Quirky S.F. floating restaurant up for sale
For sale: a beach, a lighthouse, a waterfall and an underwater 100-seat dining room.
San Francisco’s only floating restaurant, Forbes Island, has closed for good following the retirement of its eccentric owner, Forbes Thor Kiddoo.
For nearly two decades, the one-of-a-kind attraction has been moored just off Pier 39, accessible only by ferry. A former houseboat that Kiddoo transformed into an upscale restaurant, complete with palm trees, tiki bars, a sandy beach, 55-step lighthouse and a Captain Nemo-inspired eatery beneath the surface, the entire craft is up for sale.
But finding a buyer, the 79year-old Kiddoo said, is proving to be a difficult task.
“It’ll be sold as a restaurant, or a private home, or a club, because that’s what it’s set up
for now,” Kiddoo said. “We haven’t really marketed its sale yet. We’re still in the process of moving it somewhere where we can do that. But it’s going to be a lot for someone to take on because there are so many moving parts.”
Pier 39 will not be involved in the sale of the property, said Sue Muzzin, spokeswoman for Pier 39. The island is Kiddoo’s personal property, she said. Its only formal ties to Pier 39 were lease agreements over the years.
“They’ve been here for so long and it’s just a wonderful place. It’s sad to see it go,” Muzzin said. “It fit perfectly into Pier 39, but it’s Forbes’ property, so what happens to it is up to him. We’re not trying to rent it out or sell it.”
The quirky history and lore behind Forbes Island has been as much a part of the restaurant — and the Bay Area — as its lamb lollipops and mai tais.
Kiddoo began construction on his “island” in 1975. He launched it five years later, with more than a dozen palm trees, white sand from Carmel and even a waterfall that streamed into a hot tub. There were also 11 velvet-clad bedrooms, a grand piano and a 1,500-bottle cellar.
The barge, which is about 100 feet long and 50 feet wide and weighs roughly 700 tons, made headlines throughout the 1980s, during its tenure as Kiddoo’s opulent residence. He tried to pitch it to developers as a prototype for a whole collection of similar islands in the bay. He constantly battled with authorities, who wanted to evict it from local waters. There was even a shark tank there; Kiddoo freed the sharks in 1991, telling The Chronicle at the time that he “got to feeling sorry for the sharks and let them all out.”
During this time, Forbes Island bounced around from Marin County’s Richardson Bay to the south end of Sausalito before moving on to Richmond and, after being rejected by Half Moon Bay, stopped for good at Pier 39 in 1999, where it was converted into a restaurant.
Kiddoo said that while the adventures of having the island were fun, retirement has been on his mind for a few years.
Kiddoo turns 80 in a few weeks. That, coupled with the difficulty not only associated with running a regular restaurant in San Francisco, but one that requires a licensed captain and approvals for operation from the Coast Guard, made keeping Forbes Island open a complicated pursuit.
“I realized I’m getting too old for this business,” Kiddoo said. “You hate to close it down, but you just have to face reality. It’s a complex operation to run it like a restaurant.”
The space also had a history of sporadic openings and closures. In 2013, the restaurant was closed due to a fire in its Sea Lion Room, one of two private rooms on the island’s main level. It closed again in the spring of 2016 for about two months, for unspecified repairs.
With all of the difficulties in mind, Kiddoo said he valued the restaurant’s journey. And even though he acknowledged that it served as a quirky touchstone for both Bay Area natives and tourists, he said that keeping the island as a restaurant isn’t important to him.
For now, his focus is on getting out of the food business and letting another owner begin their own journey with the space — and its accompanying lighthouse, palm trees and beach.
“After being a restaurateur for 20 years, it’s just time to walk away,” Kiddoo said. “I’ve worked hard my whole life. I was born in 1937, so it’s time for a rest. I wish good luck to whoever comes around to get it. It’s a great restaurant. It’s also a lot of work.”