The Morning Fog May Chill The Air, I Don't Care

As the world knows, legendary crooner Tony Bennett passed away on July 21st. There is no other singer, or song, so solely synonymous with San Francisco as 'I Left My Heart In San Francisco.' Ask anyone on the street to name the first song they can think of when they hear the words San Francisco. I doubt Journey's 'When The Lights Go Down In The City' or Scott McKenzie's 1960s hippie anthem, 'San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)' comes to mind.

Even when he reinvented himself in the 1990s, wearing a crazy rocker outfit on the MTV Awards in 1991 instead of his signature tux, he never dumbed it down for his audience. When he performed with Bono, the U2 front man sang jazz classics, not the other way around. I was lucky enough to see him perform live at the Davies Symphony Hall in 2015. Even as he was pushing 90, he could still maintain those high notes for what seemed like an eternity.

His signature song about the city made us feel special and proud. Even the street in front of the Fairmont Hotel, where he first performed his legendary hit in 1961, was renamed Tony Bennett Way.

A local San Francisco business influenced by Tony Bennett

It has also crept into the cultural zeitgeist of San Francisco. Local businesses often mine variations of the song for TV and radio ads. Other businesses incorporate his image and iconic status in less classy ways.

The Fairmont Hotel, where his iconic hit was first performed

The city of San Francisco keenly felt the loss like no other place. Within hours of the news, people began leaving flowers and notes of appreciation at the statue of his likeness in front of the Fairmont Hotel. The hotel even displayed a tribute to him with flowers and photos in a special velvet roped-off area.

An anonymous note left by a local fan

We've all seen the retrospectives, tributes, and are probably sick of the recurring clip of him singing I Left My Heart In San Francisco on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964. San Franciscans, like fans the world over, knew him to be classy and professional. And although he was born on another coast decades before he first performed his famous hit, we always thought of him as our own. Like Willie Mayes, another transplant to the city, we forgot he was from somewhere else. When San Franciscans hear those iconic seven words, for a moment, we feel as classy and cool as the man who first sang them.