The Trident (restaurant)

Restaurant in California, United States

Established1966 (1966)

Closed2025 (2025)

Head chefJoseph Offner

Food typeAmerican

The Trident
The restaurant in 2023
Location in San Francisco Bay Area
Restaurant information
Established	1966 (1966)
Closed	2025 (2025)
Head chef	Joseph Offner
Food type	American
Location	558 Bridgeway, Sausalito, Marin, California, 94965, United States
Coordinates	37°51′13″N 122°28′43″W / 37.85361°N 122.47861°W / 37.85361; -122.47861
Website	thetrident.net

The Trident was a restaurant in Sausalito, California, opened in 1966 as a bar-restaurant-music venue by the Kingston Trio. It is noted for its psychedelic murals dating to the 1960s and its ties to the music counterculture of that era.^[1] The restaurant closed at the end of 2025.

The modern version of the Tequila Sunrise cocktail was invented at the Trident in the early 1970s.

The restaurant is located in the former 1898 home of the San Francisco Yacht Club. It housed a jazz club called the Yacht Dock when it was purchased by the Kingston Trio, who converted it into a combination live music venue and natural foods restaurant. It became the Trident in 1966.^[2]^[3]

Trident bartenders Bobby Lozoff and Billy Rice created the modern version of the Tequila Sunrise cocktail at the restaurant in 1972. It was served at a private party there organized by Bill Graham to kick off the Rolling Stones' 1972 tour in America. Mick Jagger had one, liked it, and he and his entourage started drinking them.^[4] They later ordered them all across America, even dubbing the tour itself their "cocaine and tequila sunrise tour".^[5]^[6]

In the 1968 action film Bullitt, the live band playing in the background of the restaurant scene with Steve McQueen and Jacqueline Bissett is Meridian West, a jazz quartet that McQueen had seen performing at The Trident and included in the movie.^[7]

During the summers of 1974, 1975 and 1976, Robin Williams worked as a dishwasher and busboy at The Trident.^[8]

The Trident closed in 1980. Shortly thereafter, Horizons opened and became a popular tourist destination until 2012, when it resumed its Trident title. The current owners also operate the Buena Vista Cafe in San Francisco.^[9]^[10]

The Trident closed permanently on New Year's Eve 2025 after declining sales and increasing costs following the COVID-19 pandemic.^[3]

References

↑ "Original" Trident website
↑ "The Trident: History". The Trident. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
1 2 Elena Kadvany (January 2, 2026). "Famed Bay Area waterfront restaurant with 127-year history closes". San Francisco Chronicle.
↑ Burkhart, Jeff (June 19, 2011). Doug Bunnell (ed.). "Barfly: when it's not just another tequila sunrise". Marin Independent Journal. Novato CA: David Rounds. ISSN 0891-5164. OCLC 61313188. Archived from the original on October 21, 2014. Retrieved October 21, 2014. Mick came up to the bar and asked for a margarita, I asked him if he had ever tried a tequila sunrise, he said no, I built him one and they started sucking them up. After that they took them all across the country.
↑ Richards, Keith (October 26, 2010). "9". Life. New York: Little, Brown. p. 326. ISBN 978-0316034418. Retrieved October 21, 2014. The '72 tour was known by other names—the cocaine and Tequila Sunrise tour, or the STP, Stones Touring Party.
↑ Richards, Keith (October 14, 2010). "Exclusive 'Life' Excerpt from Keith Richards". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on April 22, 2014. Retrieved October 21, 2014.
↑ "By 1968 the group was performing at The Trident, a prominent jazz club in Sausalito and the group became a regular performer at Glide Memorial on Sundays. By March of 1968, Meridian West had been noticed by Steve McQueen, the actor, who was captivated by a performance at The Trident. McQueen gave the group a visual cameo appearance in the movie, 'Bullitt,' which was being filmed in San Francisco in April." - Meridian Meridian West web site (archived at WebCite). A similar account is available at Meridian West Folk Jazz Ensemble with Allan Pimentel (archived at WebCite).
↑ "We'll Always Love You Robin!". Thetridentrestaurant.com. August 13, 2015.
↑ "The Trident in Sausalito is revived and reviewed". SFGate. Hearst Communications. December 24, 2012. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
↑ Paolo Lucchesi (October 4, 2012). "The Trident (re)opens in Sausalito". SFGate. Hearst Communications. Retrieved March 14, 2015.

External links

Official website

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