before 1854		Chambers homesteads Lands End (160 acres)
	1854		CC Butler purchases Lands End property
	1860		Samuel Tetlow moves to heights
	1863		First Cliff House built by C.C. Butler & Senator Buckley
	Jun 25, 1864		Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) pays a visit
	Jan 4, 1865		Wreck of the Ann Parry
	Sep 24-27, 1865		James Cooke walked a tightrope from the Cliff House to Seal Rocks
	Apr 22, 1866		Wreck of the schooner Elizabeth Owens
	Jun 17, 1866		Jack Lee, failed tightrope walk
	Jun 24, 1866		Mlle. Rosa Celeste attempts tightrope walk
	1868		Captain Foster triples size of building by adding two wings
	Sept 3 1868		Wreck of the Brignardello
	May 22 1869		George Francis Train visits
	Apr 24 1871		Ralph Waldo Emerson visits
	Jan 25 1872		Wreck of the Josephine Wilcutt
	Dec 1, 1874		King Kalakaua Visits Cliff House
	Sept 21, 1876		General Sherman Visits Cliff House
	Jan 25, 1878		Wreck of the King Philip
	Sep 22, 1879 Sept 29, 1879		General Grant visits (twice)
	Jun 2, 1880		Benjamin Butler Visits
	Sep 20, 1880		President Rutherford B. Hayes visits Cliff House for lunch
	Mar 2 1881		Adolph Sutro & daughter Emma first visit Outside Lands
	May 1881		Adolph Sutro purchases 1st Cliff House & surrounding lands
	1883		Ocean & Park Railroad Construction
	1884		Captain Foster leaves
	March 1884		Adelina Patti visits Cliff House
	Apr 6 1884		Suspension bridge to Flag Rock collapses
	Jun 14 1884		Ocean Beach Pavilion Opens
	Sep 5, 1885		Sutro Heights Opens
	Oct 11, 1885		Baldwin Aborted Tightrope Walk
	Apr 18, 1886 May 2, 1886		Captain Paul Boyton's Aquatic Exhibition
	Dec 17, 1886		Wreck of the Atlantic
	1887		Thomas Scott Baldwin makes first parachute jump (????)
	Jan 16, 1887		Schooner Parallel explodes, destroying the north wing
	Apr 8, 1887		Sutro hints of new structure
	Sept 3, 1887		Sutro Aquarium Demonstration
	July 1, 1888		Ferries & Cliff House Railroad begins operation
	Mar 18, 1888		Davison Brothers Tightrope Walk
	Oct 1889		Capt Jack Williams spends week on Seal Rock
	Nov 17, 1889		John Williams Tightrope Walk
	Apr 12, 1890		Baldwin's Grand Balloon Ascension
	Apr 2, 1891		Cliff House hit by gunfire
	Apr 27, 1891		President & Mrs. Harrison visit
	May 26, 1891		Sullivan & Corbett visit Cliff House
	Oct 11, 1891		Millie Lavelle tightrope walk
	1892		Sutro Baths early opening
	Mar 10, 1892		Andrew Carnegie visits Cliff House
	Nov 28, 1892		Storm Damage
	Jan 10, 1893		Leland Stanaford visits Cliff House
	Apr 16, 1893		Balloon Crash
	May 1894		Sutro Fights with Southern Pacific
	May 15, 1894		Cliff House burglary
	Nov 6, 1894		Adolph Sutro elected mayor of SF
	Dec 25, 1894		First Cliff House burns to the ground
	1895		Adolph hires architects Lemme & Colley to build a new Cliff House
	Nov 2 1895		Caroline Miskel Visits Cliff House
	Jan 14 1896		The new Cliff House opens for business
	Jan 19 1896		Storm Damage
	Feb 1 1896		Sutro Electric Railroad Opens
	Apr 5 1896		Cornelius Vanderbilt II visits
	Aug 9 1896		Actor Chauncey Olcott visits
	Dec 1896		Mysterious Airship Visit
	May 20 1897		Mayor Phelan Dinner Party
	Jul 8 1897		William Jennings Bryan visits
	Oct 31, 1897		High Dive from Cliff House
	Feb 7, 1898		Adolph Sutro declared mentally incompetent
	Feb 16, 1898		John Harris, a "colored man", wins judgement for exclusion from Sutro Baths
	Aug 8, 1898		Adolph Sutro dies after a long illness
	Fall 1898		Political Banners
	May 9, 1899		Cliff House Post Office Branch Established
	Jun 9, 1899		John D Rockefeller visits Cliff House
	Jun 25, 1899		Point Lobos Train Wreck
	Jul 4, 1899		High Dive Cancelled
	Aug 23, 1899		First ship to shore wireless transmission was received at Cliff House
	Mar 3, 1900		Meeting at Cliff House founds CSAA (Calif State Auto Association)
	Nov 21, 1900		Storm Damage
	Jan 3, 1901		Storm Damage
	March 1901		Shriners Visit 1901
	May 15, 1901		President McKinley visits
	June 6, 1901		Henri Turot visits
	Oct 26, 1901		Automobile Club Moonlight Run
	Nov-Dec 1901		Fritzi Scheff, Opera Singer visits
	Feb 23, 1902		Storm
	Mar 13, 1902		Schooner "Reporter" is shipwrecked off Ocean Beach
	June 1902		Shriners Visit 1902
	Sept 13, 1902		Buffalo Bill visits Cliff House
	Fall 1902		Political Banners
	Dec 13, 1902		Laying of the Pacific Cable
	May 13, 1903		President Roosevelt visits
	Jun 14, 1903		Waiters Strike
	June 20, 1903		First Transcontinental Auto Race
	Fall 1903		Political Banner
	Nov 21, 1903		Sheriff briefly takes control over debt
	Mar 1904		Storm Damage
	Sept 1904		Storm Damage
	March 1905		Storm
	May-June 1905		Knights of Columbus Visit
	May 27 1905		Steam train around Lands End converted to electric streetcar begins operation
	Aug 27, 1905		Cliff House Grill Opens
	Sept 2, 1905		Francis McCarty demonstrates voice transmission using radio from Cliff House
	Dec 25, 1905		Storm
	Jan 13, 1906		Storm
	Apr 18, 1906		San Francisco earthquake - Cliff House sustains only minor damage
	Sep 11, 1906		Cliff House minor fire
	Dec 10, 1906		Storm Damage
	Apr 23, 1907		Cliff House to be remodeled
	Sept 7, 1907		Cliff House burns to the ground
	May 6, 1908		Atlantic Fleet visits San Francisco
	1908		Adolph daughter Emma starts construction of a new Cliff House
	July 1, 1909		New Cliff House opens for business
	Apr 19, 1911		Fannie Brice Visits Cliff House
	Oct 15, 1911		President Taft lunches at the Cliff House
	1912		Telegraph Tower Installation
	Jan 14 1916		Landslide
	Nov 24 1916		Mrs Douglas Crane becomes manager
	27 July 1917		Army Threatens Takeover
	fall of 1917		Rudolph Valentino dances at Cliff House
	July 1918		Sarah Bernhardt visits Cliff House
	July 18, 1918		Army order forces closure
	Dec 8 1920		Reopens with Richard (Shorty) Roberts, proprietor
	1921-1922		Pt Lobos Road Construction
	Jan 1922		Remodel 1922
	June 1922		Shriners Visit 1922
	Jan 1, 1923		Prohibition Bust!
	Jan 1, 1925		Prohibition Bust!
	Jan 5 1925		Cliff House reopens as Coffee Shop
	Feb 7, 1925		Landslides destroy the streetcar line around Lands End
	1925		Faux Rock
	Oct 1925		Cliff House Closes
	Feb 8 1926		Storm-tossed Schooner Wrecks Lurline Pier
	Apr 26, 1936		Owner Charles W. Sutro dies
	Oct 7, 1936		Wreck of the Ohioan
	Dec 1936		Sutro family sells Cliff House to George Whitney
	1949		Floyd Jennings builds Camera Obscura on terrace
	1949		Streetcar service ceases to Sutro and Cliff House area
	1949		Cliff House remodeled
	1952		George Whitney buys Sutro Baths
	May 1955		Whitney's Sky Tram begins service
	1964		Robert D. Fraiser Acquires 50% Interest
	June 26, 1966		Sutro Baths Fire
	1973		Blue Cliff House
	June 21, 1973		Dan & Mary Hountalas become proprietors of the Cliff House
	July 1977		GGNRA acquires Cliff House
	2003		Reconstruction
	1 Jan 2021		Closed

Not all newspaper stories fit into the above timeline.  You can view them here.

 

Cliff House Proprietors & Managers   Proprietor Lessee / Manager   1863 Junius G. (Captain) Foster     1878? ("3 yrs") Moss & Sheldon     May 1881 Adolph Sutro Junius G. (Captain) Foster May 1881 - 30 Dec 1883     George Sheldon & Hugh McCrum 1884 - 23 Oct 1885     Moss       R. C. Pearson Jan 1887 - Jun 1887     James Malcom Wilkins 1885 (?) - Sep 1907 8 Aug 1898 Sutro Estate ↓ ↓     John Tait Sep 1907 -     John Farley 1910 - 1912     Roy C. Carruthers 1912 - May 1915     Mrs. Douglas Crane 24 Nov 1916 - 1918 (?)     John Farley (2nd time) Jul 1918     CLOSURE (wartime) 1 Aug 1918 -     Richard P "Shorty" Roberts 8 Dec 1920 - Oct 1925     CLOSURE (prohibition) 1 Oct 1925 - 1937 Dec 1936 George & Leo Whitney ↓ ↓     Al C Hunds 5 Aug 1937     Foster's Cafeteria 1953 - 1 Apr 1968     Dan & Mary Hountalas 21 Jun 1973 - 31 Dec 2020 Jul 1977 National Park Service ↓ ↓     CLOSURE (pandemic) 1 Jan 2021 - The newspaper record is unclear on whether Captain Foster was the owner (proprietor) or manager (lessee).  The above table is incomplete as there are gaps in the record.  The below newspaper clippings hint at other individuals who were involved, but not yet properly placed in the above table.   Excerpt from "Sutro baths, Cliff House, Sutro Heights - 1895", page 6 (link)   San Francisco Chronicle - Oct 15 1903 "J. Mendelson, manager of the Cliff House" It is unclear to me that "J Mendelson" was a Cliff House manager as this is the only reference.  Possibly an employee of Wilkins?   Oakland Tribune - Feb 24 1920 Upon further research I believe that Jacques Bustanoby never fulfilled the role of Cliff House manager, per the evidence presented here.   The San Francisco Examiner - Feb 10 1937 "Julius Rosenfield, 63, former manager of the Cliff House"   The Weekly Calistogan - Jul 25 1957 "Owner - manager Solomon of the Cliff House"   The San Francisco Examiner - Nov 3 1960 "Cecil Carrig, manager of the Cliff House"