San Francisco Sourdough Pancakes

We are very excited to now offer San Francisco Sourdough Pancakes at Luques Restaurant and Bar located inside the Chancellor Hotel.  There is nothing more San Francisco than Sourdough.

We found a gold rush era recipe, and after a lot of research and experimentation, we came up with a special Sourdough Pancake we make from scratch that is the best.  They are light, fluffy and have a perfect sourdough flavor- just what San Francisco is famous for!

Luques is open everyday from 7am to 2:30pm and we serve breakfast ALL DAY.

Come in and try them.

Opening the Doors to Hotel Crime

I have been to a safety seminar conducted by Dave Wiggins and it was very informative.  This article by Dave Wiggins was sent out by the California Hotel & Lodging Association and I wanted to pass it on since we are constantly closing guests' doors we find open during our security walks.  Guests are often in their room with door ajar or sometimes they step out and do not make sure it is closed tightly after them.  Hopefully this information for hotel operators can help some guests as well.

The funny thing is that guests actually let down their guard when in hotels (because hotels are trying to be hospitable and friendly) and they should actually be on a heightened level of safety awareness.

by Dave Wiggins

Tourists are notorious for failing to protect themselves and their valuables while travelling. This characteristic, combined with the fact that there are criminals who prey specifically on travelers and tourism venues, contrives to open the door to much of the most common tourism related crime. And open doors are a particular problem for hotels, especially when “Door Pushers” are at work.

Door pushing is a classic crime which has long plagued the hospitality industry. Guestrooms make an attractive target for thieves, with lots of portable valuables in a confined space, and occupants who are largely absent. Guestroom doors are notorious for not closing completely, for a variety of reasons. These include differences in temperature and air pressure between rooms and hallways; worn closer springs; snagging on carpeting or door jams; catching on safety latches in the wrong position; and faulty bolts. More often than not, guests exiting their rooms fail to pull the door completely shut, and ensure that it locks securely. Business travelers running late for appointments, and leisure travelers preoccupied with sun-n-fun, all too often leave their rooms in a frenzy of inattention to their doors. As a bellman at a busy resort hotel comments, “If I had five bucks for every time I came across a room door accidentally propped open by a safety latch, I could pay for my vacation.”

No surprise then that unscrupulous criminals target unsecured guestroom doors. The crime is referred to simply as “door pushing.” Criminals push on what appears to be an unsecured guestroom door, and if it opens, they peek inside to determine if the room is occupied, and whether it contains any valuables. If so, the criminal then burglarizes the room, and takes off with the property. Such petty crooks hit the jackpot with occupied rooms, where the losses usually include computers and other electronics, jewelry, cash, and clothing. Guest suitcases are often used to haul off the stolen property. But even unoccupied guestrooms are ripped off for hotel property, including flatscreen televisions and other electronics, as well as appliances, furniture, and linens. One of my cases involved a crime spree spanning several months and numerous hotels committed by a crew of crooks stealing hotel flatscreens. The two-man teams arrived with all the tools needed to quickly detach the LCD screens from wallmounts. They pushed on open doors, removed the televisions from walls, covered them with a sheet, and walked out of the hotel to their waiting van.

While the majority of door pushing incidents are what police refer to as “crimes of opportunity,” the most problematic crime sprees may be the work of door pushers who are career criminals. Many thefts resulting from door pushing are random acts. For example, a guest, visitor, or employee of the hotel happens to walk by an obviously unsecured guestroom door, pushes it open, and spontaneously decides to steal the valuables inside. Such marginal characters account for an occasional case in any given tourism destination. However, a “professional” door pusher can be responsible for a rash of thefts at a particular hotel or tourism venue, and cause tens of thousands of dollars in losses.

There actually are such professionals – criminals who specialize in door pushing and other tourism specific crimes. These crooks create their own crimes of opportunity by chronically working tourism venues and exploiting known weaknesses. High-rise hotels in densely packed hospitality communities are favored environments for such criminals. They can test hundreds of doors within a short few hours, and in a busy hotel their activities often go totally unnoticed. Such was the case with one professional thief in the Bay Area. But after hitting too often in the same area, he got arrested - several times. Once in-custody this crook admitted that most all of his criminal income resulted from door pushing and guestroom thefts. Before eventually being sentenced to state prison for the first time, police estimated he had stolen over $200,000 of guest and hotel property.

Door pushing is a very low percentage criminal activity. A career crook may push on 100 doors before finding an unsecured one, and then typically only one-quarter of these lead to an occupied room with valuables. This means that professional door pushers tend to work quickly. They cruise through hallways rapidly, one after another, pushing on any likely doors, and if they don’t score, then move on to the next hotel. The Bay Area criminal mentioned above admitted that he would typically check over 2,000 room doors on a working day. This rush of crookery is best conducted during those periods when guests have most likely left their rooms: 10:00am – 4:00pm. All of this can be instructive in helping to prevent and detect door pushing at your hotel.


TIPS FOR PREVENTION & DETECTION

GUEST EDUCATION - Educate guests to double-check their door whenever exiting. Guests should be advised to pull the door shut manually, and then test to make sure it’s closed and locked by turning the handle and pushing on the door. Encourage guests to use in-room safes, as well as the hotel Safe Deposit box.

INSPECT YOUR DOORS - Conduct regularly scheduled tests of all guestroom doors to ensure that they close and lock properly. Handles, bolts, closer springs, door jams, and electronics should all be tested.

STAFF TRAINING - Train staff members on the issues.Employees should be trained how to check and secure guestroom doors. They should also be educated on this type of criminal activity. Teach staffers to report suspicious people and activity. A person who is repeatedly seen at your property walking guestroom hallways during daytime hours should be reported to security and/or police. Digital video surveillance can be very helpful in detecting behavior consistent with door pushing. Train those security team members who monitor your cameras on what to look for. Archive all videotape of possible suspects. This may be used later to help prosecute the criminal once apprehended.

LAW ENFORCEMENT - Report incidents to law enforcement. While your own property may have suffered only a couple of cases in recent weeks, these may be part of a broader problem of which you are not aware. If a career criminal is working your tourism venue, it’s essential to involve local law enforcement.
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BOUT THE AUTHOR

Dave Wiggins is a 27-year veteran of California law enforcement, and the past president of the California Tourism Safety & Security Association. He is a recognized expert on tourism related crimes, investigations, and crime prevention at tourism venues. Dave and his colleagues provide training for security, law enforcement, and tourism teams around the nation.To contact the author, email TSSUPDATES@GMAIL.COM.

The Magic Parlor at the Chancellor Hotel gets a great review in the San Francisco Examiner

Magic Parlor filled with feats and stories

By: Leslie Katz
lkatz@sfexaminer.com

01/02/13 3:55 PM

 

SF Examiner Arts Editor

Walt Anthony, right, invites visitors onstage to help him during his engaging San Francisco Magic Parlor show. Just off Union Square, away from the bustle of the crowd, is a cozy and charming place where history and imagination meet: Walt Anthony’s San Francisco Magic Parlor.

Setting up shop in the breakfast room of the 100-year-old Chancellor Hotel, which has been cleverly decked out with Belle Epoque-era furnishings, Anthony is a conjurer-storyteller who spins tales of old San Francisco peppered with classic feats of magic.
Dapper in a tux, with an easy-paced theatrical patter that manages to be calming, quiet and haunting at the same time, Anthony serves up saucy vignettes about some of The City’s most infamous historical figures: abolitionist Mary Ellen Pleasant, a voodoo practitioner; eccentric Joshua Norton, who proclaimed himself emperor; occultist Anton LaVey, the father of modern Satanism; and the beautiful Gertrude Atherton, writer of scandalous Victorian-era romance novels.
With each story comes a trick, often involving an audience member joining him onstage. Those who choose cards or cut decks are as enthralled as the rest of the folks in the intimate crowd — some 30 seats — when Anthony magically conjures their selection.
He has a special box, which he reveals as empty at the beginning of the show, when he separates the hinged sides.
But after he puts it back together, it quickly fills up, and from it he pulls fascinating objects such as a Chinese laughing Buddha figurine, which illustrates a story about the mysteries of alleys in San Francisco’s Chinatown.
He does fun things with ropes, including making three pieces of different lengths all the same length, as well as passing a clothesline — held by two audience members in jump-rope fashion — through his body.
For his final and most mind-blowing feat, Anthony levitates an antique end table as the climax to an appealing yarn about 6-foot-tall socialite Alma Spreckels, who includes the invention of the garage sale among her claims to fame. Married to Adolph Spreckels, a sugar magnate 24 years her senior (whom she called sugar daddy), “Big Alma” was instrumental in building the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, filling it with Rodin sculptures and donating the museum to The City.
Program notes indicate that Anthony has more stories of old San Francisco to tell, and that he’s keeping his parlor doors open as long as listeners come to hear them. For old-fashioned, old-time entertainment, his magical drawing room is well worth a visit.

San Francisco Magic Parlor
Where: Chancellor Hotel, 433 Powell St. (between Post and Sutter streets), S.F.
When: 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays
Tickets: $40
Contact: www.SFMagicParlor.com

Guest Room Door Locks Vulnerability

There have been reports of guestroom burglaries attributed to suspects using laptop computers and key cards to open Onity guestroom door locks. The device can be concealed in an iPhone case and a Dry Erase marking pen body and plugs into the door locks.

Thankfully, the Chancellor Hotel does NOT use Onity Locks and is not vulnerable to the problem.

There was a story on the Today Show about the situation.  It looks very concerning.  Whenever I am in a hotel room, I always use the chain or secondary latch.  However, the ability to gain access with the Onity locks is not preventable if you are out of your room.  Of course, the odds of you being a victim are very small, but it is still scary.

We always suggest our guests follow the American Hotel &Lodging Association’s Guest Safety Tips.  Here they are:

NBC News reporter Jeff Rossen explains in a segment on the TODAY Show (click below) highlighting Onity lock vulnerabilities. In the report, security consultant, Jim Stickley, demonstrated the hacking device and the ease with which it can be used to gain access to hotel rooms.

Click here to see the story on the Today Show -   Today Show story on Onity Locks

Holiday Ice Rink in Union Square Returns!

I received the news letter and I wanted to pass on the information about the ice skating rink in Union Square...

Safeway Holiday Ice Rink in Union Square Presented by Alaska Airlines

Returns to San Francisco with Festive Events for All Ages

City's Most Bustling, Festive Holiday Locale Celebrates 5th Anniversary

Winter in San Francisco would not be the same without gliding across the ice with family and friends at the Safeway Holiday Ice Rink in Union Square presented by Alaska Airlines. The ice skating season begins Wednesday, November 7, 2012 and runs through Monday, January 21, 2013. Nestled among the vibrant lights of San Francisco's most popular shopping destination, the ice rink in Union Square is the premier location for outdoor holiday ice skating. A portion of proceeds benefit the Boys & Girls Clubs of San Francisco and San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department.

"We are so happy to be celebrating our 5th Anniversary of the Safeway Holiday Ice Rink in Union Square presented by Alaska Airlines in the heart of San Francisco," says Willy Bietak, Safeway Holiday Ice Rink producer and president of Willy Bietak Productions. "Ice skating in Union Square provides the perfect activity for families, couples and dates. Everyone will be charmed by the festive lights and holiday magic."

The ice rink will be open daily from 10 a.m. to 11:30 p.m., with the exception of closing at 9:30 p.m. on Friday, December 31, 2012. Ticket prices for regular admission are $10 and $6 for children eight years old and under. Ice skate and hockey skate rentals are $5.

Advance tickets can be purchased NOW by clicking here. Starting Wednesday, November 7, 2012 tickets will be available at the ice rink ticket window in Union Square. Group rates and private parties are also available.

Dates to Remember:

November 7 - Opening Day

November 8 - Giants' PRIDE Night

November 14 - BGCSF Youth Skate Program

November 23 - Tree Lighting Ceremony

November 29 - Icebreaker: SF Single's Night

December 6 - Drag Queens On Ice

January 1 - Polar Bear Skate

January 21 - Last Day to Skate

UPCOMING EVENTS

This holiday skating season, the ice rink will present some exciting events including Opening Ceremony featuring Disney's THE LION KING, Icebreaker: San Francisco Single's Night, the return of Drag Queens on Ice "Bigger, Better and Bawdier!" - and the first ever Polar Bear Skate.

Opening Ceremony

Wednesday, November 7

9:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.

The Safeway Holiday Ice Rink in Union Square presented by Alaska Airlines will kick off the holiday ice skating season with a special opening ceremony featuring Disney's THE LION KING. Grab your scarf and mittens and make your way down to the ice rink to view a local professional ice skating group performing to Disney's THE LION KING's "Circle of Life" sung by Buyi Zama who portrays "Rafiki." This is a must attend family event!

http://www.lionking.com/ticket/san-francisco-ca

Boys & Girls Clubs of San Francisco Youth Skate

Wednesday, November 14

4 p.m. to 6 p.m.

www.kidsclub.org

Icebreaker: San Francisco Single's Night

Thursday, November 29

8:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

Love is in the air at the Safeway Holiday Ice Rink in Union Square presented by Alaska Airlines. Join us for "Icebreaker: San Francisco Single's Night," where the first 100 singles to arrive with their favorite ugly holiday sweater will receive a special gift. Grab your single friends and head down to the ice rink for a single's night mixer! You might just meet your swoon-worthy New Year's Eve kiss!

Drag Queens on Ice; Bigger! Better! Bawdier!

Thursday, December 6

8:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

The lovely drag queens of San Francisco are returning to the Safeway Holiday Ice Rink in Union Square presented by Alaska Airlines for an event that is "Bigger, Better and Bawdier!" The Bay Area's most colorful drag personalities will be returning to the ice for an evening of laughs, lip syncing and lipstick! Drag queens and kings across the bay are encouraged to don their most "gay apparel" for a chance to be honored as "2012 Ice Drag King and Queen."

Polar Bear Skate

Tuesday, January 1

2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.

The Safeway Holiday Ice Rink in Union Square presented by Alaska Airlines is putting its own spin on Canada's "Polar Bear Swim" with the San Francisco-Style Polar Bear Skate. With California style in mind, ice skaters are encouraged to come in their favorite bathing suit and beach blanket apparel. The first 100 ice skaters will receive a special polar bear skate gift. There will also be a polar bear dance off and a contest for the craziest holiday polar bear bathing suit. Get your shades, bathing suit and best polar bear attire and come to the ice rink to take the plunge!

Valentine's Day in San Francisco

Only in San Francisco...

While most people wear red, give teddy bears or big pink hearts on Valentine's Day, this guy is trying to protect himself from the celebration.

He must have scared some people too. Right before I took this picture, he was just sitting at the tables outside Starbucks on Powell at Sutter Street enjoying his coffee when a fire truck, ambulance and police all speed up with their lights and sirens going. As it turns out, he was just protecting himself from the Valentine's Day air that was filled with love.

Breath deep...Love is in the air!

Another Ghost Story....

I don't need to write a blog, I let other people do it for me because they do it so much better.

Here is a story that a VIP Account of ours received from an out of town visitor that they had booked at the Chancellor. It is too good to keep to ourselves. Enjoy...

Do you have any haunted hotel stories? I do…
Every year, I travel to San Francisco at least 2 or 3 times to shoot for a client of mine… But this past trip (1/30-1/31) was exceptionally interesting…
I landed in San Fran on Monday, Jan. 30th around 9pm and arrived at the hotel I normally stay at, The Chancellor Hotel in Union Square. I checked in, got my room key, took the elevator to the 14th floor, put the key card into the door of 1401.. and as soon as I opened the door… the window to the fire escape flew wide open. The wind blew the long pale curtains into the air just as if out of a scary movie, as if someone had just jumped out the window to escape! Shocked, I took a quick look around to make sure no one was in the room, peeked out the window, thinking I might find a homeless guy on the stairs or something. I closed the window and bolted for the door!
Feeling a bit uneasy, I went back downstairs to the lobby to request a room without access to the fire escape. The young woman at the front desk assigned me to room 1309, evidently a corner room on the other side of the building that wouldn’t be near a fire escape. So I hesitantly accepted the new room key and took the elevator to the 13th floor… (Yes I know, the 13th FLOOR!!!!) The key didn’t work the first few tries but finally when it did I entered the dark room, turned on some lights, sat down on the bed, and tried to unpack some of my things. As I began to get settled in, I noticed a constant knocking on the wall near the far end of the bed, a kind of rhythmic tapping, almost like the sound of a rocking chair hitting the wall. The strange thing was the tapping on the wall wasn’t coming from the wall that was connected to the neighboring room, it was coming from the opposite side wall that had NO room next to it bc this was a corner room. Getting annoyed from the endless patter and having NO idea where it was coming from nor how to stop it… I gathered up my things and went back downstairs once again.
” You’re going to think I am crazy” I said “… but there is a constant tapping on the wall upstairs in that room and I really just need to get some sleep for my shoot tomorrow so may I please just try one more room?” She gave me a exhausted look, barely made eye contact, and attempted to search for a new room that might be available…but it almost seemed routine for her, as if she had heard these complaints on several occasions… so I asked her semi jokingly… ” This place isn’t haunted is it?! hah” .. she looked up, not laughing at all… ” Well… we have only really heard about sightings and strange things happening on the 13th & 14th floors….Oh boy, I have goose bumps just thinking about it!” she said as the hair stood up on her arms.
WHAT?!?!?!!?!?!?!?! HOLY SH*****T OMG! WTF! FML! WE BOTH HAVE GOOSEBUMPS AND I LITERALLY JUST GOT CONFIRMATION THAT THIS PLACE IS HAUNTED?!?!?
I was thinking in my head… but trying to keep my cool… (ok fine my jaw dropped… TO THE FLOOR) I said, ” YOUR JOKING right?!?! Are you SURE its ONLY the 13th and 14th floors??? What about the 15th floor or other floors below?!” She assured me it was only those two floors so she assigned me to a room on the 5th floor. I tried to take a deep breath, took the elevator AGAIN to my new room, tried to get settled, called my best friend and told her everything that happened and of course she says ” OMG dude!!” she shrieked,” The whole place is haunted for sure!!! Are you crazy?! Get out of there!”
Game Over. When your bestie tells you to run, you RUN!!! I was already completely freaked out before talking to her, whipping my head around towards every single little sound in the room…but nowwww I have my friend freaked out too!? That amped up my fear level from a 6.5 straight up to a 10!! I shoved my stuff back in my suitcase, stumbled out of the room, pounded on the “down” elevator button in a panic and then bolted for the hotel front doors.. if its one thing I DON’T want to mess with it’s ghosts!!!!
I took my little carry-on suitcase and wheeled it across the street to the Sir Francis Drake Hotel. I went up to the guy at the front desk and said ” Listen, I just had a few creepy experiences at the Chancellor hotel next door and I really just need to sleep in a hotel that isn’t haunted, can you help me?” I smiled in hopes that he might be able to calm me down some, but instead he replies semi laughing ” Well, do you want me to tell you what you want to hear… or the truth?”
WHAAAAT??? AGAINNN???? AM I HALLUCINATING??
“We definitely have our fair share of strange stories here too Mam, but that’s only bc most of the hotels are over a 100years old.. ” he began to tell me. ”Whats the NEWEST hotel in San Francisco?!” I asked dead seriously. He directed me toward the W hotel.. it sounded ghost proof so I began on my journey. Alone, tired, and lost in ghost town, I ran across the Four Seasons Hotel where instead of getting directions to the W, I got some answers to my questions. “WHY IS SAN FRANCISCO SO HAUNTED?” I asked dramatically hoping to get a laughing response and hear him say he had no idea what I was talking about.
Ohhh nooo… Instead he began to answer my question with a straight face. ” Well, it is build on a cemetery dating back to the Gold Rush days. The Four Seasons was renovated in 2006 so we haven’t heard as many strange stories since but.. Haven’t you ever heard of the ratio 6 to 1?” I look at him in astonishment wondering why I never learned about this “6 to 1” ratio that he is so surprised that I never heard of… “6 to 1 what?” I asked in confusion… ” There are 6 dead people to every 1 living in San Francisco, you didn’t know that?”
WHAAATTTT IS GOING ON RIGHT NOWWW?!??!
Officially freaked out, I left the hotel and as a last resort I called my sweet and wonderful clients to tell them about my adventure. They insisted that I jump in a cab and join them at their home for a glass of wine and to stay the night in their guest suite… didn’t sound too shabby and as long as it wasn’t haunted I WAS THERE.
I told them the crazy stories over a nice glass of white wine, and then out of curiosity, we decided to google the Chancellor Hotel to see if there were any other creepy stories we could find online… and low and behold we found several stories, but one in particular was a story about a ghost sighting in room 1501 that was posted on the blog of the hotel itself!!! At the end of the story that a guest had submitted to the hotel manager, the hotel commented: “We have had a few people over the years make comments about ghosts and strange occurrences, but this is the most serious, detailed encounter I have ever heard of at the hotel.”
Check out the blog post here: http://thechancellorhotel.blogspot.com/2009/05/is-chancellor-hotel-haunted.html
IT’S OFFICIAL… THE CHANCELLOR HOTEL IN SAN FRANCISCO IS HAUNTED!!!
Do you have a haunted hotel story?? Feel free to share!
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Is the Chancellor Hotel haunted? You decide. I was born in San Francisco and grew up in the bay area, but I have never heard of the "6-1." I have heard that when San Francisco was growing, they moved all of the cemetaries to Colma in the 1900s. I have heard that Colma has more people underground than above ground, but not in San Francisco. Not true or logical.
Makes for a great story, though.