The dowagers of Nob Hill

Press, 14 January 1986, Page 24

The dowagers of Nob Hill

By

SUSAN KUROSAWA

to bring the total room count to 762.

Everything about the hotel retains that exuberant tum-of-the-century atmosphere; the various restaurants have all been awarded culinary honors and The Venetian Room supper-club is a showcase for some of America’s top entertainers. The Fairmont’s equally elegant neighbour on Nob Hill is The Mark Hopkins. Now an Inter Continental property, this hotel was built in the 1930 s and features high ceilings, plush furniture, gleaming chandeliers and vast public areas.

A new Hollywood detective series is being filmed around the hotel; the central character is a private eye who hangs out in a lavish pad at The Mark Hopkins. The hotel has undergone a $2O million refurbishment programme and its debut of the new facilities coincided with the reopening of San Francisco’s fabled cable car system in the northern summer of 1984.

There’s a cable-car stop right outside the hotel and the trundling trolleys whisk passengers down the corru-

gated hills to Union Square, Chinatown", Fisherman’s Wharf and the pretty foreshores of the bay. Guestrooms at The Mark Hopkins are large and lavish; the lobby is perfect for all conceivable kinds of grand entrances, and there

are lots of tali floral decorations featuring the dahlia, San Francisco’s official flower. The Top Of The Mark rooftop cocktail lounge is legendary for its racy cocktails and fabulous views; The Peacock Court is the smooth venue for regular tea dance sessions featuring hot jazz by visiting bigname bands, and The Lower

Bar dishes up soothing * piano music in a wintergarden setting crowned by a « vaulted, Tiffany-style ceil- * ing. “San Francisco has only one drawback - ’tis hard to , leave.” Rudyard Kipling’s •• oft-quoted remark could 4 just as easily be applied to the city’s two lofty J dowagers on beautiful Nob > Hill. ,