Hotel Triton, San Francisco: Delivering on Promises

By Emma Krasov, photography by Alex Krasov

Overlooking Chinatown Gate and San Francisco’s own “Ile de France” led by Café de la Press and Rouge & Blanc (coffee bar by morning/wine bar by night), Hotel Triton is by default hip, beat, and in the middle of everything this great little city is known for.

Triton, a Kimpton Hotel, recently celebrated its brand new look after an extensive renovation that added more color and brightness to the historical building near Union Square.

At the hotel-wide celebration last month, live DJ music greeted passers by and Triton guests outside one of the hotel lobby’s floor-to-ceiling windows, while a flotilla of rubber duckies was floating in a tiled pool outside the other one, implying playfulness and friendliness of the place.

In the lobby, which looks like your well-off friend’s living room, whimsical daybeds, satin couches, and coffee tables are set against the catchy wall murals in vibrant colors.  

Paintings by local artists are constantly on display at the hotel’s Mezzanine level gallery in a rotating exhibition.

Currently through August 7, it’s centriCITY by Karl Roeseler. The artist, who was present at the celebration, said about his colorful depictions of San Francisco neighborhoods, “I spend a lot of time walking in the City. I want to evoke the feelings that particular neighborhoods and blocks create for me: not only a sense of place, but an emotional centering.”  

Triton hotel hosts morning coffee and tea, and a complimentary evening wine hour at the gallery, while its room service is provided by Café de la Press (reason enough to stay here, if you ask moi).

There were several “stages” set up for the event, which I visited with my VIP “backstage pass.” A delightful and very professional SF Jazz High School All Stars played at the Creative Zone stage in a meeting room.

Red dragons – a nod to the neighboring Chinatown were painted on the walls of the Dragon Stage.

The Kerouac Stage occupied one of the guest rooms decorated with readable wallpaper. The writer’s own words in old typewriter font made me linger to absorb the very spirit of San Francisco, expressed so geniously by the famous Beatnik. “The air was soft, the stars so fine, the promise of every cobbled alley so great, that I thought I was in a dream.” (From Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road.”)    

As for dreams, Triton beds are “made like no other,” especially if you happen to reserve one of the Celebrity suites – designed by Jerry Garcia or Kathy Griffin, or a specialty Hãagen-Dazs ice cream suite. That one served as the Sweet Suite stage at the event, and had a fridge filled with ice cream bars. For the Triton guests, a daily unlimited supply of ice cream comes with the suite stay at no additional price. 

For those who are more interested in staying fit the hotel provides hip yellow-tired bicycles to take around the bike-friendly city, and maybe across the iconic Golden Gate Bridge.

Everything is within reach from the hotel’s prime location, be it conventions and happenings at Moscone Center, Italian restaurants at North Beach, or art galleries at the Financial District.

Last but not least, Triton is a pet-friendly hotel with no fees or size restrictions. And, if you don’t happen to have your own pet, you can borrow a fishbowl with live gold fish to keep you company.

More information and reservations at: Hotel Triton, 342 Grant Ave., San Francisco, California, 94108; 800-800-1299 or 415-394-0500; www.HotelTriton.com