End of line for S.F.'s infamous Jack Tar Hotel (original) (raw)

Demolition equipment is seen demolishing the old Jack Tar Hotel, which later became the Cathedral Hill hotel, on Friday, November 15, 2013 in San Francisco, Calif. The old Jack Tar Hotel is being demolished and California Pacific Medical Center is expanding to the site.Lea Suzuki/The Chronicle

A landmark that San Franciscans loved to hate is biting the dust this week.

Wreckers are hard at work demolishing the old Jack Tar Hotel, which stood on a square block of Van Ness Avenue between Geary and Post streets for 53 years.

The hotel, which was called the Cathedral Hill Hotel from 1982 until it closed in 2009, will be replaced by a big new California Pacific Medical Center. Construction will begin next year.

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When it opened in 1960, the Jack Tar was hailed by its owners as "the world's most modern hotel" and "the world's most completely electronic hotel offering ... dazzling innovations in that field."

But the Jack Tar, an in-your-face example of modernist architecture, soon earned the derision of San Franciscans. It was called "the box Disneyland came in," "the Wurlitzer Hilton" and the ultimate insult: "Texas' idea of what Los Angeles looks like."

But not everyone felt that way. Heather David, a third-generation San Franciscan and an authority on midcentury modern architecture, thought the building was "interesting, innovative and eye-catching."

But, she said, Monday, the hotel's location on Van Ness Avenue was wrong for a building with a modern look.

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"It was just in the wrong place," she said. "If it had been built on the Peninsula, or in Los Angeles, it would have been fine."

Checkered history

The Jack Tar was featured in a series of prints of modern buildings by San Francisco artist Michael Murphy, who portrays new buildings, which, he says, complement the city's classic Victorians.

His prints include the Hyatt Regency on the Embarcadero, St. Mary's Cathedral and a series of multicolored, midcentury modern houses he called "modern painted ladies," counterpoints to the famous Victorians on Alamo Square.

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David said she thinks the Jack Tar - the nickname given old-time British sailors - should have been a hit.

Guests could drive very near to their rooms, eliminating a stop at the front desk lobby. "They had closed-circuit television," she said. "They had a swimming pool and an ice rink on the roof."

David recalled that her mother, who went to San Francisco State in the 1960s, said all her friends thought the Jack Tar "was the coolest thing in town."

But, she said, "San Francisco has a love-hate relationship to modernism, mostly the latter." David featured the Jack Tar on the cover of her 2010 book, "Mid-Century by the Bay."

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The hotel had a checkered history. It was approved by the City Planning Commission in less than five minutes in 1958 and opened in the spring of 1960.

The Jack Tar, part of a chain of Jack Tar resorts, was featured in the Francis Ford Coppola movie "The Conversation."

Name change, fire

The hotel had 403 rooms and a 450-car garage, and also included a 12-story office building. It was the first new hotel built in San Francisco in 30 years and was the first to have air conditioning.

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In 1982, the name was changed to the Cathedral Hill Hotel. "Friends and neighbors, with your support, the Cathedral Hill will continue to be part of San Francisco's traditions," general manager Ned Rassas told a crowd on opening day.

The next year, the Cathedral Hill Hotel had a spectacular fire in which two people were killed and 37 injured. "It looks like total devastation," then-Mayor Dianne Feinstein said on viewing the damage.

The hotel was rebuilt. It closed for good in 2009 and has stood vacant since. It was taken over briefly by Occupy San Francisco protesters last year.

Nov 18, 2013|Updated Nov 19, 2013 1:03 p.m.

Carl Nolte is a fourth generation San Franciscan who has been with The Chronicle since 1961. He stepped back from daily journalism in 2019 after a long career as an editor and reporter including service as a war correspondent. He now writes a Sunday column, "Native Son." He won several awards, including a distinguished career award from the Society of Professional Journalists, a maritime heritage award from the San Francisco Maritime Park Association, and holds honorary degrees from the University of San Francisco and the California State University Maritime Academy.