Sutro Baths Burning, June 26, 1966

This footage was shot by Joel Springer.

For more info go to:

http://www.outsidelands.org/baths_burning.php

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• san
• francisco

[WahooLeeMost]

I lived in New Jersey at the time and knew nothing of the fire. It was only after I moved to S.F. that I put together the new advertisements in the late 1960s saying that Palisades Amusement Park had "the world's largest salt water swimming pool" with the destruction of Sutro Baths. They could not have advertised that before the Sutro Baths burned down!

[Gryphonalia]

This wasn't the only victorian to end its days in fire. SFFD friends recall many an early morning fire where they arrived to find once grand old houses fully engulfed under suspicious circumstances, the land being more valuable than the house. Sutro's of course was more than just an old house, and while the pools may have been too much to save, the upper structures could have been kept. I wonder who set the fire?

[4957ace]

@SFNightTripper sadly, I was there that day ..I was at playland at the time.. this was like my childhood coming to a very sad and violent end.....a great great loss.....so much lost, the ice rink, the player pianos the history.. San francisc has never recovered....

[Franklin8491]

The film noir, "The Lineup" has some footage shot inside Sutros.

[SFNightTripper]

Also San Francisco still has plenty to offer, and even more since the 1960s/70s. You just view the city through the eyes of a child, and draw your conclusions from that. San Francisco has and always will be a PlayLand for adults. That doesn't mean it has little to offer for children, but the zoo was never great and has area limitations that hinder it's ability to ever being a "great zoo", and Golden Gate Park is more beautiful than ever.

[SFNightTripper]

@jimmyd10100 It was considered a suspicious fire but the police were never able to figure out who started it. Please don't spread misinformation, I don't care what your father told you. Police have a history of trying to open-and-shut cases like this, so they're willing to point the finger to make them look better.

[btlssmd]

UER.CA- you can find every abandondment in the world on this site!

[jimmyd10100]

I was there that day. rode my stringray bike from 47th and ortega street up to sutro's. my dad a retired police inspector arrested the kid--maggot batch. he and his sister started the fire. most people don't know that piece of history. what a great loss to this city. we have little left with playland gone-the zoo a disaster--the park is not how it used to be. great memories though!

[Pandabearmadness]

wow what a year for san francisco. the hunter point riots and this, wasn't aware of that. i see lots of picture of the pools and they look amazing. what was the cause of the fire

[worldwakeupcall]

I was there the day before it burned down, at age 11. My friends and I couldn't believe it. It was an amazing historical relic.