One of a Kind That Rose
SUE BRATTLE
San Remo Hotel, Mason Street, San Francisco, US
3/5
I‘VE always known that San Francisco suffered a huge earthquake in 1906 because there was an engraving of the city in flames hanging in our living room when I was a child.
The picture was a gift from my Great Aunt Rose Brattle, governess to a businessman’s family in San Francisco at the time. I met her once, when I was four and she was about 90, but it was decades before I visited the city where she had lived and worked.
It’s likely that Rose would have seen the San Remo Hotel being built in North Beach in 1906. It was the brainchild of the man who later founded the Bank of America; he realised that workmen rebuilding the devastated city needed somewhere to sleep. So the building started life as a cheap and cheerful hostel near the shipyards.
I can’t remember why we’d arrived in San Francisco with nowhere booked; we planned to stay for a week and see the city by foot, bus, and tram. We returned our rental car and started the hunt for a hotel, quickly realising how expensive San Francisco is. Dreary chain hotels were asking US$350-plus per night, which would have bust our road trip budget. We were at that weary and slightly disheartened stage when we spotted the San Remo on Mason Street, with a sign saying “Rooms $99 a night”.
Colin stayed on the pavement with our luggage and I climbed the steep staircase up to the reception desk, where a nice young guy told me the advertisement was the special Sunday rate only. Within minutes I’d got seven nights booked at that rate, with the receptionist saying he couldn’t refuse us, and the same laid-back friendliness greeted all of our enquiries all week.
The hotel is not everyone’s cup of tea. All bar one of the 65 rooms (the penthouse suite) shares bathrooms and the rooms are small-ish. We were the oldest people staying there that week, but we both liked the relaxed feel of the place.
Wi-fi is only available in the hall, there’s no TV in the rooms, and only some of them have a sink. The furniture is homely; old-fashioned wardrobes with creaky doors, Victorian bedsteads, and chintzy curtains and bedspreads.
On the ground floor is America’s oldest Italian restaurant, the Fior d’Italia (Flower of Italy) founded in 1886 and incorporated into the San Remo in 2005 when the restaurant burned down. This, and the multiple ghosts that are said to haunt the hotel, add to the sense that you’re experiencing a slice of history.
If you can’t survive without the latest bells and whistles, this hotel isn’t for you. However, it’s only a stone’s throw from the famous Fisherman’s Wharf and Pier 39, and a short stroll from Cable Car Corner, where the trams turn around. It’s easy to get anywhere, with restaurants, bars, and public transport on the doorstep.
So that’s how we chanced upon the San Remo, and it set the atmosphere of our stay in San Francisco. It’s nice when your hotel is a historic site that doesn’t break the bank.
Main photo, bar and car photos courtesy San Remo Hotel
August 2019
Need to Know: SAN REMO HOTEL
1. Get a room with a wash basin; there can be queues for the bathrooms!
2. Get a street-facing room. There are some inside rooms, with windows onto the landing, that looked quite gloomy
3. Give the Fior d’Italia on the ground floor a try, the food is delicious
4. Have your breakfast at Cable Car Corner one morning and watch the trolley-bus turntable before hopping on for a ride
5. The hotel has no lifts, and it’s a struggle up the staircase with heavy luggage. Not for the unfit or faint-hearted.
MORE INFO
SAN REMO HOTEL site has lots of information about the property’s history and nearby attractions, plus the usual details about rooms and how to book. READ MORE
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Disclosure: Afaranwide is an affiliate of leading travel operators such as Booking.com and Japan Rail Pass. If you purchase through our site we receive, at no additional cost to you, a small commission. We only work with companies we have used and recommend.
LET'S KEEP IN TOUCH!
One of a Kind That Rose
Out of an Earthquake
SUE BRATTLE
San Remo Hotel, Mason Street, San Francisco, US
3/5
I‘VE always known that San Francisco suffered a huge earthquake in 1906 because there was an engraving of the city in flames hanging in our living room when I was a child.
The picture was a gift from my Great Aunt Rose Brattle, governess to a businessman’s family in San Francisco at the time. I met her once, when I was four and she was about 90, but it was decades before I visited the city where she had lived and worked.
It’s likely that Rose would have seen the San Remo Hotel being built in North Beach in 1906. It was the brainchild of the man who later founded the Bank of America; he realised that workmen rebuilding the devastated city needed somewhere to sleep. So the building started life as a cheap and cheerful hostel near the shipyards.
I can’t remember why we’d arrived in San Francisco with nowhere booked; we planned to stay for a week and see the city by foot, bus, and tram. We returned our rental car and started the hunt for a hotel, quickly realising how expensive San Francisco is. Dreary chain hotels were asking US$350-plus per night, which would have bust our road trip budget. We were at that weary and slightly disheartened stage when we spotted the San Remo on Mason Street, with a sign saying “Rooms $99 a night”.
Colin stayed on the pavement with our luggage and I climbed the steep staircase up to the reception desk, where a nice young guy told me the advertisement was the special Sunday rate only. Within minutes I’d got seven nights booked at that rate, with the receptionist saying he couldn’t refuse us, and the same laid-back friendliness greeted all of our enquiries all week.
The hotel is not everyone’s cup of tea. All bar one of the 65 rooms (the penthouse suite) shares bathrooms and the rooms are small-ish. We were the oldest people staying there that week, but we both liked the relaxed feel of the place.
Wi-fi is only available in the hall, there’s no TV in the rooms, and only some of them have a sink. The furniture is homely; old-fashioned wardrobes with creaky doors, Victorian bedsteads, and chintzy curtains and bedspreads.
On the ground floor is America’s oldest Italian restaurant, the Fior d’Italia (Flower of Italy) founded in 1886 and incorporated into the San Remo in 2005 when the restaurant burned down. This, and the multiple ghosts that are said to haunt the hotel, add to the sense that you’re experiencing a slice of history.
If you can’t survive without the latest bells and whistles, this hotel isn’t for you. However, it’s only a stone’s throw from the famous Fisherman’s Wharf and Pier 39, and a short stroll from Cable Car Corner, where the trams turn around. It’s easy to get anywhere, with restaurants, bars, and public transport on the doorstep.
So that’s how we chanced upon the San Remo, and it set the atmosphere of our stay in San Francisco. It’s nice when your hotel is a historic site that doesn’t break the bank.
Main photo, bar and car photos courtesy San Remo Hotel
August 2019
Previous
Next
Need to Know: SAN REMO HOTEL
1. Get a room with a wash basin; there can be queues for the bathrooms!
2. Get a street-facing room. There are some inside rooms, with windows onto the landing, that looked quite gloomy
3. Give the Fior d’Italia on the ground floor a try, the food is delicious
4. Have your breakfast at Cable Car Corner one morning and watch the trolley-bus turntable before hopping on for a ride
5. The hotel has no lifts, and it’s a struggle up the staircase with heavy luggage. Not for the unfit or faint-hearted.
MORE INFO
SAN REMO HOTEL site has lots of information about the property’s history and nearby attractions, plus the usual details about rooms and how to book. READ MORE
RELATED
GLORIOUS GOLDEN GATE: You can’t take your eyes off it, and in real life it’s more beautiful than any photograph you can take. The Golden Gate Bridge really does prove that, now and then, mankind can rise above itself… READ MORE
GREETED BY YODA, WE WERE: The actual-size depiction of the diminutive Jedi Master stood atop a disproportionately large fountain near the car park at the headquarters of Star Wars production company Lucasfilm… READ MORE
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Disclosure: Afaranwide is an affiliate of leading travel operators such as Booking.com and Japan Rail Pass. If you purchase through our site we receive, at no additional cost to you, a small commission. We only work with companies we have used and recommend.
LET'S KEEP IN TOUCH!
SUE BRATTLE
One of a Kind That Rose Out of an Earthquake
San Remo Hotel, Mason Street, San Francisco, US
3/5
I‘VE always known that San Francisco suffered a huge earthquake in 1906 because there was an engraving of the city in flames hanging in our living room when I was a child.
The picture was a gift from my Great Aunt Rose Brattle, governess to a businessman’s family in San Francisco at the time. I met her once, when I was four and she was about 90, but it was decades before I visited the city where she had lived and worked.
It’s likely that Rose would have seen the San Remo Hotel being built in North Beach in 1906. It was the brainchild of the man who later founded the Bank of America; he realised that workmen rebuilding the devastated city needed somewhere to sleep. So the building started life as a cheap and cheerful hostel near the shipyards.
I can’t remember why we’d arrived in San Francisco with nowhere booked; we planned to stay for a week and see the city by foot, bus, and tram. We returned our rental car and started the hunt for a hotel, quickly realising how expensive San Francisco is.
Dreary chain hotels were asking US$350-plus per night, which would have bust our road trip budget. We were at that weary and slightly disheartened stage when we spotted the San Remo on Mason Street, with a sign saying “Rooms $99 a night”.
Colin stayed on the pavement with our luggage and I climbed the steep staircase up to the reception desk, where a nice young guy told me the advertisement was the special Sunday rate only. Within minutes I’d got seven nights booked at that rate, with the receptionist saying he couldn’t refuse us, and the same laid-back friendliness greeted all of our enquiries all week.
The hotel is not everyone’s cup of tea. All bar one of the 65 rooms (the penthouse suite) shares bathrooms and the rooms are small-ish. We were the oldest people staying there that week, but we both liked the relaxed feel of the place.
Wi-fi is only available in the hall, there’s no TV in the rooms, and only some of them have a sink. The furniture is homely; old-fashioned wardrobes with creaky doors, Victorian bedsteads, and chintzy curtains and bedspreads.
On the ground floor is America’s oldest Italian restaurant, the Fior d’Italia (Flower of Italy) founded in 1886 and incorporated into the San Remo in 2005 when the restaurant burned down. This, and the multiple ghosts that are said to haunt the hotel, add to the sense that you’re experiencing a slice of history.
If you can’t survive without the latest bells and whistles, this hotel isn’t for you. However, it’s only a stone’s throw from the famous Fisherman’s Wharf and Pier 39, and a short stroll from Cable Car Corner, where the trams turn around. It’s easy to get anywhere, with restaurants, bars, and public transport on the doorstep.
So that’s how we chanced upon the San Remo, and it set the atmosphere of our stay in San Francisco. It’s nice when your hotel is a historic site that doesn’t break the bank.
Main photo, bar and car photos courtesy San Remo Hotel
August 2019
Need to Know: SAN REMO HOTEL
1. Get a room with a wash basin; there can be queues for the bathrooms!
2. Get a street-facing room. There are some inside rooms, with windows onto the landing, that looked quite gloomy
3. Give the Fior d’Italia on the ground floor a try, the food is delicious
4. Have your breakfast at Cable Car Corner one morning and watch the trolley-bus turntable before hopping on for a ride
5. The hotel has no lifts, and it’s a struggle up the staircase with heavy luggage. Not for the unfit or faint-hearted.
MORE INFO
SAN REMO HOTEL site has lots of information about the property’s history and nearby attractions, plus the usual details about rooms and how to book. READ MORE
Previous
Next
RELATED
GLORIOUS GOLDEN GATE: You can’t take your eyes off it, and in real life it’s more beautiful than any photograph you can take. The Golden Gate Bridge really does prove that, now and then, mankind can rise above itself… READ MORE
GREETED BY YODA, WE WERE: The actual-size depiction of the diminutive Jedi Master stood atop a disproportionately large fountain near the car park at the headquarters of Star Wars production company Lucasfilm… READ MORE
MOVIE FANS’ CALIFORNIA: Many of the most famous and iconic film and TV series have been shot on location in California – see where your favourites were made… READ MORE
RECOMMENDED
WELCOME TO OUR WORLD! Afaranwide’s home page – this is where you can find out about our latest posts and other highlights. READ MORE
TOP 10 VIRTUAL ATTRACTIONS: Many of the world’s most popular tourists sites are closed because of the coronavirus crisis, but you can still visit them virtually while you’re self-isolating. READ MORE
SHIMLA, QUEEN OF THE HILLS: Government officials once retreated to Shimla in the foothills of the Himalayas to escape India’s blazing hot summers. Now tourists make the same journey. READ MORE
TEN THINGS WE LEARNED: Our up-to-the-minute guide to creating a website, one step at a time. The costs, the mistakes – it’s what we wish we’d known when we started blogging. READ MORE
TROUBLED TIMES FOR EXPATS: Moving abroad can seem an idyllic prospect, but what happens when sudden upheavals or the inescapable realities of life intrude? READ MORE
Disclosure: Afaranwide is an affiliate of leading travel operators such as Booking.com and Japan Rail Pass. If you purchase through our site we receive, at no additional cost to you, a small commission. We only work with companies we have used and recommend.