San Francisco’s iconic Sir Francis Drake Lodge completely adjustments title

One of San Francisco’s most famous hotels has been rebranded.

The Sir Francis Drake Hotel, the Union Square icon that opened in 1928, will become the Beacon Grand. The news was first reported by the San Francisco Business Times.

The 21-story, 416-room hotel has been closed since March 2020. It was quietly purchased by the Northview Hotel Group last April; the Northview Hotel Group currently owns the Beach House in Hilton Head, the Boca Raton in Florida, Brasada Ranch in Bend, Ore., and Tapatio Springs in Boerne, Tex. The Sir Francis Drake Hotel website, which does not yet call it Beacon Grand, says it expects to reopen “soon.”

“The new concept honors very much and respects the history of the iconic hotel,” public relations manager Leah Goldstein told the Chronicle. “We are aiming for early March.”

It’s the latest Bay Area landmark to drop Drake’s name. In 1579, the English privateer and explorer reached the California coast. Although he missed the entry to San Francisco Bay, he is believed to have claimed the coastline for Queen Elizabeth I around Point Reyes (hence the name Drakes Bay). Drake was among England’s first slave traders, making repeated trips to West Africa to buy over 1,000 people to sell as property. Recently, a school in Marin County and a stretch of Sir Francis Drake Boulevard have been renamed to stop honoring Drake.

Pedestrians walk by the boarded up Sir Francis Drake Hotel on August 13, 2020 in San Francisco.

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

When the Sir Francis Drake opened in 1928, it was heralded as the West Coast’s finest hotel. Prohibition was no damper on the luxury establishment, where the booze kept flowing and Hollywood celebrities flocked for good times. It was purchased by Conrad Hilton in the late 1930s and briefly renamed the Kimpton Sir Francis Drake Hotel after it was purchased Kimpton Hotels in the 1990s.

A name change was already in the works before the hotel was sold to Northview in 2021. Kimpton told SFGATE in 2020 that they were “working with property ownership to evaluate a name change and potential rebranding of the property.”