San Francisco Reservations

Talking with the staff at The Presidio, planning our visit...

Our cross country rail journey to San Francisco by way of The Lakeshore Limited and California Zephyr trains has been foremost in our thoughts lately (even more than all our health problems so that is good news). This past weekend, we made some progress on these plans as we booked rooms for our stay in San Francisco. 

At this point, we're not sure if we'll ever make it back to San Francisco so we decided to choose rooms which are unique, in a great location, moderately affordable, and meet the highest of standards. With this criteria, there wasn't much of a list of options. We quickly chose to stay at an inn on National Park grounds at The Presidio. 

We needed to jump on booking these particular reservations because the rooms in this Inn on the grounds of The Presidio have a booked rate of 100% every single day since the inn opened more than six years ago. We knew that if we waited too long to make reservations, we wouldn't get a reservation! Fortunately, we're planning far enough ahead to have no problem making reservations and we even had our choice of rooms. 

This property, The Presidio, has a long and rich history. In 1776, the Spanish built a fort on this location and it has been a fortified property until 1994 when the property was transferred to the National Park Service. This property is steeped in military tradition and still has the unique feel of an historic oceanfront and bayfront military property. The Inn itself is located in the upgraded and renovated original Bachelor Officer Quarters and is an interesting combination of a museum and stunningly beautiful inn.

Spain built this garrison in 1776 to defend Spain's claim to the San Francisco Bay area and in support of Mission Dolores. This fort was actually the most northern post of New Spain in this period of the Spanish Empire. California didn't become a state until 74 years later, in 1850, during the California Gold Rush.

The Inn at The Presidio - courtesy of The Inn at The Presidio

Over time, The Presidio passed hands from Spain to Mexico.  In 1848, shortly before California becoming the 31st state of the United States, The Presidio was occupied by the US Army. Later in the nineteenth century, in 1898 (incidentally, the birth year of my grandfather), The Presidio had become the country's port for assembling, training and transporting forces to the Spanish-American War and the subsequent Philippine-American War. 

In 1906, San Francisco was hit by a devastating earthquake. The US Army filled The Presidio with well-organized tent cities to house more than 16,000 displaced San Francisco residents as the city of San Francisco recovered and rebuilt. San Francisco cherished the support and generosity of the US Army and The Presidio for all they provided through this natural disaster and The Presidio has held a special place in their hearts since that time.

The Inn at The Presidio - courtesy of The Inn at The Presidio

16,000 San Francisco residents called The Presidio home during this time of rebuilding after the devastating earthquake. By winter, the city had built more than 5000 cottages on The Presidio to replace the tents. Residents paid $2/month toward the $50 total cost of each cottage and residents resided here for upwards of two years. Once they owned their cottage, they moved their cottages to locations throughout the city as the city rebuilt. 

In 1915, General Pershing's family was killed when their house at The Presidio burned to the ground. At the time of the fire, General Pershing was off the post commanding the Mexican Punitive Expedition. As a result of this tragic fire, the Presidio Fire Department was established and became the first 24 hour manned fire department on any military installation.

The Presidio Parade Grounds - courtesy of
the Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley

In 1920, Crissy Field was established, one of only a few airfields in the US in these early years of air corps. Hap Arnold (later to be known as General Hap Arnold, the father of the US Air Force) flew from this airfield in these early years of aviation. Today Crissy Field is a beautiful grassy area and a picnic area with a beach at the foot of the Golden Gate Bridge and mouth of San Francisco Bay. 

During World War II, The Presidio was buzzing with activity not the least of which was treating injured servicemen and women at the Letterman Army Hospital located at The Presidio. A Japanese Language School was also built at The Presidio to train Japanese-Americans to be interpreters during the war against Japan. Unfortunately for these incredibly helpful Japanese-Americans, a dark period of our country's history landed these patriotic interpreters in Internment Camps near the end of the war.

After World War II, President Truman offered The Presidio as the site of the future United Nations Headquarters. The committee selected for choosing a site for this headquarters visited The Presidio but ultimately voted in favor of a site in New York City instead.

The grass fields and beach of Crissy Field today - courtesy of Flickr photographer, lotzmana                

The Presidio played a key role in the Korean War, the Vietnam War and even the first Gulf War, Desert Storm. As the US was dismantling its military installations across the US in the 1990s, The Presidio was transferred to the National Park Service. 

The Inn at The Presidio - courtesy of The Inn at The Presidio           

Today, The Presidio is a beautiful, sprawling National Park located at the base of the Golden Gate Bridge and consists of trails, overlooks, beaches, picnic areas, museums, homes, private businesses and includes some select lodging. 

The Inn At The Presidio is the showcase lodging on this historic property. In the National Park Service's words, "The Inn at the Presidio is located on the Main Post, the heart of The Presidio. In addition to elegant room accommodations and an interior design that celebrates The Presidio's rich past with artisan details and Presidio memorabilia, the Inn also features an inviting front porch with rocking chairs, a dining room for breakfast and evening receptions, and an outdoor deck with a fire pit." This inn, re-purposed from Bachelor Officer Quarters, is also listed with the Historic Hotels of America as a national trust for historic preservation. 

The Lodge at The Presidio - courtesy of The Lodge at The Presidio

Another choice of lodging which just opened last month is 'The Lodge at The Presidio' (pictured at left). However, we chose to stay at The Inn at The Presidio since there are more historic museum pieces pertaining to the history of The Presidio in this outstanding inn. Although slightly closer to the bay, the Lodge is located right next to a highway so that played into our decision as well. We'd prefer the quieter area of The Inn situated on the opposite corner of the old parade grounds.  

There is no doubt that Sheila and I are looking forward to our time at The Presidio. Personally, I'm looking forward to spending some time living on a military installation again if even for a short time while exploring this historic military post. Being immersed in this rather unique architecture and tradition which is common to all US military installations is like "going home again" for me. Our only regret is that we won't have more time to spend exploring the grounds of this historic property. I am pretty sure that we could easily spend a week just exploring The Presidio. We would need another week to explore downtown San Francisco just outside the gates of The Presidio. Perhaps we can do more extensive exploring another time.

I'll close this blog entry with a photo of our top floor suite at The Inn...

This should be an incredibly memorable journey!