THE SOUTH END ROWING CLUB

The South End Rowing Club was founded on San Francisco Bay in 1873 by a group of rowing enthusiasts who gathered at Jimmy Farrell’s Saloon at the southern end of the city near 3rd and Berry Streets.

The club became a dominant power in the Pacific Coast rowing regattas and attracted many great West Coast athletes. The original clubhouse was a rough redwood structure, built near the Belt Line Railroad that serviced all the shipping piers of the old San Francisco waterfront.

In 1884, club members raised funds for a new clubhouse, a handball court was added to the boathouse, and the club soon dominated the sport on the West Coast. In 1908, the clubhouse was ferried by barge from its original location to Black Point at the foot of Van Ness Avenue, between the Belt Line Railroad Tunnel and the old Alcatraz Island service pier located just across from the City emergency fire pumping station.

In 1927, the clubhouse was moved again, this time to the foot of Larkin Street near the current location of the Maritime Museum in Aquatic Park. The clubhouse was moved one last time in 1938 to its current location at the foot of Hyde Street to make room for construction of Aquatic Park. The original main clubhouse has survived every move, and lives on as testimony to the devotion of members of the South End Rowing Club.

South End athletes have competed in many Olympic and International sporting events, including swimming the English Channel, but the club welcomes everyone with an interest in rowing, open water swimming, handball and running. Club members also regularly swim from Alcatraz to San Francisco (typically clad only in swimsuits and bathing caps), row in regattas around the world, compete in marathons and long-distance running events and are renowned in the international handball community for championship play and world-class tournaments.

Over the its history, Club members have accomplished extraordinary athletic feats – never losing sight of the fact that to be a South Ender is to love life, enjoy good food and drink, revel the company of fellow members, throw great parties and be very glad to live in the San Francisco Bay Area. (Text copied from the club's front wall plaque).