Welcome to September and hopefully our Indian Summer. And from Carl Nolte, our Guest Speaker at our upcoming SFTGG General Meeting on Monday, December 8th, at New St. Mary's Cathedral.
By Carl Nolte, Columnist Aug 30, 2025
This is a story about war and remembering: World War II came to an end on a September morning in 1945 when the Japanese surrendered aboard the battleship Missouri, anchored in Tokyo Bay. The war was the defining event of the century — Pearl Harbor, nuclear bombs, the Holocaust. More than 80 million people died; every single living person was affected.
After 80 years, it’s hard to imagine what the war was like. Time, they say, erases memory. But the memory of those years is still powerful. It’s a human story, with a touch of sadness and a even a bit of celebration.
The Top of the Mark, that famous cocktail lounge and restaurant on the 19th floor of San Francisco’s InterContinental Mark Hopkins Hotel, seems like an odd place for war stories. But here is where the memories live. And you can toast them — with Old Crow bourbon.
A word about the Top of the Mark, which is one of those only in San Francisco institutions. It opened in 1939 atop the Mark Hopkins Hotel, a rooftop bar on what was the highest point of Nob Hill. It was a year to remember — the two great bridges had just opened, and so had a World’s Fair on Treasure Island. The Top of the Mark had a spectacular view, a cable car line outside, big band dancing, good times. San Francisco was a smaller city than it is now, but it had style and a bit of class.
“Every block is a short story, every hill a novel …” is how William Saroyan described San Francisco in 1939.
The Top of the Mark was a huge hit from the start. People lined up down the block to get on the elevators. Nob Hill hotels, like the Mark, were the toast of the town.
Pearl Harbor changed everything. Wartime San Francisco was the West Coast hub for the Pacific war. The region was ringed with shipyards, the bay was full of warships. Over 1.6 million soldiers, sailors and marines shipped out of San Francisco Bay for wartime service.
And if they had shore leave or last liberty in San Francisco, many headed for the famous Top of the Mark for a last drink. They packed the place. Time magazine said 30,000 servicemen a month came to the Top of the Mark during the war years. The hotel has pictures to prove it.
One particular spot — Table 62 in the northwestern corner of the lounge — had a view of the Golden Gate Bridge. Patrons could see ships sailing off to war. Sometimes wives or girlfriends would come to see their loved ones sail out the gate, not knowing whether they’d ever see them again. They wept. That location is called Weepers Corner.
S.F.’s Top of the Mark seems like an odd place for war memories. Here’s why it’s perfect
Greg