Longtime Owner of the Majestic, One and Only Mountain Home Is Putting Has Unveiled an Amazing 3-Course Prix Fixe Dinner for $82 Valentine’s Day!
The Mountain Home Inn has been a Mill Valley icon since Swiss German immigrant couple Claus and Martha Meyer, who were homesick for their native Alps, opened it over a century ago.
The 7,750-square-foot restaurant and hotel at 810 Panoramic Highway has 10 bedrooms, six private balconies and a bar and restaurant boasting a large deck that hangs over the mountain’s edge.
“It was a huge splash,” owner Susan Cunningham recalled at the time. “We were in seven different sections in the Chronicle. It really touched people’s hearts.”
“Among towering redwoods and mountain scenery, we’ve carved out a place that feels like another world—just 20 minutes from the Golden Gate Bridge. This scenic drive will take you through time to Mt. Tamalpais, the getaway of choice for 19th century San Franciscans.”
It was around then Edward Cunningham noticed the construction of a very un-California restaurant and hotel at the base of Mount Tam — the Pelican Inn at Muir Beach. The pub was built beam by beam from materials shipped over from England and Scotland, and it still has the bona fide look of a Tudor watering hole today, despite being built in 1979. Cunningham befriended the Pelican’s creator, Charles Felix, as he continued searching for his own old place to run.
One day, while jogging out on the Panoramic Highway, Cunningham saw the old Mountain Home Inn, closed and in a bad state. Dengler had not been able to keep the historic restaurant open. “He had put up a ‘for sale’ sign,” Susan says. “And my husband walked over and just bought it on the spot.”
The Cunninghams spent years making the inn what it is today. Due to the success of the Mountain Home Inn, Susan and Edward went on to eventually run the Pelican Inn.Edward Cunningham died in 2022. Susan still owns the inn and lives down the hill in Mill Valley. She looks back on their time opening the Mountain Home 40 ago with fondness. “We had some struggles, but it was our baby,” she says. “It has a special place in our hearts.”The Mountain Home Inn is open 365 days a year, at 810 Panoramic Highway in Mill Valley.