Redwood Room, San Francisco
495 Geary Street
San Francisco , California
94102
Tel: 415 929 2372
www.clifthotel.com/clift_hotel_redwood_room.asp
Concierge.com's insider take:
The Redwood Room, at the Clift Hotel, can be a pickup joint, popular with rich businessmen and bottle blondes, but it also blazes with splendor. With its burnished redwood walls, tiger-striped carpet, and enormous bar carved from a single redwood tree, the room resembles an opulent hunting lodge and has been a San Francisco landmark for decades. Ian Schrager and Philippe Starck took over the place a few years ago, installing now-tired furniture and ugly plasma screens designed to look like oil paintings with shifting eyes, but the legendary room still merits a visit, if only to see the gorgeous woodwork. Just don't come on weekend evenings, when drunk suburbanites jam the place. Try the signature martini drinks; flavors include lavender and lychee.—Updated by John Vlahides
Open Sundays through Thursdays 5 pm to 2 am, Fridays and Saturdays 4 pm to 2 am.