Phoenix Hotel

We’ve long sung the praises of American mid-century motels as raw material for modern boutique hotels, but the Phoenix Hotel has been at it for longer than we’ve been online. San Francisco’s original rock-and-roll hotel was a counterculture haunt in the ’80s and ’90s, and thanks to a courtyard with space to park a tour bus — and a neighborhood that was, shall we say, tolerant of a bit of revelry — it was the lodging of choice for rock stars from David Bowie to Nirvana.

And just when it was beginning to feel like it had lost touch with its roots, it’s been taken over by Bunkhouse, the Texas-based hotel group headed up by Liz Lambert, whose Austin hotels are perennial Tablet favorites. It’s an inspired combination, one that effortlessly improves the Phoenix’s style and atmosphere without sacrificing its rock-and-roll spirit.

It’s no luxury hotel, but it’s perfectly comfortable, and it’s every bit the musician’s favorite it once was — there’s no telling who you’ll find sitting by the pool, or occupying a booth at Chambers eat + drink, the hotel’s restaurant and bar. Here in the Tenderloin you’re close to most of San Francisco’s downtown neighborhoods, and close to no fewer than three legendary concert venues: a half-mile from the Fillmore, a few blocks from the Warfield, and right around the corner from the best of them, the Great American Music Hall.

Text Courtesy of Tablet Hotels