Louis' Restaurant

10/18/2024

Today, the youngest fifth generation of Louis visited the building for his first time. Too bad, Little Leo Louis won’t get to taste a Louis’ burger 🍔 or work there like his great great grandparents, his great grandfather, his grandmother & grandfather, his mom, uncles, aunts, and cousins! 😢

10/18/2024

Louis’ may be gone, but not forgotten. 😉 Recent news article!

It was, you might say, the last breakfast. On a summer Saturday in 2020, dozens of family members, employees, customers, and friends got together for one last m

09/09/2024

Louis’ is not alone, sadly!! Check out all the places that have closed.

Following this year's closure of gastronomic icons Noma and Le Gavroche we take a look at other incredible restaurants that no longer exist.

10/31/2023

Hi everyone,

I have been trying to find email addresses for the following government employees regarding the horrible condition of the Louis’ Restaurant building. It has been very challenging and in the end I could not find any email addresses online. I then searched my contacts and found the email address for the woman who we dealt with at the GGNRA, and although she doesn’t work there anymore I realized that if you type the first name, then an _ ,then the last name, then .gov, I think the emails would get to the respective people. For example - [email protected].

Here are the names of the people who would be responsible for the building where Louis’ Restaurant used to be -

David Smith
Superintendent
Gate National Recreation Area �Building 201, Fort Mason �San Francisco, CA 94123-0022

Billy Shott
Regional Director
Pacific West Regional Office
National Park Service
333 Bush St Ste 500
San Francisco, CA 94104

Charles F. "Chuck" Sams III
Director
National Park Service�1849 C Street NW�Washington, DC 20240

Deb Haaland
Secretary
Department of the Interior�1849 C Street, N.W.�Washington DC 20240

I would rather write emails then send a letter to have a so called paper trail. I will be writing my emails today.

Wish me luck.

10/27/2023

I haven’t been by the building that housed our restaurant, Louis’, for about a year. What I saw is a disgrace. The building is filthy, a lot of graffiti, and surrounded by garbage. I wanted to email the Superintendent of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA) but I am unable to find an email address for him. The same goes for the Regional Director of the Pacific West Regional Office, the director of the National Park Service, and the Secretary of the Interior. These are the people that are responsible for keeping the buildings of the NPS in good shape. As the former tenant of this space, I plan on writing each of these people, including some of the photos I am sharing here. If you feel as outraged as me, feel free to contact them as well. When we ran our restaurant whenever there were any issues with the exterior of the building, we were expected to fix the problem or remove the graffiti immediately. Thanks for listening. Tom Hontalas, co-owner and operator of Louis’ Restaurant

08/06/2022

As I was checking out our page I saw this wonderful video of our #1 waitress Rachel!!!

08/05/2022

A few weeks ago I passed our family’s restaurant for the first time in quite awhile. This is what I saw. Today I passed by again, no photos, but there is more tagging on the building.

When our family ran Louis’ we occasionally had to deal with graffiti. We were sometimes contacted by the Park Service to clean up the graffiti immediately.

I guess the rules don’t apply to them. I am disgusted by the way the Park Service has neglected the building. 30 years ago when the master plan for the area was released the National Park Service wanted to get rid of Louis’ and the building. Superintendent Brian O‘Neill said to our family “you have to admit that Louis’ Restaurant is in the way of the magnificent view.” At the time his line really pi**ed me off, he seems to care nothing of our family’s legacy, 55 years at the time. I now agree with O’Neill, tear the building down. I hate to see it this way.

08/14/2021

This is one of our favorite posts of all time.

Regarding our prior post - There have been many requests about upcoming gigs by the Great Apes, Bill's orangutan band of trumpeters. The Apes - Palmer, Nigel, Kirkland, Ulysses, Santiago and Pete are no longer allowed to perform in public. A while back Bill hosted the band at his house for a jam session for a few of his good friends. After a successful set there was a toast and a few of the primates toasted a little too much. Things got out of control, the police were called as well as animal control and after thousands of dollars of damage to Bill's house and injuries to dozens of guests, the orangutans were eventually sedated, rounded up and carted back to the zoo where they have remained ever since. The moral of the story is - Apes and gin do not mix!!!

02/15/2021

On what would have been our 84th anniversary we would like to wish our customers, family, and friends a Happy Valentine’s Day!!!

12/15/2020

Saddened to hear of the closing of our neighbors at the Cliff House. Check out Cliffhouse.com to read our cousins’ explanation of why they were forced to close permanently. We have also experienced questionable decisions by the National Park Service during our 47 year partnership, most notably their decision in 1992 to close and demolish our business without so much as a phone call. Luckily thanks in part to public support we were able to get them to change their plans. Danny and Mary Hountalas, your stewardship of this iconic site these past 47 years was nothing short of amazing!!!

HOURS Temporary Closure Dear Cliff House Family & Friends, In early June when we first rolled out our Cliff House takeout service, we promised to keep you informed of changes as they occur. As most of you know by now dine-in service in San Francisco has been postponed due to the spike in Covid...

11/27/2020

Dear Louis’,

Happy Thanksgiving!!! I never really got around to telling you how much you meant to me. It’s been over 8 months now that you were forced to close your doors, and who would have ever guessed it would be forever.

So many of your guests sent you their sweet memories of dining with you and expressed deep gratitude. It was so sad for your staff, the friendly and sometimes crazy group, losing their jobs, for some their livelihood.

Getting you ready to hand over to the Feds was at times fun for those of us who helped clean you up and empty you out, but also was discomforting time, like getting a loved one ready to die. It has only been just over a month since we got the news from the Park Service that we were good to go, the job we did to clean you up met their standard.

For me, I have to admit that many of the memories that have come up are memories of coolers breaking down, employees not showing up for work, running out of key supplies. Last night though I pictured you, standing on that hill, overlooking the baths and the Pacific Ocean. You were the place I would go to when I was young with Mom and my siblings to see Dad work after swim lessons on Saturdays. You gave me my first job, and who would have thought my only job. I met so many fine people, customers and co-workers alike. You enabled me to buy a house, marry and raise a family, travel and enjoy life.

Dealing with you was rough sometimes, and to tell you the truth I always enjoyed being off!!! But on this day of thanks, you are the one I especially want to thank, for 83 wonderful years you rocked!!!

RIP my friend,

Tom (Louis’ grandson, Jim’s son, and Bill’s brother)