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Story and photography by Yvonne Yorke
The Fairmont Hotel, San Francisco
When the producers of the popular 80s TV show, Hotel were looking for a suitably grand property to serve as the setting for their hotel drama series, they couldn’t have found one with a finer pedigree than the Fairmont San Francisco. Many can still recall the show’s opening montage depicting the multicolored international flags flying above the hotel’s entrance, and the sweeping marble staircase in the lobby.
Sitting majestically at the top of San Francisco’s ritzy Nob Hill, the Fairmont has also starred in many notable films over the years including Vertigo, Towering Inferno, The Rock, and Sudden Impact with Clint Eastwood, to name a few. Legendary headliners such as Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald and Marlene Dietrich have performed in the Fairmont’s Venetian Room before it closed in 1989. It was at the Venetian Room in 1962 where Tony Bennett first sang, “I Left My Heart in San Francisco”.
To say the Fairmont is as much part of the fabric and the history of the city as the Golden Gate Bridge and the cable cars is an understatement. Just days before the hotel was to open, the Great Earthquake of San Francisco rocked the city on April 18, 1906. While the subsequent fire destroyed the hotel’s interior, the building was saved from collapsed by its sturdy marble columns. City officials set up a command post at the hotel to plan the halt of the inferno sweeping through the city. When the Fairmont opened its doors in 1907 - exactly one year after the Great Earthquake and Fire, it symbolized the rebirth of San Francisco.
Over the years, the Fairmont has been the stage for many historical moments including the drafting of the United Nations Charter in 1945 – the international flags that still hang over the hotel’s entrance represent the nations that participated in the formation of the treaty. Then in 1990, the Fairmont was designated a “foreign mission” to thaw Cold War tensions during a visit by US President Ronald Reagan, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and South Korean President Roh Tae Woo. The hotel has served as the San Francisco residence of so many U.S presidents that it is affectionately known as the “White House of the West”. Guests who are interested in the Fairmont’s history can visit the “Heritage Hall” in the Main Building which chronicles the highlights of the hotel with rare photographs and memorabilia.
An $85 million restoration in 2001 returned the property to its original turn-of-the-century splendor. The Fairmont offers 591 guestrooms, with 371 rooms in the Main Building and 220 rooms in The Tower. All offer pillow top mattresses, Frette linens, luxuriant feather pillows, marble baths, 37” LG flat panel televisions, cordless telephones, high-speed internet access, and iHomes. My room in the Tower affords sweeping views of San Francisco Bay, Coit Tower and Fisherman’s Wharf, as well as the North Beach and Chinatown neighborhoods. First time visitors to the city can literally plan their sightseeing routes by looking out their windows… without the help of the concierge.
However, if you do require the services of the concierge, there is no better hotel to be at. The Fairmont San Francisco has the distinction of being the first hotel to offer the services of a concierge in the United States. In the 1970s, Tom Wolfe, an enterprising staff member who had trained as a concierge in Europe, decided to set up shop in the hotel lobby. Since most Americans at the time were not familiar with the concept, a note explaining the concierge’s role was place in each guest room, and thus America’s first concierge was born. Wolfe went on to start the US chapter of Les Clef d’Or, and today serves as the Fairmont’s chief concierge.
Such long-standing staff members are not unusual at the hotel. In fact, working for the grand dame of hotels at the top of the hill is often a tradition for generations of families. During my stay, I’ve learned that a young lady who works as an assistant restaurant manager has a grandfather who presided as the hotel’s  general manager for over 15 years, and an uncle who is now the regional director of sales & marketing for Fairmont Hotels & Resorts. It’s a bit like working for the Royal Family. Not many hotels in the world can boast that sort of loyalty amongst its staff as well as its guests.
During my stay, I wanted to take a look is the famed Penthouse Suite which has been named one of America’s top 10 penthouses by the Travel Channel, among other accolades. Spanning the entire eight floor of the historic Main Building, the 6,000 square foot Penthouse was original constructed in 1926 as a private residence for the president of the American Trust Company. The lease then was $1,000 a month. Now, the celebrated suite will set you back $12,500 a night. For that price, you’ll get round-the clock butler and maid service, three large  bedrooms, a living room with a grand piano, a formal dining room, a two-story circular library, a billiard room decorated in Persian tile, and a gorgeous terrace with striking views of San Francisco and the Bay. If the terrace looks familiar, you might have remembered it in the scene where Sean Connery escapes the clutches of Nicholas Cage and the FBI in The Rock by shooting his way out of captivity and escaping down the Penthouse suite’s private elevator. I know that I do.
All the sightseeing and action might leave you a little hungry. If that’s the case, you can choose from the casual Caffè Cento with homemade sandwiches, salads and pastries, or perhaps the hotel’s signature restaurant - Laurel Court. The centerpiece of the hotel and crowned by three ornate domes, Laurel Court is the meeting place for the city’s business leaders and society figures, serving up breakfast, lunch and the popular afternoon tea daily, and dinner Tuesday through Saturday.
For a complete change of scene, the property’s Tonga Room and Hurricane Bar is famed for its Pacific Rim Asian menu, and a tropical setting with thunder and rainstorms. Originally, the hotel’s indoor swimming pool, the room had been transformed in 1945 into a Polynesian-themed restaurant with a tiki décor. To add to the ambience, there is a top-40 band, which performs from a thatch-covered barge on the pool, and a dance floor built from the remains of the S.S.Forester – a wood schooner that once plied regularly between San Francisco and the South Sea Islands. In addition to serving dinner nightly, the Tonga Room’s award-winning Happy Hour with a buffet of Pacific Rim specialties prove popular with locals and visitors alike.
After staying at the Fairmont, I felt that I’ve truly experienced a part of San Francisco’s history.
For reservations: contact the Fairmont San Francisco, Atop Nob Hill, 950 Mason Street, San Francisco CA 94108; tel: (415) 772-5000; toll-free: (800) 441-1414;
email: sfreservations@fairmont.com
website: www.fairmont.com
© August 2009 LuxuryWeb Magazine. All rights reserved.
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