In the late 1920's, The City of San Francisco constructed a new "Great Highway" along Ocean Beach on top of the shore dune (Fig. 1). 1 It was over 200 feet wide and 10 feet higher than the old Great Highway. To provide access to the beach, two pedestrian tunnels were built at Judah and Taraval Streets. Within a year, the waves had undermined the oceanside ramp and wingwalls at the Taraval site (Fig. 2). The first solution was to construct a wooden bulkhead with a wood pile foundation. It protected the underpass for seven years when it failed under the attack of the waves.

The final solution was the design and construction of the Taraval Sea Wall (Figs. 3 and 4). It is apparent fromthe changes made after the final construction drawings were issued that the designers had second thoughts about the power of the Pacific's waves. The wall was changed from reinforced concrete piles to interlocking steel sheet piles and other items were made heavier. The sheet pile wall was surmounted by a reinforced concrete cap about 2.5 feet wide and 2 feet high. The top of the cap is 7.2 feet above MHHW and the tip of the piles is 20.8 feet below it. The length of the wall is 662 feet (Fig. 5). Shoreward walls of the same design 65 feet long were built at both ends and in the middle. The upper ten feet of the seaward face of the main and end walls was protected by steel mesh reinforced gunnite. The wall cap was backed up by 20 foot steel beam struts 16 feet on centers. At the shore end of the strut was a 12 inch Hpile20 feet long which supported a heavy concrete structure about 8 feet high and six feet wide. The area between the seawall and the toe of the slope was paved with mortared flagstones.

At the time of completion, December 10, 1941, the gunnited ocean face was exposed. The final report says: "A massive concrete stairway leading from the beach was constructed on four steel H piles. A heavy 2inch wrought iron rail was furnished and installed on the top of the concrete cap and stairway," No trace of the rail remains. World War 11 had started and wrought iron fences were taken for the war effort. We have no record as to when the wall was buried in the beach, but it was soon covered and its existence forgotten.