Bay under the leaderships of Alice Waters, Robert Mondavi, Wolfgang Puck, and Jeremiah Tower.
There are two Cable Car termini there. I don't know ... maybe the port can turn it around.
This is long overdue, BTW. A lot of these were crappy restaurants.
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