Why I love Nob Hill
“Snob Hill” or “one of the world’s great addresses”? Probably both.
This article is part of I Love San Francisco, a feature series of essays that highlight what makes San Francisco iconic and irreplaceable.
By M. T. Eley
San Francisco: a city of sirens and foghorns; cable cars and church bells. Few places take it all in more than the summit of Nob Hill. Hillsides, towers, incoming fog banks, hidden parks, history, technicolor apartment buildings changing from block to block like ribbons of film alongside each other — Nob Hill may frown at some of San Francisco’s edgier traits, but it contains many of its best.
Saying you live here is risky. Years ago, zealous real estate agents updated northern parts of the Tenderloin to Lower Nob Hill; today, if you claim residency, a True Nob will appear out of the fog and say their address is higher up the hill, and you will lose. My belief is that if you can hear the cable cars of the California Street line, you are certainly not in Lower Nob Hill, and this redeems much of Bush Street. It is a standard I will maintain until we can afford to move north three blocks.
Nob Hill is also sometimes “Snob Hill” thanks to that local pride and articles like this one. This is hard to avoid and not far from the etymological origin of “Nabob” Hill, named for the rich folk who found gold or supplied those who didn’t, then built mansions overlooking the city — but like “Frisco,” don’t say it. Best of both worlds: I recently heard a new appellation for Lower Nob, the “Tender Nob,” which is pleasantly suggestive and insulting enough to snobs that you should consider it when describing Sutter Street.
Herb Caen called it “one of the world’s great addresses,” and why wouldn’t he? Go to California and Mason at night, listen to the Dave Brubeck Quartet’s “Laura” and you will feel something magic and numinous. Nabobs still abound, of course. A statement heard just off California Street: “My neighbor Jerry Brown — the former governor — said they’re going to fix that pothole on Jones.” And Steve McQueen lives here too, at least in Bullitt. That’s him in the mural inside VJ Grocery on Taylor and Clay.
You’ll find non-bobs working the deli and registers of Le Beau’s on Leavenworth and Clay. A great place, even if only former governor Jerry Brown can afford to shop there regularly. Le Beau’s somehow packs the variety of a Whole Foods into the square footage of a two bedroom apartment, with none of the Amazon, and smells like real human food from years of seasoning: bread, pepper, steaks, coffee, onions and apples. The deli ain’t an afterthought: try the Reuben with house-made slaw, one of the most solid sandwiches this side of Market and Van Ness.
Or — mosey down Leavenworth to Sushi Rapture. One of those intimate sushi one-rooms that doubled in size during the pandemic with the addition of frigid al fresco seating. You’ll forget the cold after some hot sake, a bowl of steaming miso soup and a Lindsay Roll: still-warm shrimp tempura wrapped with fragrant jalapeños and spicy tuna.
All around, one encounters the lumbering masters of the neighborhood, the cable cars, ding-a-linging the Big Bus Tours and distracted drivers. Gripmen dispense mystic memoranda, especially concerning the Masonic auditorium. “I hear they still have occult ceremonies in there,” I heard one say to a French couple before throwing the grip forward nonchalantly. “Ah, mais oui,” assented les touristes.
The buildings around Huntington Park, the stately green featuring a replica of Rome’s Fountain of the Tortoises, are distinctly “Nob Hill.” There’s the Pacific-Union Club brownstone, a stoic members-only enclave recalling an aristocracy that built San Francisco instead of buying Solano County. The marbled Fairmont: where Democratic presidents stay and where the United Nations and Tony Bennet’s “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” were born. Huntington Hotel: an immense, sighing edifice, with last fall’s leaves in its once well-swept foyers. Its big-lettered sign, “HUNTINGTON HOTEL,” hasn’t been on in awhile but used to signal a warm reply to the Clift Hotel’s “CLIFT” from the Union Square lowlands — and may again in 2025.
Grace Cathedral: seat of the Episocopaelan Californian Diocese and a reminder to developers that concrete can be beautiful, is a fine centerpiece. Old and new all at once, like the city. Earnest parishioners pass the great doors’ brass reliefs on Sundays; tourists the rest of the time, to eye neo-gothic interiors.
The Mark Hopkins towers over the whole scene in the barrel-chested style of the old hotels, with an American flag crowning a ring of plate glass windows around the Top of the Mark bar. They make a heady old fashioned up there, with a dash of Lagavulin scotch.
As Caen — still Herb — said: “[Nob Hill] has changed less, perhaps, than any other San Francisco faubourg, at least in style and atmosphere.” Change does seem unnecessary after you walk it a bit. Smells linger uphill from Chinatown, mixing with cigars smoked by cable car crews on break at the Powell-California intersection. Well into the night, clanks and music pour from the cable car powerhouse and garage — more a capella than you’d think. Ring-a-ding-ding in the distance as one heads down the Washington Street chute. “Hold on, lean in!”
I’ve moved here twice, and I’d do it again.
M. T. Eley is a San Francisco-based writer.
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What we’re doing this week
Superfine Art Fair
Superfine is the art fair that puts a new age of art collectors in touch with hundreds of cutting-edge works by the world's top emerging artists and their champions. They’ve got a great lineup of shows, parties, and family-friendly activities in affordable tickets that start beneath $15.
WHEN: Nov. 16 through the 19th at various hours
WHERE: Gallery 308 @ Fort Mason. Center 2 Marina Blvd., San Francisco CA 94109
Legends Awards at The Academy San Francisco
The Academy in Castro created its Legends Archive to recognize those people who are profoundly shaping the LGBTQ+ community that we live in. Each year, The Academy selects one individual who has truly become a legend. This year they’re honoring Legends Archive inductee, Peter Berlin, as well as community honorees at the Legends Awards, which will be hosted by Sister Roma.
Tickets begin at $50 for non-members.
WHEN: November 11th beginning at 6 p.m.
WHERE: Swedish American Hall, with pre- and post-award festivities at The Academy on the same street. The address for Swedish American Hall: 2174 Market St, San Francisco, CA 94114