Sutro Baths

What you need to know

What’s There

Concrete walls, stair remnants and the outlines of enormous pool basins, sitting at sea level on the rocks below Lands End. You can walk down into them and through them.

There is a sea cave at the north end that people scramble into. The concrete near the water carries algae and is genuinely slippery, and that is where visitors get hurt.

The Story

Adolph Sutro, a self made millionaire who later became mayor, opened the baths in 1894. The complex covered three acres and held seven pools that needed 1.7 million gallons of water, which a high tide could deliver in about an hour. It rented out 20,000 bathing suits and 40,000 towels.

In 1897 John Harris, an African American man, took the baths to court over their whites only admission policy and won. The building burned in 1966 while it was being demolished, and the foundations have been left as ruins ever since.

Visiting

Neighborhood: Lands End, Outer Richmond

Cost: Free, including parking

Hours: Treat it as 6am until just after sunset. The Lands End Lookout visitor center opens 9am to 5pm daily.

Best time to go: Late afternoon for the light, or a foggy morning if you want the ruins looking their bleakest.

What to know: The trail down into the ruins is unpaved and uneven and is not wheelchair accessible, though the Coastal Trail above is, as far as the Mile Rock Overlook. The Cliff House building above has been closed since 2020, so do not plan on eating there.

Getting There

Transit: The 38-Geary to 48th Avenue, or the 5-Fulton to the end of the line and a short walk.

Parking: Free at the Merrie Way lot off Point Lobos Avenue, directly above the ruins.

Combining: The Lands End Coastal Trail starts here, and Ocean Beach is immediately south.