Here's an In with
the New that's also a Farewell Favorite. Around 1990, fans of Seal
Rocks and the Cliff House said good
bye to the hordes of sea lions that inhabited the area near Ocean
Beach. That's because the sea lions migrated to Pier 39 where the they fast
became the cheapest popular amusement for tourists in town. Despite a short
lived backlash against the racket they raise, the fish they intercept from
commercial fish catchers, and their stink, the barking zalophus californianus
were not evicted from K-Dock. In fact, Pier 39 management has embraced them
and celebrates January 19, 1990 as the date of their arrival. Popular legend
has it that the sea lions migrated to Pier 39 to follow a huge herring run
in the bay after the October 17, 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake. The sea lions
previously left Seal Rocks for a period of years following the 1906 Earthquake.
