Louis'

Address:

902 Point Lobos Ave, San Francisco, CA 94121

Phone:

(415) 387-6330

Hours:

Mon: 6:30am-6pm
Tue: 6:30am-6pm
Wed: 6:30am-6pm
Thu: 6:30am-6pm

Fri: 6:30am-6pm
Sat: 6:30am-6pm
Sun: 6:30am-6pm

Other Details:

The tale of how Louis' Restaurant came to be stretches back the good part of a century. It is a story of hard work, perseverance, a loving family and the American dream Louis (pronounced Louie) Hontalas came to America from Greece in 1906 as an 11-year-old boy. He lived in San Francisco with his older brother Michael, and for 21 years worked in a variety of jobs. In 1927, Louis went back to Greece to find a bride. Helen Pappakostandino was a 19-year-old girl from Levidi, a small village in southern Greece. Louis and Helen were married in January 1928 and shortly thereafter headed back to the United States by boat. They arrived in New York, took a train cross-country and settled in San Francisco that May. Because they were poor, they continued to live with Michael. Louis and Helen’s first son, John, was born in December 1928, and two years later they had their second son, Demosthenes (nicknamed Jim by his kindergarten teacher). With the depression in full swing Louis and Helen worked at Michael’s restaurant, the Cliff Cafe, located on the west side of Sutro Bath’s entrance, right up from the Cliff House. In 1936, Louis and Helen wanted to open their own café, so they approached the nephew of Adolph Sutro, who owned all the land on Point Lobos Avenue, and asked if they could rent a small piece of property, originally an indoor walkway that connected the streetcar barn to the Sutro Baths entrance. A deal was made, and for the next few months they worked hard to get their cafe ready.

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