The InterContinental Mark Hopkins stands on the site of the mansion of Mark Hopkins, one of the railroad barons known as the Big Four who built the Central Pacific Railroad. His mansion, like the others on Nob Hill, burned in 1906. The current hotel opened in 1926.
On the nineteenth floor is the Top of the Mark, a glass-walled bar that opened in 1939 with a 360-degree view of the city. During World War II it became a tradition for servicemen shipping out from San Francisco to have a last drink here, and for those who returned to come back. The bar is open to the public.
Part of a self-guided walking tour
