Hi,
My great-great-grandfather John E. Mullen built the exterior and interior of Bernstien's Fish Grotto in about 1912. I am trying to build a scale replica for the family to keep forever and would SO appreciate any more info, and especially photos of the inside and outside. I am posting a drawing that we have of him building the façade that was part of a portrait of him for the fun of it (hand lettering is by him)

Thank so much in advance!

All the best,
Craig Elliott

My family moved to SF back in the early 70s when I was maybe 11 or 12, My younger brother and I were explorers and climbers.
One of the first places we discovered and 'explored' was the grotto. We climbed up the side of the boat to reach the rope and board walkways, then got on deck and had fun playing around for a bit. Then we discovered that directly below the walkways were storage rooms open to the sky behind dummy pilings. On further exploration, we learned that the doors from the storage rooms to the restaurant proper were not locked. Odd thing is, when we mentioned it to a friend of my mom's who managed the place, we got in trouble for trespassing, but they never did anything to secure the place. Was still 'easy access' when I moved out of SF in 1980.

The ship represented Columbus' Nina but the design was pure whimsy. The second deck would never have been seen on a real ship. For more info on Bernstein's, see: SAN FRANCISCO'S LOST LANDMARKS. Every SF library has a copy.
Photo - Interior of Bernsteins.

I lived in and around San Francisco in 1968 and 1969, but for the life of me, I can't remember this landmark. Does anyone know if it existed then?

The building is still there but it couldn't be more bland if they tried.

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The entrance to Bernstein's Fish Grotto faithfully follows in size and detail the Nina, flagship of Columbus.

Some sites such as Time Shutter indicate the ship was modeled after the Nina.

Bernstein's restaurant apparently took its nautical exterior from an earlier chapter in San Francisco history. During the Gold Rush, the shallow Yerba Buena Cove adjacent to boomtown San Francisco was rapidly filled to create badly-need commercial space, and many ships in the harbor ended up literally surrounded by the the encroaching city. The attached image, although with some artistic license, shows the result: ships entombed in dry land converted into hotels, warehouses, and residences.

The upper parts of the stranded ships were eventually dismantled or burned, but to this day there are at least forty buried hulks beneath today's financial district and South of Market areas. (One was discovered in 1978 immediately adjacent to the famous Transamerica Pyramid, the cargo ship Niantic, complete with 13 cases of champagne.)

Although Bernstein's was located on Powell Street, far away from the filled-in Yerba Buena cove, the spirit of '49 was definitely there.

Strangest looking ship's bow I have ever seen. It's as if a second, larger deck was added to the original bow to increase the street presence. I suppose the neon tubes snaking out of the hawseholes are supposed to represent shrouds. Any nautical Shorpy readers know if this type of hull is patterned after an actual sailing vessel?