Hilton San Francisco Union Square, Hotel and skyscraper complex near Union Square, San Francisco, United States.
The Hilton San Francisco Union Square fills a city block several blocks south-west of Union Square. Its 46-story tower, completed in 1971, is joined by a skybridge to the 18-story 1964 wing; a 23-story tower linking them followed in 1987. The photograph shows the white tower's dense rows of recessed windows beside a lower wing with twelve bands of white edges and dark window strips, an arch at its top right and a brick wall below.
The San Francisco Hilton opened on May 25, 1964, built for $29 million to a design by William B. Tabler as the 60th Hilton hotel worldwide. A 46-story tower joined it by skybridge in 1971, and from 1985 to 1988 John Carl Warnecke's rebuild added a 26-story connecting tower and replaced Tabler's checkerboard facade. Park Hotels & Resorts surrendered the hotel to its lender in 2023.
The Beatles stayed at the hotel during their 1964 US tour, playing San Francisco on August 18 after spending the previous night here. The building also appears on film: the original parking ramps feature in Petulia (1968), and the 46-story tower's lobby, ballroom and unfinished top floor fill much of What's Up Doc? (1972).
The hotel fills an entire city block several blocks south-west of Union Square, so the square and the Powell Street cable car lines are a short walk uphill. The 46-story tower is the tallest building in the city outside the Financial District and South of Market. Parking is in the building rather than on a transit hub.
The 1964 original building let guests drive up internal ramps to park beside rooms on seven lower floors, a layout the hotel called a "motel within a hotel". The ramps appear in the 1968 film Petulia, partly shot at the hotel. The 18-story block had no 13th floor, and floors 12 to 15 held mechanical equipment.
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