I remember in 1976, taking my soon to be wife out to dinner at Scoma’s Restaurant on Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco. We had full plates of wild caught garlic roasted Abalone for less than 20 bucks a plate. Now I wouldn’t even think of going to San Francisco.
When the Seafare restaurant opened in Whittier, Calif. in 1961 abalone was one of the cheaper items on the menu. By the end of the 60s it had disappeared from the menu, but the Seafare remained a popular place to get seafood until its owners closed it in 2014 in response to California's worsening climate for small businesses.
By the way, I will never again visit San Francisco.