El Niño Storms Unearth Ruins At San Francisco's Ocean Beach
SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX 5) – El Niño storms this winter have revealed some long-lost history at a popular tourist spot in San Francisco.
At Ocean Beach and Taraval, a glimpse into what San Francisco looked like 80 years ago. Ruins at the site weren't dug up, but unearthed by Mother Nature.
"All where we're sitting is all broken rock and rubble and this wooden structure that no one had any idea that's underneath the sand," said beachgoer Kristen McCue.
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Beachgoers noticed the ruins last month after storms and high surf battered the coastline.
According to the Western Neighborhoods Project, these mysterious cobblestone steps were part of a pedestrian tunnel built in the 1920s underneath the Great Highway. The tunnel would give people access to Ocean Beach.
David Gallagher of the Western Neighborhoods Project said there were at least two more tunnels, demolished in the 1980s.
"What you're seeing right at the top there is what's left of that tunnel, the rebar sticking up," Gallagher told KPIX 5.
Below the cobblestone is an old sea wall from the 1940s, the first look of the long fought battle between man and coastal erosion.
"You know the mystery of Mother Nature and you never know with the storms, what's going to be covered or exposed. So, it's exciting," McCue said.
Anyone interested in seeing the ruins should go soon. A frequent beachgoer told KPIX 5 that the sand is starting to cover up the ruins again.
