Frank & Fanny Torres photo from Millie Muller
Part of a 1971 article:
Slide Threat Halts Work at Seal Cove
“The moratorium extends for a half-mile both
north and south of Seal Cove and between the ocean and county-
owned Half Moon Bay Airport. There are an estimated 100 building
sites in the 750-acre area, where the major land owners are Deane &
Deane Inc. and the family of Frank Torres, pioneer Coastside restaurateur.”
It quotes Frank Sr. saying that he build a $60,000 home right in the slide
area, right on the cliff, six years ago. and there are no signs of any
damage yet…”
June adds: Before Frank died, I think, in the 1980s, I visited him at his home, painted pink, and overlooking the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve steps away from the Moss Beach Distillery, the famous roadhouse he had owned in the late 1920s. I had a plan: I was there to talk to him about Prohibition, and I hoped he would spill the beans. He didn’t but we had a good time nonetheless. Was he even personally involved in Prohibition? Maybe not. Someone told me he had a conneciton to a place, with a fascinating name, “Vesuvius” in San Francisco. What I did see in his living room, and what I would like to see again, was the unforgettable painting of Frank Torres on the wall. A beautiful image of Frank in suit and tie with Devil’s Slide behind him.