The Fairmont is the grande dame of Nob Hill, a Beaux-Arts palace hotel whose construction was completed just as the 1906 earthquake and fire gutted its interior; it opened a year later, in 1907, and has been the address for visiting presidents, royalty, and tycoons ever since. The United Nations Charter was drafted in part in its Garden Room in 1945. The lobby — all marble columns, gold leaf, and velvet — is worth walking through even if you are not staying.
Down in the basement is the wonderfully kitsch Tonga Room, a tiki bar built around an indoor lagoon (the former swimming pool) where a floating band plays and a simulated tropical rainstorm breaks out every half hour. It is camp, expensive, and completely beloved. Between the lobby and the Tonga Room, the Fairmont is one of the most enjoyable free walk-throughs in the city.