Hotels: Fairmont Hotel

The Fairmont Hotel atop Nob Hill was in the final stages of construction when the 1906 earthquake/fire struck. The first three of these pre-quake images look west up California Street, while the fourth looks northwest from Sutter/Grant; two have added post-earthquake captions. California Street Hill shows earlier images, predating the 1903 onset of Fairmont construction.

Novelty Import 3. The common misspelling "Fairmount" for "Fairmont" appears on this card and on several other cards on this page.
Behrendt 15, postmarked SF 11/09/1908.
Weidner 161, postmarked SF 8/20/1907, with "Fair Mount" for "Fairmont".
Weidner 159, postmarked Haywards 10/05/1907.

The Fairmont remained structurally sound after the earthquake but was heavily damaged by the ensuing fire.

Mitchell 5017, looking southwest from Sacramento and Powell, is postmarked 12/16/1905, so it predates the earthquake and the hotel's completion.
Unknown publisher, postmarked SF 5/28/1906, looks north from Pine through the ruins of the Hopkins Art Institute.
Rieder-Cardinell looks northwest on Powell from Bush. Mitchell 112 shows the same image.
Kropp 2223, postmarked SF 8/17/1906, looks southwest from Stockton toward the Sacramento St. side of the hotel. Souvenir Post Card 4631F shows the same image.

The Fairmont opened in 1907 after repair of earthquake/fire damage.

Weidner 680, postmarked SF 10/13/1908. The steps on the Powell St. side appear to still be under construction.
Britton & Rey 1083, caption "under the Management of Palace Hotel Company". The Palace Hotel Co. leased the Fairmont starting in July 1907 while it constructed a replacement for the Hotels: Palace Hotel on Market Street. The new Palace opened in December 1909, so this card must date from between 1907 and 1909.
Britton & Rey 1083, the same image but with later "unsurpassed Scenic Panorama" caption and with added vegetation.

Anthony Bourdain called the Fairmont's Tonga Room "the greatest place in the history of the world".

Fairmont, postmarked SF 10/06/1951: Ella writes that she's lonesome being stuck in her room all day while her husband plays golf with his boss and co-workers. Upside: her hives are about gone and she got to eat dinner at the Tonga Room.
Fairmont, postmarked 7/07/1966: Ken tells Pa that "Frisco is good but not as good as New York City was in 1964."
Fairmont shows the Fairmont's Crown Room cocktail lounge, 29 floors above the city and reached by the glass-enclosed Sky Lift. Check out the costumes on the waitresses.

Steve's SF postcard pages:

Before Dolores Park