SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — Dunsmuir is a quaint little town nestled in the mountains of Northern California, and one hotel in the area has quite the haunted past. On the week of Oct. 16, that haunted history got a little more colorful.

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On Sunday Oct. 16, Hotel Dunsmuir owner Mark Juarez was having a normal day renovating his historical hotel when one of his guests noticed the faint smell of smoke. Juarez says he found the source of the fire in room 106, on the first floor, before putting it out with a fire extinguisher, “which felt like overkill,” Juarez told KRON4.

Juarez says the initial fire looked small and went out without a problem. As he rallied his contractor, asked a woman to call the fire department and prepared to get the guests out of the lobby in just in case, the fire somehow reignited. When Juarez and his contractor returned to room 106, it was fully engulfed in flames.

The men proceeded to empty three fire extinguishers into the fire, but Juarez says they had no effect on the rising blaze. Fire crews arrived on scene and mitigated the fire a short while later, but Juarez says the incident has still left him with many questions, like how did this fire start?

Fire crews on scene at the Hotel Dunsmuir fire on Oct. 16 (Photo courtesy of Mark Juarez)

Hotel Dunsmuir sustained a significant amount of smoke damage in the fire, and Juarez says the city of Dunsmuir won’t allow him to reopen and host guests until a fire inspector comes to check out the property. Juarez says because the Dunsmuir area is so small he has had a tough time getting ahold of an inspector.

KRON4 reached out to the Dunsmuir Fire team to get more information, but the email was not returned.

Hotel Dunsmuir History

Locals have known Hotel Dunsmuir to be a haunted location due to it’s colorful history. The hotel is 5 stories tall – the tallest in the county – but you wouldn’t know it because the floors are inverted, meaning they go 4 floors down into the ground.

According to Hotel Dunsmuir’s website, the hotel was built in the 1800s, but the first structure burned down in a large fire in 1903 which devastated the town. The building was rebuilt and called The Weed Hotel in 1904, with renovations built “around the building’s original brick skeleton.”

In the 1940s, the hotel was refurbished in an Art Deco style and became known as “Dunsmuir’s Finest,” according to the website. There’s even rumors that John F Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe would meet up in Dunsmuir.

Juarez says the paranormal history of the hotel is some of the most interesting. A paranormal expert toured the hotel and told Juarez that there were 13 ghosts living there.

“He said the ghosts are friendly, they are here to protect you. They’re not gonna let you get hurt,” Juarez tells KRON4.

Filming of ‘Hotel Dunsmuir’

The history and rumored hauntings in the hotel drew film director and visual artist Michael Zaiko Hall to shoot his latest film “Hotel Dunsmuir” at the location in 2020.

“My producer stayed at the real Hotel Dunsmuir one night. He wrote me and said, ‘There is something very strange about this place,’” Hall told KRON4. After meeting with the owner and touring the hotel himself, he knew it was the right place to film.

All cast members who booked the film also signed on to stay at the hotel for the duration of the shoot. Lead acress Jet Jandreau was excited about the idea of ​​staying there, even after odd things started happening.

Actors in “Hotel Dunsmuir” including Jet Jandreau (Photo courtesy of Hotel Dunsmuir filmmakers)

“My ghost experience happened on the very first night I was there. The ghosts were checking out all of these new people,” Jandreau said. The day she arrived Jandreau removed all of the throw pillows from the bed in her room because they weren’t her taste. However, Jandreau says that she woke up in the middle of the night one of the largest throw pillows was at her feet on the bed.

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“I thought to myself, ‘Okay, I know someone is trying to make me aware that this is their space,'” Jandreau told KRON4.

Jandreau wasn’t the only one to report strange happenings during filming. Hall says he experienced some inexplicable incidents as well. According to Hall, he was alone in a quiet room when, “suddenly the faucets in the bathroom just turned themselves on full blast. It was extremely shocking,” Hall told KRON4.

During filming in April of 2021, Juarez, Hall and Jandreau got a bit of a surprise from a group of birds. Around 10 pm one night over 500 birds, later identified by Juarez as chimney swifts, flew into the lobby of the hotel and made themselves right at home. Juarez tells KRON4 the five people in the lobby carried the birds out of the hotel one by one and released them.

In mid October “Hotel Dunsmuir” was released on streaming platforms. The film also premiered at the Atlanta Horror Film Festival, where Hall won the Best Director award.

Visiting Hotel Dunsmuir

Juarez hopes that his hotel can spark more tourists to visit Dunsmuir and check out its beauty. He believes that the hotel’s new scars from the recent fire only add more character to the story of the establishment. If you get a chance to visit the town of Dunsmuir pay close attention to the locals nearby–some were cast in roles in “Hotel Dunsmuir,” giving the film an added note of local gravitas.

“We cast locals, people from Dunsmuir, and they pulled it off!” Juarez said of the performances.

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october 11, 2022Updated: Oct. 13, 2022 6:32pm

Opened in 1927, the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite is one of the “great lodges” of the US National Parks system. Many guests have reported strange happenings on the hotel’s sixth floor. (Courtesy of Yosemite National Park Service/MCT)

Handout, HO/MCT

The famous 95-year-old Ahwahnee Hotel at Yosemite National Park will be closed for 8 weeks at the beginning of 2023 for seismic upgrades, according to the park.

The $31.6 million project — funded by the Great American Outdoors Act of 2020 — consists of a major seismic upgrade throughout the hotel as well as a kitchen renovation, according to a Yosemite National Park press release. Kitchen project work is currently underway and the seismic safety upgrade will begin near the end of the year.

“The Ahwahnee is a crown jewel of national park lodges” said Cicely Muldoon, Yosemite National Park superintendent. “This much-needed work will ensure the Ahwahnee is seismically safe for present and future generations of Yosemite visitors.”

The seismic support upgrade will focus on bracing the chimneys and support walls, replacing window frames and dining room glass in high use visitor areas, the release added. The current central cooling system will also be updated along with improvements to the fireplace.

The Ahwahnee — which opened in 1927, contains 97 guest rooms and 24 cottages — will be closed for reservations from Jan. 2 till March 2 and will not be accepting reservations during that time due to the construction.

Famous visitors to the historic park have included presidents and international dignitaries such as John F. Kennedy and Queen Elizabeth II.

Joel Umanzor (he/him) is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: joel.umanzor@sfchronicle.com

Joel Umanzor joined The San Francisco Chronicle as a breaking news reporter in 2022. A 2021-2023 Hearst Fellow, he was previously a breaking news reporter on The Houston Chronicle’s Metro desk.

Originally from Richmond, Calif., Umanzor graduated from San Francisco State University in 2021. When not in the newsroom or chasing down a source, he can be found painting, listening to hip-hop or watching sports.

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Many Californians would love to stay in a luxury hotel during a trip, but not everyone can afford it.

Luckily, CashNetUSA compiled a list of the cheapest luxury hotels in each state that are perfect for anyone’s next vacation.

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Researchers were able to identify the cheapest luxury hotel one-night stay rates by searching Hotel.com. The hotels included in the study each had the same proposed check-in and out dates.

When information regarding the cheapest five-star hotel wasn’t available, four-star hotel rates were included instead.

In California, the lowest-priced luxury hotel is the Mansion of Sutter in San Francisco, and a one-night stay at the five-star hotel will cost $261, according to the finance website.

While there are plenty of cheaper hotel stay alternatives in the Golden State, hotel guests at Mansion of Sutter can enjoy free WIFI throughout the property, a pool, a 24-hour gym, concierge services, and travel and tourism assistance, along with other perks .

The study found that the cheapest luxury hotel rate was at a DoubleTree by Hilton Deadwood at Cadillac Jack’s in South Dakota. One-night rates there were only $73, according to the study.

The most expensive rate was found at a Four Seasons Resort in Jackson, Wyoming. A one night stay would cost $2,805.

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Hello, it’s Tuesday, Dec. 13, and here are the stories you shouldn’t miss today:

TOP STORIES

The Cecil Hotel rooms for LA unhoused are still mostly empty

The historic Cecil Hotel, with its haunted reputation and 600 rooms, reopened in December 2021 as a privately funded permanent supportive housing project. It’s open to any of the thousands of unhoused Los Angelenos with a government-funded voucher. Many viewed the project as a promising new model in LA because of its size and flexibility.

And yet, a year later, two-thirds of the Cecil remains unoccupied. Even with solid funding and the best of intentions, the Cecil project has struggled to overcome a system beset with a slow-moving bureaucracy and multiple failure points, and to offer a housing stock that serves a population with myriad needs.

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Mayor’s new emergency order meets chaos at City Hall

It was the first major policy announcement from the new administration of Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass — a declaration of a state of emergency aimed at providing immediate relief to thousands of unhoused residents.

That declaration needs a City Council vote today before going into effect, a simple enough task in a quieter political moment. Except the council has left one meeting until mid-January, and has been struggling to conduct its business amid a scandal surrounding Councilmember Kevin de León.

De León faces a furor over his participation in a conversation featuring racist remarks and, more recently, a violent incident involving protesters at an Eastside toy giveaway, which only intensified the tinder keg atmosphere at City Hall.

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The P-22 mountain lion was captured in an LA backyard

P-22, celebrity mountain lion and Griffith Park’s most wanted big cat, was captured in a Los Feliz backyard, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife announced.

The department confirmed P-22 was captured after they received an anonymous tip that he’d been struck by a car in the area. Officials could not confirm if the mountain lion had been hit but said he was “in stable condition.”

P-22 had been sought for evaluation by the National Park Service and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife after “exhibiting some signs of distress” in recent weeks, including killing a leashed Chihuahua and attacking another dog.

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried arrested in the Bahamas

Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced co-founder and former head of digital-asset exchange FTX, was arrested in the Bahamas.

Bankman-Fried’s detention followed a notification from the US that it had filed criminal charges against him, the Bahamas attorney general said in a statement. Authorities in both countries had been probing his involvement in the company’s collapse last month.

In a statement, US Atty. for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams said the arrest was made at the request of the American government.

Can California’s electric-vehicle push overcome the red-state backlash?

Environmentalists, along with industry and government leaders, see a transformation afoot in the electric vehicle industry after decades of false starts. They have acknowledged, however, that they can’t complete the shift if electric cars are viewed as something only for rich liberals in California and New York. They need everyone.

But in places like Indiana, it can be tough to own an electric car. Major cities are located far apart, with few charging stations in between. And the most popular EVs remain out of reach for many consumers in places where incomes tend to be lower.

The state is also deep red. And Republicans are much less likely than Democrats to consider buying an EV, according to a poll conducted for The Times by Leger, a Canadian-based polling firm with extensive experience in US surveys.

Edgar Sargsyan’s journey through LA’s criminal underworld

Edgar Sargsyan’s journey to bankruptcy court began with a one-way ticket from Armenia. It descended into the underworld of Los Angeles, where he learned at the elbow of a crime figure how deals are made and dirty money can underwrite a glittering facade of legitimacy.

Sargsyan shook hands with governors and presidents at a Beverly Hills cigar club and conferred with gangsters in jail. He made a fortune through fraud and drug dealing while surrounding himself with an entourage of corrupt lawmen.

But by 2018, the fun was over, the money was drying up and Sargsyan found himself in bankruptcy court, where what remained of his companies’ assets were to be sold off.

Check out “The Times” podcast for essential news and more.

These days, waking up to current events can be, well, daunting. If you’re seeking a more balanced news diet, “The Times” podcast is for you. Gustavo Arellano, along with a diverse set of reporters from the award-winning LA Times newsroom, delivers the most interesting stories from the Los Angeles Times every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

PHOTO OF THE DAY

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

CALIFORNIA

Drought-ravaged LA seeks out a contaminated Superfund site. As drought and climate change ravage California’s once-reliable supply of drinking water, officials in Los Angeles are setting their sights on a relatively new, almost untapped resource for the city’s 4 million residents: the Superfund site in their own backyard.

Supreme Court upholds California ban on the sale of flavored tobacco products. The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a last-minute plea from the tobacco industry and cleared the way for California to enforce a statewide ban on the sale of most flavored tobacco products, including menthol cigarettes.

Tory Lanez will stand trial in Megan Thee Stallion’s shooting case this week. Prosecutors allege the shooting happened shortly after both hip-hop artists left a party in the Hollywood Hills in July 2020. The case has reinvigorated discussions about misogyny in a hip-hop industry and it comes after a series of violent attacks on hip-hop artists in Los Angeles in recent years.

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NATION WORLD

On same-sex marriage, “the country has caught up with California.” More than 18 years after Gavin Newsom defied federal law by issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples as San Francisco mayor, President Biden is on the cusp of signing legislation that ensures gay marriages are recognized by the federal government and in every state in the nation .

Immigrants sue ICE for spying on their financial records. Immigrants who say their remittances to family abroad were caught up in what they described as a massive warrantless dragnet are suing the government and the wire-transfer behemoth Western Union, which gave money transfer records to law enforcement.

What’s next for Brittney Griner? Experts discuss a road to recovery. After 294 days in Russian custody, Griner was slated to undergo evaluation at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio. Those assessments regarding Griner’s physical, mental and emotional state were just the first step in an uncertain path for the two-time Olympic gold medalist.

In Ukraine, a mayor who surrendered his town becomes a symbol of treason. In the small town of Kupiansk, there was no sudden bombardment, no violent mayhem — the city’s mayor, politically friendly with Russia, spoke to a Russian commander over the phone and then simply surrendered. Misery arrived anyway.

HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS

The Golden Globes return after turmoil. The nominations for the 2023 Golden Globes were announced, with the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. showing particular affection for films “The Banshees of Inisherin” and “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and TV series “Abbott Elementary” and “The White Lotus,” among others.

Elon Musk booed for nearly five minutes straight at Dave Chappelle show in San Francisco. Before welcoming Elon Musk on Sunday stage in San Francisco, Dave Chappelle encouraged his fans to “make some noise for the richest man in the world.” And they did — by loudly booing the billionaire tech mogul.

Angelo Badalamenti, “Twin Peaks” composer and David Lynch collaborator, dead at 85. Badalamenti and Lynch were longtime collaborators, with the composer once calling their relationship “my second-best marriage in the world.”

The rise and fall of canceling culture in comedy. Comedy historian Kliph Nesteroff and comics Donnell Rawlings and Tiffany Haddish explain the origins of modern-day culture and its historical equivalents.

BUSINESS

Elon Musk should prepare for “hundreds or even thousands” of arbitration cases, labor lawyer says. As questions continue to swirl around Musk’s next move, ex-employees through their attorneys are seeking every possible avenue to obtain the benefits they feel entitled to in the aftermath of the tumultuous takeover of Twitter.

Will a legal fight over a $70 million Malibu mansion derail a reality star? A saga of power, corruption and allegations of deception involving multiple lawsuits and parties has played out from the courts of Los Angeles and the halls of Congress to as far away as the shores of Central Africa.

OPINION

How did we let the Golden Globes back in? Columnist and culture critic Mary McNamara writes, “Last year, a Times investigation revealed the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn.’s gift-expecting, early-access-demanding, pay-to-play approach to its awards and lack of any Black members. Everyone was outraged. Publicists threatened a massive boycott, Tom Cruise said he would return his statuary. NBC dumped the 2022 telecast. Now, a year later, the Globes are back, announcing their nominations on live TV.”

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SPORTS

How ultimate underdog Morocco became “the Rocky of this World Cup.” In the first World Cup held in the Middle East and the first played in a majority-Muslim country, Morocco has made history by becoming the first African and first Arabic-speaking nation to reach the semifinals.

There was something Bourdain-like about the big, soccer life Grant Wahl led. Wahl died early Friday morning after collapsing in the press center at the men’s World Cup in Qatar. He lifted, popularized and pioneered soccer coverage in the US Above all, he shared that giant, adventurous life with colleagues and strangers alike.

ONLY IN LA

(Michael DeForge / For The Times)

How to find the best tamales from around the world in Los Angeles. Tamales are delicious year-round but are particularly popular during the holiday and New Year’s seasons, often accompanied by a steaming mug of atole, champurrado or other hot beverage.

This year, The Times’ food team is highlighting their love for all the tamales — not just from Mexico, but also from Guatemala, El Salvador, Colombia and Cuba, just to name a few places. And they’re even extending the strict definition of tamal to include Chinese sticky rice packets wrapped in lotus or bamboo leaves.

FROM THE ARCHIVES

Mary Tyler Moore, Dick Van Dyke, and Sheldon Leonard hold their awards backstage at Emmy Awards in 1964.

(Los Angeles Times)

Dick Van Dyke was born 97 years ago. The versatile comedic actor became a beloved television icon as the ottoman-tripping — or sidestepping — star of the classic 1960s situation comedy “The Dick Van Dyke Show.”

Van Dyke displayed his versatility in a variety of roles, including Bert the cheerful Cockney chimney sweep in the Oscar-winning 1964 Disney musical “Mary Poppins” and an alcoholic public relations man in the 1974 TV movie “The Morning After.” Van Dyke also had an eight-season run as the white-haired and mustachioed crime-solving doctor in “Diagnosis Murder,” from 1993 to 2001.

We appreciate that you took the time to read Today’s Headlines! Comments or ideas? Feel free to drop us a note at headlines@latimes.com.

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A recent Monday, 2:05 pm: Tim Armstrong always thought of himself as an artist. He sacrificed the middle-class lifestyle his parents gave him as a child to follow his creative dreams.

“I came out to pursue the neo-beat culture in San Francisco, the ’90s version, which was to be romantic, pursue your art and live in North Beach,” Armstrong said. “I think of myself as a (Lawrence) Ferlinghetti. Look at this beard.”

He signed up for classes at the San Francisco Art Institute, but gave up one semester short of graduation. His professors wanted to groom artists fit for galleries, and Armstrong was into large-scale, temporary art made from flour that lasted only as long as the rain held off and hungry birds stayed away.

He found a small apartment in North Beach for $200 a month and soon landed work at the San Remo Hotel on Mason Street as a handyman. It didn’t pay a lot, but it gave him the flexibility to pursue his art.

Seventeen years later, the 53-year-old Armstrong has become an integral part of the quirky hotel on the edge of North Beach, which was built in 1906 to house refugees from the great earthquake and fire.

“He knows where all the bodies are buried, he’s been around so long,” said Tom Field, who has owned the San Remo with his brother Robert since 1972. “He is our curator, handyman and decorator. He does all kinds of things that I’m not even aware of.”

Wearing suspenders and signature green Carhartt work pants, Armstrong scurries about the 65-room hotel with “bathrooms down the hall,” looking for the next problem to fix.

“Sometime people vomit in the sink and toilets overflow. I have to deal with it,” Armstrong said. A more pleasant duty is maintaining the Field Brothers’ collection of a dozen-plus antique cars, one of which he drives to the front of the building every day — eye candy to attract customers.

It’s all part of a job that allows the bohemian lifestyle he relishes. Ironically, he doesn’t have much time now to create art, but he still has that mind-set.

As he organized 100-years worth of junk in the hotel’s storage areas, he came across all manner of old photographs and interesting objects. Now, one wing at the San Remo is devoted to antique baby photographs he found and framed. Another is lined with rock posters from the 1960s.

In a way, the artist who shunned the gallery path now hath his own gallery. Nothing is for sale.

“I curate whatever I find and put it on the wall,” Armstrong said. “If it looks good, it stays.”

When he was evicted from his apartment two years ago, the Field brothers let him stay for free in cramped sleeping quarters in the warehouse where the vintage cars are kept. They say he can stay until the right place comes along.

“All my friends have been evicted, and I’m living rent-free in San Francisco. I’m easy to please,” Armstrong said. “Other guys my age, they want to be in love and want their own private bathroom, but I’ll just take what comes my way. What else can you do? I mean, I get to live in San Francisco.”

To see a multimedia production of this piece, go to http://blog.sfgate.com/cityexposed. If you have ideas for the City Exposed, e-mail Mike Kepka at mkepka@sfchronicle.com.

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The largest owner of hotel properties in San Francisco is close to finalizing the sale of a 99-year-old boutique hotel near Union Square.

Pebblebrook Hotel Trust is selling the 236-room Hotel Spero to an affiliate of Memphis-based real estate management firm Fairwood Capital LLC, the San Francisco Business Times reported. News of the sale was found through a liquor license application.

The price of the sale is not yet public. Pebblebrook acquired Hotel Spero with its 2018 purchase of LaSalle Hotel Properties for $5.2 billion. LaSalle bought the hotel, then called the Hotel Californian, in 2013 for $69 million.

Including Hotel Spero, Pebblebrook owns nine hotels in the city. This is the company’s second recent sale in San Francisco — more specifically, on the same block. The Marker hotel at 501 Geary St. was sold by Pebblebrook for $77 million to a Los Angeles real estate investment firm last month, the San Francisco Business Times reported.

Hotel Spero opened as the Hotel Californian in 1923. The Spanish Colonial style building was renovated in 2018 and boasts a historic lobby with hand-painted wooden ceiling beams, as well as a chic diner-style restaurant.

Along with Hotel Spero and The Marker, Pebblebrook has sold two other San Francisco hotels over the last two years: the Sir Francis Drake hotel, now called Beacon Grand, and the Villa Florence. Both hotels are also located near Union Square.

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It’s been a lifetime (ok, fine, almost four years) since Eater SF shared news about the upcoming boutique hotel the LINE, which signed a lease for its first Bay Area outpost back in 2018. Now we finally have more details to share about what to expect in terms of the food and drink options. The trendy 236-room hotel, designed by Handel Architects, will include four food and beverage outlets in total: a ground-floor restaurant called Tenderheart, a rooftop bar and restaurant dubbed Rise Over Run, a more classic hotel bar called Dark Bar, and , lastly, an outpost of Los Angeles’ highly Instagrammable Alfred Coffee.

Executive chef Joe Hou is heading up the kitchens at both Tenderheart and Rise Over Run and brings some San Francisco kitchen cred to the endeavor. According to a press release, Hou, a former pastry chef, worked at Per Se and Nomad in New York City before heading out west, where he joined the team at Michelin-starred Angler. His resume also includes time in the kitchens of Palo Alto’s Bird Dog and the more recently opened Le Fantastique in San Francisco. The press release promises “thoughtful, sophisticated flavors” and menus built on seasonal produce, though details remain scarce about what exactly to expect on the menu at either restaurant.

Chef Joe Hou and beverage consultant Danny Louie. Anna Alexia Basile

Tenderheart, an all-day restaurant that will take over an indoor-outdoor space accessible by both Turk and Market streets, will serve “Northern California cuisine through a multi-cultural lens,” the press release says. While Rise Over Run, that rooftop bar and restaurant perched atop the 12-story building, will boast panoramic views of the city and serve “canapes and shareable plates,” the company brags. Presumably because of the city’s unpredictably chilly weather, the rooftop will have a solarium in addition to a terrace, so customers can take in the sights without having to actually be exposed to the fog.

On the beverage end of things, the company tapped local bar vet Danny Louie of Chinese-American cocktail company Gāmsāān. Louie spearheaded the cocktail program at Mister Jui’s, as well as Chino and Alembic. The lobby-floor Dark Bar is where he’ll mix “unique takes on quintessential cocktails embellished by unexpected bar snacks,” per the release.

But last, coffee: Yes, Los Angeles-based Alfred Coffee, famous for its “But First, Coffee” neon signs, will open its first Northern California outpost inside the hotel. In addition to the usual selection of coffee drinks and tea, there will be some grab-and-go food options available too. All the food and beverage outlets and the hotel itself are expected to open to the public on September 30.

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The post New Restaurant and Rooftop Bar to Open at San Francisco’s Upcoming the LINE Resort in Mid-Market appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

The future king of Britain rolled into San Francisco 16 years ago on a charm offensive to introduce America to his new bride, Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall. And between all the pomp, they wound up hanging out with some of the unfanciest people in town — a batch of chronically homeless folks who’d just gotten housed, the doctors and case managers helping them heal, and me.

We were all utterly charmed.

Then-Prince Charles and his wife were not some stuck-up royals sleepwalking through an obligatory. Or at least that’s how those of us who there remember his November 2005 stop at the Empress Hotel, then hailed as a national model of counseling-heavy supportive housing for the most severely disabled street people.

I recall shaking the hand of a polite, gentle-seeming man now known as King Charles III and his equally polite wife and chatting with them about the homelessness crisis in this, one of the loveliest cities in America. I then watched the couple be equally gracious with the newly housed folks and the staffers who were explaining the workings of the rehabbed ancient hotel to them.

Surrounded by San Francisco city officials and security, then Prince Charles, left, and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, walk down the 5th floor corridor of the Empress Hotel on the way for a visit to a fomerly homeless person’s room.

Brant Ward/The Chronicle 2005

The 90-room Empress, then the flagship of San Francisco’s pioneering medically intensive Direct Access to Housing program, is in the decidedly unposh Tenderloin, but these two looked as if they felt right at home. Gavin Newsom was mayor, and he’d decided to show it off as an example of his homeless-housing push, which had just reduced the street population by 28%. What many people didn’t know is that Charles had been on the same sort of crusade himself.

By the time he visited the year-old Empress operation, Charles had already visited dozens of homeless programs around the world and helped create Britain’s “Rough Sleepers Initiative,” which had reduced the nation’s chronically homeless population by two-thirds over the previous five years . He wanted to analyze San Francisco’s model of building intensive support services into the housing — which isn’t quite as necessary in Britain, where they have a national health system and officially guaranteed housing for the poor, but still had value for its breadth of counseling and medical resources right there in the complex.

A gaggle of us — Newsom, case managers and the like — visited several residents in their rooms, which were so small they were a tight fit for all of us. No problem. The royal two went with the flow. “Oh how nice!” Camilla erupted as she walked into John Panzer’s fifth-floor room. Charles gingerly took a seat on a chair, asking Panzer if that was OK, and the three solemnly discussed the challenges that Panzer had to overcome with drug addiction when he moved into the Empress.

“Gee, they really listen to you,” Panzer marveled when the royals moved on to another room. “I think they know what I’m talking about. amazing.”

The flurry of stories we ran in The Chronicle on the royal visit that week included stops at upscale food shops, organic farming operations, rich-people dinners and the like, and noted that Charles’s suit was stitched by a Saville Row tailor and Camilla’s coat was by British designer Roy Allen. But as they sat on chairs and beds in those rooms with people struggling with challenges few can imagine, they didn’t wince or check things out before they sat down. They nodded knowingly when the residents described the agony of going cold turkey from dope, and the pain in your belly when you’re starving and trying to sleep on a cold night on a sidewalk with one eye open for danger.

They’d obviously heard plenty like this before.

“Very impressive,” Charles told me after the tour, gazing at me over that long nose of his. “We must always remember that these are our fellow human beings. It does seem a lot of good care is being given here.”

Then-Prince Charles visited the Empress Hotel, which housed and provided services for chronically homeless people, during a 2005 royal visit to San Francisco.

Brant Ward/ The Chronicle 2005

Roberta Goodman was manager of the Empress then — four years later she co-produced a gritty documentary on the hotel with Oscar winner Allie Light — and when we remembered this week about that visit, the words she used to describe the couple were “interested and sincere.” We remembered that nobody asked us to bow, as Brits must, and that the royals met every hand offered to them.

“How often do you have someone representing a monarchy come to visit people who are often just neglected?” Goodman said. In a group discussion with a half-dozen residents, Charles stood up and asked people to describe addiction relapse, and when one man — Anthony, since deceased — went deep into the toxic allure of crack, she remembered the prince’s response the way I did .

“The prince took it in. He absorbed it. He was listening. It was pretty remarkable,” Goodman said.

dr Josh Bamberger, a clinical and family medicine UCSF professor, also remembered the visit with me this week, with a little less rosiness. “They seemed fine,” he said. “But how do you know? They’re pretty schooled on how to do those kinds of things.”

Bamberger’s job that day was to calm down any disruptive residents who might unhinge the visit, and he wound up taking one guy downstairs for a walk after he boiled out of his room yelling, “What the hell’s going on?!”

The doctor chuckled as he recalled seeing the mobs of British press fenced just outside the hotel entrance and snipers on roofs all around them.

“I’m thinking, man, if I stumble, there are so many snipers around here I’m going to get shot,” he said.

My Chronicle homeless beat partner of many years, Brant Ward — now retired — also remembered the prince as “an extremely nice man, not pretentious” — and he’s photographed everyone from royals to superstars of film and sports. What sticks in his craw, though, he told me this week, is the way the British photographers badgered the couple. The memory of the paparazzi hounding Charles’ ex, Princess Diana, literally to death eight years before was still somewhat fresh.

“They’d say, ‘Oh, Prince Charles, could you please put your arm around this person?’ or ‘Camilla, could you smile a little more?’ Ward said. “Those of us in the American press thought that was ridiculous. When they had to pose like that I wouldn’t take a picture — it was a complete setup. I’d wait for the natural shot.

“If I were Charles and Camilla, I would have told them to f— off. Because the thing is, he didn’t need to be posed. He smiled, had kind things to say, wasn’t pompous. I think the Brits will be well served by him as their king.”

Based on my morning with the man and his wife, now known as “Queen Consort,” I’d have to agree with my partner. And with any luck, the homeless people of Britain will feel the same.

Kevin Fagan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kfagan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @KevinChron

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Opened in May 2021, The Kimpton Alton Hotel is situated in Fisherman’s Wharf, one of San Francisco’s … [+] most popular destinations.

Jason Jones + Arcsine

Before the pandemic, San Francisco consistently ranked among the country’s top places to visit. Though the California city understandably took a major hit in the last couple of years, good news is afoot. Area tourism, at long last, is on its way to recovery. According to this article by the San Francisco Travel Association, visitor spending is projected to hit $6.1 billion by the end of this year. (For perspective: the numbers for 2021 were $3.1 billion.) The city also witnessed a surprisingly busy July 4th holiday, sparking even more optimism about the local economy’s future.

Named after Alton Kelley, the legendary 1960s rock poster artist, Kimpton Alton Hotel embraces … [+] music, art, and design.

James Baigrie

While reputable places to stay abound in San Francisco, one newcomer stands out with its surprising address, quirky vibe, and buzzy restaurant. Opened in May 2021, The Kimpton Alton Hotel is situated in Fisherman’s Wharf, one of the city’s busiest destinations. But if you’re worried that staying here won’t offer anything unique or special, think again. “Our location grants easy access to some of San Francisco’s best attractions and beaches, but our hotel guest experience is far from touristy,” comments General Manager General Manager. “We were named after Alton Kelley, the legendary rock poster artist of the 1960s, so music and art are embedded within our interior design, amenities, and programming.”

Under the creative direction of accepted interior designer Kara Mann, even the lobby of Kimpton … [+] Alton Hotel impressions.

James Baigrie

Under the creative direction of acclaimed interior designer Kara Mann, even the main lobby impresses with a handsome oak reception desk, colorful textile piece by Trish Andersen reminiscent of 1970s shag carpeting, and diminutive framed original Alton Kelley concert handbill. The adjacent living room and common areas, too, brim with stylish seating, lush greenery, original art – including a textural collage by Kate Drewniak and Ilka Kramer’s moody photography – curated by Artemis Advising, and diverse vinyl collection.

Kimpton Alton Hotel’s 248 guest rooms and suites sport a chic, retro aesthetic.

James Baigrie

Fittingly, the 248 guest rooms and suites sport a similarly retro aesthetic. All of the furnishings, like the midnight velvet headboards and curved wood nightstands, were custom made just for the hotel. And in true Kimpton fashion, you’ll also discover the brand’s Rocky Robes, plush gel-infused beds, and yoga mats in the accommodations. But perhaps the most interesting accents of all are the Victrola record players, which encourage you to customize your own soundtrack during your stay.

Abacá, the signature all-day restaurant helmed by rising star chef Francis Ang, turns out … [+] contemporary Filipino cooking in a bright and airy setting.

James Baigrie

Good looks aside, Kimpton Alton Hotel embraces meaningful collaborations with the local community. For example: Abacá, the highly lauded restaurant helmed by rising star chef Francis Ang, turns out contemporary Filipino cooking – standouts include the Smoked Chicken Palabok, Lola’s Pork Lumpia, and Filipino Breakfast of garlic rice, pork belly, and sunny-side up eggs – in a wonderfully bright and airy setting.

Kimpton Alton Hotel partners with noteworthy Bay Area businesses such as Oakland’s Blk Girls Green … [+] House.

JAMES BAIGRIE

Though there’s no spa on-site, you can book treatments from massages to haircuts via Soothe, an app providing on-demand wellness services in the privacy of your hotel room. Other notable partnerships include Habibi, a wine bar pop-up in Russian Hill – the owners curate the bottles available for purchase at the hotel’s locally-driven bodega – and Oakland’s Blk Girls Green House. “We instantly fell in the vibe and ethos of this woman-owned plant and specialty home goods shop,” says Nichols. “We’ve been working with them since we opened on creative community events, which we try to produce every quarter.” And on August 25, Kimpton’s popular Off the Record concert series will kick off the season at Alton with a performance by VINCINT, with profits from ticket sales benefiting National Urban League, a historic civil rights and urban advocacy organization.

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The largest owner of hotel properties in San Francisco is close to finalizing the sale of a 99-year-old boutique hotel near Union Square.

Pebblebrook Hotel Trust is selling the 236-room Hotel Spero to an affiliate of Memphis-based real estate management firm Fairwood Capital LLC, the San Francisco Business Times reported. News of the sale was found through a liquor license application.

The price of the sale is not yet public. Pebblebrook acquired Hotel Spero with its 2018 purchase of LaSalle Hotel Properties for $5.2 billion. LaSalle bought the hotel, then called the Hotel Californian, in 2013 for $69 million.

Including Hotel Spero, Pebblebrook owns nine hotels in the city. This is the company’s second recent sale in San Francisco — more specifically, on the same block. The Marker hotel at 501 Geary St. was sold by Pebblebrook for $77 million to a Los Angeles real estate investment firm last month, the San Francisco Business Times reported.

Hotel Spero opened as the Hotel Californian in 1923. The Spanish Colonial style building was renovated in 2018 and boasts a historic lobby with hand-painted wooden ceiling beams, as well as a chic diner-style restaurant.

Along with Hotel Spero and The Marker, Pebblebrook has sold two other San Francisco hotels over the last two years: the Sir Francis Drake hotel, now called Beacon Grand, and the Villa Florence. Both hotels are also located near Union Square.

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