[4] Hilario DeBaca, a former merchant and schoolteacher, wanted something to do during his retirement years, so opened the first Cliff's variety store—named after his youngest son Clifford—at 575 Castro a block south of its present-day location.

"[5] DeBaca's eldest son Ernie, was also a budding entrepreneur who started several businesses, and stores before traveling with his family and eventually moving back to San Francisco in the mid-1930s and re-opening his repair shop.

Between the two men they had during the time of the second store introduced mechanical displays that would save on the limited counter space while utilizing the unused ceiling for storage racks.

Since the advent of automobile and driving culture and post-WWII growth of suburbs, the declining Irish Catholic and Scandinavian populations were giving way to the much more liberal young people who were overflowing from the "Summer of Love" Haight-Ashbury neighborhood just over the hill.

[9] At the same time, Bon Ami , a variety store a few doors away, was going bankrupt and Ernie DeBaca was able to buy the building outright.

[7] But in the mid-90s, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence revived Children's Halloween with an annual party held at the Eureka Valley Recreation Center, including a costume contest and gifts from Cliff's.