We are fans of San Francisco's City Guides and hardly ever visit The City without going on one of their tours. Hosted by the San Francisco Public Library and supported largely by donations from grateful visitors like us, the volunteer guides provide wonderful tours, enjoyable, informative, colorful, very much capturing the historic spirit of the place. Two of their dozens of tours actually require reservations--the Fairmont Hotel and the Diego Rivera mural at the Stock Exchange Tower--and on this visit to the Bay area we were fortunate enough to score both! The old Fairmont Hotel--which actually pre-dates the 1906 earthquake and fire--is so interesting and historic, I'll have to do it in two posts.
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| Must be in San Francisco |
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Entrance to the Fairmont; the flags represent the nation/
signatories of the UN Charter, much of which can be traced
to the Fairmont's meeting rooms |
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The ramp was built for FDR; more than a few presidents,
premiers, and prime ministers have stayed here |
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| Lobby; well, a bit of it |
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| Main dining room; a bit of it |
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| Our Founder |
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The best thing about the Fairmont, for me anyway, is that it
is a such a self-regarding institution...there are displays and
historic plaques and such all over its halls; here is where a
young Orson Welles ran into William Randolph Hearst...
Citizen Kane had just come out...Welles invited Hearst to join
him for a drink (the guy really did have nerve), but Hearst is
said to have politely declined (murmuring "Rosebud"?) |
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| A meeting room/ballroom |
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A view of the immediate environs and a very, well, somewhat
famous church whose name now eludes me; it had a maze,
like Chartres...well, not very much like Chartres... |
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| The Rock |
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| From the top of the Fairmont, another favorite, Coit Tower |
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What used to be called the TransAmerica Tower and
beyond it, some of the Bay |
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The Fairmont looks down on The Top of the Mark (Hopkins),
another Nob Hill landmark |
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In the Bay, Treasure Island and its old Pan American Clipper
terminal |
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| Looking down onto the Fairmont's pent-house |
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