Right on a major cable car line in the city's shopping district, the Chancellor Hotel lies five blocks from the Museum of Modern Art and a half-mile from famous Chinatown. Many of the city's major theaters are within three blocks. First-timers shouldn't feel lost: the walking-encyclopedia staff at a tour window in the lobby dispenses tips on what to see in the City by the Bay.
Unlike with most hotels, the same family has owned this 15-story landmark since it opened in 1914 as the city's tallest building in expectation of the 1915 Pan Pacific International Exposition. The lobby retains its 20-foot ceiling, Oriental rug, granite-topped registration desk and bar mirror emblazoned with a propeller plane. However, the hotel doesn't scrimp on modern amenities: wireless and TV-based Internet access.
Guests can nosh complimentary cookies, apples and gourmet coffee in the lobby, and breakfasts and lunches in the hotel's Luques Restaurant and Bar. They'll find plenty of high-end dinner options in the area around the hotel.
They'll also find windsurfing, fishing, bird-watching and bicycling at the San Francisco Bay and Pacific Ocean beaches. About four miles away, Golden Gate Park offers bicycling, skating, golf, boating, fly-fishing, hiking trails, handball and tennis.
Decorated with European-influenced décor, guests rooms come equipped with oversized bathtubs with whimsical rubber ducks, premium channels, data ports, safes, ceiling fans and windows that open. Get a load of this: guests even have pillow menus from which to choose fluff levels. We're not making this up.
Smokers, leave the cigs at home: the entire hotel is nonsmoking. The Chancellor Hotel is a fav of vacationers, who like the shoppers' paradise of Union Square just outside the door, pillowy fluff levels, rubber duckies, and convenience to theaters and fine dining.
