The Fairmont Hotel San Francisco

Regally situated atop Nob Hill, the 1907 Julia Morgan-designed building was built to honor silver baron "Bonanza Jim" Fair. The hotel was the first to reopen after the 1906 earthquake and fires leveled every hotel in the city. Nearly a century later, renovations restored the original pale marble floors and gold-leaf Ionic columns of the lobby. Although its fate is uncertain, the onsite Tonga Room lounge offers a delightful slice of Polynesian kitsch, from oversized fruity cocktails to intermittent tropical "rainstorms."