RON HENGGELER

Long before there was the city of San Francisco, there was the Presidio of San Francisco. First established in 1776, the adobe walls of the Officers’ Club stand testament to California’s beginnings. Throughout the 20th century, the renowned Presidio Officers’ Club was a gathering place for Army brass and their families. Today, this beloved institution has been transformed into a multi-faceted cultural destination that welcomes the entire community.

The Presidio Officers’ Club is San Francisco’s most historic building and is an amalgam of adobe, wood-frame, concrete, and steel structures built over the course of approximately 200 years. Some of the original adobe walls date from the Spanish colonization of California.

After a recent $19 million renovation, the Officers’ Club now features exceptional exhibits inspired by the Presidio’s role in shaping California and serving the nation. Free public programs will enliven, engage and entertain, including live music and dance, talks, films, and creative family fun. Regularly planned field trips will now invite students to understand their world by examining the Presidio’s fascinating heritage.

See layers of history literally revealed, from the exposed colonial adobe walls of the 1810s to the Post Headquarters of the 1880s and the Officers’ Club of the 1930s and 1970s.
The Officers’ Club is California Historical Landmark No. 79 and is a contributing resource to the Presidio’s National Historic Landmark District status. It is one of just two buildings remaining in San Francisco from the Spanish colonization of California (the other is Mission Dolores).

Spanish Colonial Era: 1776 - 1821
The Officers’ Club sits at the site where Spanish colonists built their permanent settlement at El Presidio in 1776. The original buildings were mostly destroyed during a devastating storm in 1779. The adobe walls were rebuilt, only to suffer major damage during a series of earthquakes in the summer of 1808 and then again in the great quake of 1812. California Indians, overseen by Spanish colonists, undertook the last major expansion and repair of El Presidio in 1815. The remnant adobe structure at the heart of the Officers’ Club is testament to this deep history and is visible to the public in the Mesa Room.

(A painting from the Children’s Art Display on the walls, celebrating the re-opening of the Officer’s Club.)
After the Army departed in 1994, the Presidio became part of the national park system. In the early 2000s, the Officers’ Club, operated by the Presidio Trust, hosted public exhibits and special events on the club’s first floor. In 2014 the Trust completed a complete renovation in order to make the entire building a multifaceted, fully public, cultural destination.

(A painting from the Children’s Art Display on the walls, celebrating the re-opening of the Officer’s Club.)
The Officers’ Club is located where Spanish colonists first established their military presence at the Golden Gate, setting in motion events that would later lead to the creation of the City of San Francisco. The military garrison would eventually become the most significant U.S. Army post on the West Coast. The Officers’ Club was constructed simultaneously with Mission Dolores just a short distance away. The building and surrounding archaeology sites are among the most significant historic sites in the United States and are at the heart of the Presidio’s National Historic Landmark status. Today, the Presidio is America’s most unique national park site and welcomes more than five million visitors each year. The park, and the Officers’ Club, are operated by the Presidio Trust.

(one of several murals on the walls illustrating the history of the Presidio.)
Mexican Frontier: 1822 -1846
Mexico won its independence from Spain in 1821, but there was no change in military personnel when the news reached the Presidio months later. The flag outside the Officers’ Club changed from Spanish to Mexican, and Presidio Commandant Luis Antonio Arguello became the first Mexican Governor of California. In the 1830s, General Mariano Vallejo moved much of the garrison to Sonoma, leaving a detachment of soldiers who continued to live in and maintain the government buildings, including the future Officers’ Club. These prominent buildings hosted the election of the first civil government in the area, the officials who began to parcel out lands at the little port of Yerba Buena, which would later become the booming city of San Francisco.

A self portrait in the window reflection.

Andy Goldsworthy is one of the world’s most talented site-specific artists. The Presidio Trust is honored to host the largest collection of the artist’s works on public view in North America. The installations include Spire, Wood Line, Tree Fall, and now his latest, located within the Presidio Officers’ Club – Earth Wall.

Earth Wall pays homage to the rich archaeological setting of the Presidio Officers’ Club. It was built with materials taken from the site--earth from the Officers’ Club rehabilitation and eucalyptus branches from the Presidio forest. It is located behind the Hardie Courtyard.

PRESIDIO HERITAGE GALLERY – Telling the Presidio Story
Experience the Presidio story from 10,000 years ago to the present through multi-media displays – including films, images, and artifacts. A first-person film gives deeper meaning to the Presidio’s legacy and its new national park chapter. Seasonal changing exhibits are hosted within the Presidio Heritage Gallery. Through ten wars, the Presidio Officers’ Club came to hold a special place in the hearts of the thousands of servicemen who passed through the post. Within its walls “nearly every general officer of the Army from the Civil War days, and unsung thousands who never reached star rank have enjoyed the comradeship of their fellows.”

In 1846 a border dispute in Texas resulted in the Mexican-American War. The famed New York Volunteer Regiment was dispatched by ship to California and occupied the crumbling adobes at the Presidio, including the future Officers’ Club. The regular U.S. Army took over the post in 1848 and the building housed high ranking officers before they moved into nicer homes and civilian laundresses moved into the “old adobe.” By the 1880s the adobe walls had mostly crumbled away, but General Irvin McDowell restored the future Officers’ Club and had it converted into the headquarters of the post.
United States Military: 1900-1994

The Officers’ Club took on its famous social role in the early 20th century. A 1934 remodel gave the building the familiar Mission Revival character it retains today. Celebrities of stage and screen were in regular attendance: Bob Hope, Jack Benny, Veronica Lake, Joan Crawford, and many others. California historian Kevin Starr described the scene during the war years: “At night, after duty hours, the bar at the Officers’ Club was packed solid with men in khaki and brass, pinks and greens, highballs in one hand, Lucky Strikes or Camels in the other, the room electric with the excitement of a city, a state, a nation, a world at war.” In 1972 a two- story steel and concrete structure with another grand ballroom, expansive bar, and views to the bay and Golden Gate Bridge was added to the rear of the Officers’ Club.

My Ten Years with a Kodak
The Photography of C. Tucker Beckett
Clarence Tucker Beckett, born in Mississippi in 1878, was a man of many interests.

Clarence Tucker Beckett was stationed twice at the Presidio between 1912 and 1914. Throughout his travels, he took thousands of photographs, recording soldiers at work and leisure. His images are a stunning record of the modernizing Army.
This exhibition showcases Beckett’s photos taken at the Presidio of San Francisco and in northern Mexico. His images capture the jovial community of soldiers living at the Presidio in the early 20th century, and stand as testament to their service while deployed abroad.

The exhibition also displays a small selection of his original prints, albums, writings, and other materials. Beckett was fascinated with the photographic process, from developing film in harsh conditions to keeping detailed records of his negatives. Visitors are invited to share their own photographs and memories of the Presidio. Their stories will become part of the archive used to conduct research and develop future exhibitions.

The social life of the Officers’ Club, past and present, is illustrated here. A scrapbook highlights the Presidio Commanding Officers’, and an accompanying display honors the men and women who served here in the U.S. Army.

Thousands of keys from the decades and 35 species of bees in the Presidio.

Twenty thousand years ago, ice covered the world. Much of the Earth’s water was frozen in glaciers, making sea level far lower than it is now. San Francisco Bay consisted of broad river valleys and meadows. The Pacific coastline was 27 miles west of the Golden Gate straight. The Farallon Islands mark this ancient shoreline.
As the ice age ended, swollen rivers carried huge flows of melted ice water and sediment down from the Sierras. Sea levels rose, and about ten thousand years ago the ocean entered through the Golden Gate straight. The broad valleys begin to fill with seawater at the rate of about an inch a year., forming San Francisco and San Pablo bays.

A painting on the stairs to and from the ballroom.
The updated Presidio Officers’ Club will serve as a dynamic cultural center that reflects the diversity of the Bay Area and will offer exhibits and programs that help visitors establish a deep understanding of the Presidio’s vital role in shaping California and serving the nation. Visitors will enjoy exceptional events including live music and dance, dialogues with notable authors and thinkers, theater, films, and family programs – all happening weekly from Thursdays through Sunday.

A photo of a triptych painting near the elevators to the upper ballroom.
The Officers’ Club is expected to be a lively gathering place for food and social functions. The destination restaurant, Arguello, will feature Mexican cuisine capturing the cultural heritage of the Presidio while offering modern touches and a contemporary bar with craft cocktails. A heated patio will provide a comfortable new way to enjoy outdoor dining in the Presidio and will feature accents that connect today’s experiences to the historic Presidio. A new ballroom event space with views toward San Francisco Bay will be available for celebrations and business gatherings.

The view looking north as seen from the outside balcony of the Presidio Officer’s Club.
The Presidio Officers’ Club is located in the Presidio of San Francisco at 50 Moraga Avenue (at Arguello Boulevard) on the Main Post. The Officers’ Club formally opened on October 4 and 5.
The Officers’ Club will thereafter be open to visitors every day except Monday. Details at www.presidio.gov/poc.

After attending the opening Dave and I went to Lincoln Park to watch the sun set.
A thick bank of fog was coming in off the Pacific and the golden light of the setting sun would break through for brief moments.

A glimpsed view through the fog bank of the fast-setting sun on the Pacific.

The setting sun on Sunday October 5th, 2014.