Thursday's Clift Hotel

In the post 1906 Earthquake-era the Clift Hotel, located in the heart of San Francisco's Theater District, was the last of the classic hotels to open after the disaster, but before the opening of the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition.  The World's Fair which announced to the planet, San Francisco has recovered from the earthquake and ready for the world to come back.  In fact, almost 20 million people attended the event over that year.

The Clift Hotel opened its doors to an eager public on February 1st, 1915.  Just a couple of months before the exhibition.  Designed by bay area architect George Applegarth, the Clift is a three-part vertical block with Renaissance/Baroque ornamentation and a Spanish tiled roof. 

George Applegarth is somewhat of a rockstar in San Francisco design for having later conceived of the Spreckels Mansion (later owned by romance novelist Danielle Steele) and the California Palace of the Legion of Honor Museum overlooking the Pacific Ocean at Lincoln Park.   It was the first hotel in San Francisco to be designed from the beginning, as fire and earthquake proof.

In 1924, three more floors were added, making it the largest hotel in California at that time.  But in the 1930s the Clift added the feature which it would be known for to this day.  G. Albert Lansburgh, a prominent architect in his own right and who designed the Warfield and Golden Gate Theatres, created the Redwood Room. 

This intimate lounge is sheathed in large dark panels from a single redwood tree, and the bar was allegedly carved out of a single redwood tree believed to be 800 years old.  Ironically, or maybe intentionally, the Redwood Room Bar and Lounge opened the day after Prohibition ended.

The Clift is also the most prominent hotel in the city's Theater District and attracted its fair share of celebrities, which ran the gamut from  Judy Garland to Madonna.  I happened to be walking by one day when I came across a phalanx of secret service and SFPD.  Turned out that was where 1988 Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis was residing while in town to campaign. 

Sometimes the owners were the celebrities.  You may not know the names of Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager, but you may have heard of Studio 54; the uber-exclusive night club in 1970s Disco-Era New York.  Ian Schrager became a hotelier himself and owned the Clift from 1996 to 2005.  He also completed an $80 Million renovation in 1999.

Perhaps it is its connection to the creative community as to why there are many sundried and quirky features, such as the eight foot chair in the lobby created by French designer Philippe Starck.  Every floor has a mirror, and each one has a crack in it to symbolize the San Andreaus Fault line, which runs through the city.  In each room is a purple chair, and if you pull it forwards, you will find a small wheel underneath.  This represents the honoring of the California Gold Rush.   The hotel even features several paintings by Austrian master, by Gustav Klimt.

What makes the Clift special for me, as a concierge, is that it was the first hotel to open their concierge desk after the pandemic, while all the rest remained shuttered.  Even though we were still wearing masks, the Clift recognized the gravitas, service, and value a concierge provides.

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