At the very top of Nob Hill is the Mark Hopkins Hotel, and the at the top of the hotel is the Top of the Mark. seeing as the hotel is 19 stories tall, and Nob Hill is pretty tall to begin with, the views from up there are phenomenal. there are small tables lining the huge windows where you can sit and take it all in. you can even sit on the windowsills which makes the view even more thrilling. actually, when i first saw some woman sprawled out on the windowsill, i thought “damn dude, some people are fucking wasted!"… but it turns out that this is perfectly acceptable behavior up there.
the atmosphere is pretty upscale (as is predictable when you see limos hanging out in front) and it had it’s fair share of snooty people. some guy in a tuxedo threw a hissy fit when he wasn’t allowed to sit at a table, even though it was clearly marked reserved for someone else. our waiter also, gave me the vibe like he was a bit above serving people like our group. but, it looked like at least some of the crowd was not all stuffy. the place had a huge drink selection, 100 different martini drinks. pretty much every conceivable combination of alcohols is on the martini list. the drinks are a bit pricey at 10$ a pop, but they were pretty strong. supposedly there is a 10$ cover charge after 9pm, but we somehow didnt have to pay. phew!
this definitely isn’t the kind of place i could see myself hanging out at often, but it was really cool to try it out and enjoy the views. really, this is what the new year’s resolution is all about… trying places that i wouldn’t normally have tried.
Top of the Mark is at 1 Nob Hill in San Francisco
The more bar reviews I read, the more similar SF and Boston become. Sounds a lot like “Top of the Hub” which is in a significantly taller building but with just the same snobbery. Awesome!
This whole series makes me miss US bars so bad. Keep it up!
Comment by Justin — 6/21/2006 @ 2:32 am | reply
yeah, the bars here are definitely really cool. but japan has really dope bars as well. how long are you there for anyways?
*v
Comment by vlad — 6/21/2006 @ 11:07 am | reply
I’ll be here for another year. Yeah there are some pretty cool bars, all down in Tokyo. The inherent problem with “going out” in Japan is that most “bars” are the Japanese style, forcing you to sit at a table cordoned off from any others and disallowing any sort of possible contact between patrons of different parties.
Of course it’s great for hanging just with your friends, but if your purpose is to meet new people or something, that’s not gonna happen.
Comment by Justin — 6/21/2006 @ 6:03 pm | reply
ok, you have to check out this place in tokyo that we went to. it technically doesn’t have a name, but has been called yuji’s bar, chandelier bar, and various other things. it’s a small bar with a crazy kitchy decor on the inside and is probably the closest thing i’ve experienced to a SF bar while in tokyo. everyone there was super friendly and totally social. really nice laid back atmosphere and we eneded up meeting a bunch of locals throughout the night. bartenders were cool too. dont expect anything crazy fancy tokyo style, just a cool friendly bar. on this map: http://www.superfuture.com/city/area/area.cfm?area=4&city=1 , it’s labeled as “yuji’s bar” on the right side halfway down.
*v
Comment by vlad — 6/21/2006 @ 7:20 pm | reply
I remember feeling really intimidated when I went to Top of the Mark, but our waiter was nicer than I expected and my martini was really good–and can’t beat that view! I probably wouldn’t go back except for a special occasion, but it’s sort of fun to go all out sometimes.
Comment by Amy — 6/21/2006 @ 5:07 am | reply
yeah, we really felt intimidated as well. the hostess specificaly came around the podium and glanced at our shoes, probably hoping that we didnt meet dress code or something.
Comment by vlad — 6/21/2006 @ 11:09 am | reply
my friend Kate’s jazz/swing band has peformed there, and for an evening out for that sort of thing it is kinda fun.
Comment by greg — 7/25/2006 @ 1:50 pm | reply
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