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Beach Chalet
Beach Chalet (San Francisco).JPG
General information
Architectural style Spanish colonial revival style
Address 1000 Great Highway
Town or city San Francisco, California
Country United States
Coordinates 37°46′10″N 122°30′37″W / 37.7694596°N 122.5102037°W / 37.7694596; -122.5102037
Current tenants Beach Chalet Brewery and Restaurant, Park Chalet
Completed 1925
Owner San Francisco Recreation & Parks Department
Design and construction
Architect Willis Polk
NRHP reference No. 81000172
Added to NRHP July 22, 1981

The Beach Chalet is a two-story Spanish colonial revival style building at the far western end of Golden Gate Park in San Francisco.

History

The building was designed by Willis Polk and opened in 1925 in as a city-run restaurant and included changing rooms for beach visitors. It replaced an older building called the Golden Gate Park Chalet, built in 1892, that had stood on the opposite side of the Great Highway.

Murals

Elaborate murals painted by Lucien Adolphe Labaudt were added to the first floor as a 1936 Works Progress Administration project. The murals depict real people and scenes from San Francisco in the 1930s. After World War II the city leased the Beach Chalet to the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) for $50 a month. The VFW moved out after the city bumped the rent to $500 a month in 1979. The Mural room is now the San Francisco Visitor's Center.

Restaurant

After several years of closure and following a renovation completed in 1996, the building now houses the Beach Chalet Brewery and Restaurant on the second floor, opened by Lara and Gar Truppelli and Timon Malloy. Its sister restaurant, the Park Chalet, is located to the back of the Beach Chalet with a dining room facing the park and outdoor dining on a terrace and lawn area.

+ It's important to remind all patrons to keep all valuables out of sight when parking their car in the Beach Chalet parking lot. There has been a city wide epidemic of thieves breaking into cars by smashing the windows. It occurs virtually every single day and night at Beach Chalet. Tourist rent a cars are especially vulnerable.

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