Unofficial Historical Website for the Palace Hotel, San Francisco.
Unofficial Historical Website for the Palace Hotel, San Francisco.
Being a fine wine enthusiast, I particularly keep watch for wine and drink menus from the Palace Hotel. Some of my lists feature everything from a 1934 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti to a 1924 Chateau Latour, a 1928 Veuve Clicquot to a 1929 Mouton Rothschild. I will purchase wine and cocktail lists when I can, but it baffles me how many sellers have these menus listed online for unrealistic prices. I've watched people try to sell these for $50 and up - in one case, $250.00 for a folding drink menu. Another vintage wine menu has been for sale for nearly 4 years at $201.25! It's worth around $30.00. I've watched them languish for sale over the course of many months and years, never getting sold. For some reason, there is a large discrepancy between actual and imagined value. Menus from the current Palace Hotel that I have seen sell usually go between $5 to $15 a piece. A unique or mint condition one perhaps $20. The menus that are worth more are those from the original 1875 building, which can bring in $50 to $200 depending on year and event.
Palace Hotel Wine & Drink List - circa 1932 to 1936.
Archibald H. Price - Manager
Great little wine and drink list showing various 1920 vintages of wine and cocktails for the Palace Hotel.
GC Lounge Evening Cocktail & Wine Menu - 2019.
Palace Hotel cocktail & drink menu.
Edmund A. Rieder - General Manager, 1940s.
All of the post 1909 menus shown below I only paid between $2.50 and $5.00 each. The present day Palace has menus on small laminated cards (GC Lounge) or within PH stamped leather cases (Pied Piper). Room service menus are printed on door hangers and the one I saved can be viewed on the next page. (Single photos can't be upload as thumbnails. All others can be clicked on to enlarge them).
Sunday Evening Concert at the Palace Hotel Palm Court. May 3rd, 1925.
Reception & Dinner given in honor of Esten A. Fletcher.
Imperial Potentate A.A.O.N.M.S.
Islam Temple, William H. Woodfield, Jr. Illustrious Potentate
Palm Court - Palace Hotel, San Francisco
March 17th, 1931.
1938 Exposition
Palm Court Luncheon
May 29th, 1935.
Menu cover only.
Mardi Gras at the Palace Hotel
February 25th, 1936.
Menu (likely lunch) with special insert.
December 22nd, 1938.
Palm Court dinner menu with special dinner insert.
December 22nd, 1938.
Souvenir Menu
Fox West Coast Annual Xmas Party
Palace Hotel
Friday, December 23rd, 1938.
Features a back section for autographs (blank).
Christmas Dinner
The Palace Hotel
December 25th, 1938.
French Menu
May 16th, 1939.
Featuring the S.S. Normandie at the top right.
Palm Court Luncheon
September 14th, 1939.
Breakfast
Manager Archibald H. Price
No date given, c 1930s.
Very thick menu.
Single-sided Continental Breakfast Menu
February 16th, 1940.
Palm Court Dinner with
French Menu
July 8th, 1940.
Right:
The Palace Hotel Dinner
No Service Less Than 25 Cents
September 19th, 1940.
Below:
Victory Luncheon, Golden Gate International Exposition
October 10th, 1940.
Far Right:
Opera Buffet Supper
October 16th, 1940.
Two Breakfast Menus featuring Golden Gate Park and Telegraph Hill. Same interiors, one is hand dated on the front 3-20-41.
Breakfast Menu
Same Telegraph Hill cover as above with a different interior. Menu only listed on the right side.
Right:
Opera Supper Menu
October 24th, 1941.
Below:
The Alumni of the College of Physicians and Surgeons Honoring the Class of 1942.
May 19th, 1942.
Dinner Menu /
Rose Room Dinner Menu
April 11th, 1941.
Cover: The Old Palace Hotel in the Bonanza Days - 1875.
Garden Court Dinner Menu for September 19th, 1942. Interesting menu because several people, including the hotel manager, signed this menu on the right side. "Table O'hute? - Farewell to 'a la carte'! - Saturday, September 19th, 1942. Waey? Heyvaud, Edmond A. Rieder, Leoraine Selleck, George Aselluk, A. Bach, J.H. Johusln." Some of the names are difficult to read.
Right:
Opera Dinner
October 9th, 1942.
Far Right:
Carte du Jour
Garden Court Dinner
Match 1st, 1943.
The Palace Hotel
Edmond A. Rieder - General Manager
San Francisco
Cocktail List
No Date - c1940s.
Victory Cocktail Hour
Garden Court
c1940s, but based on the word Victory, likely created for the end of the war in 1945.
Design for the Opera, The Palace Hotel
"In keeping with our tradition, Once again we shall serve a Special Opera Dinner in the Garden Court at 7P.M. on Opera Nights.
Please telephone us if you plan to come
Exbrook 8600
The Palace Hotel.
Diner D'Opera
September 25th, 1953
Palace Hotel
San Francisco.
Room Service Luncheon
Monday, July 26th, 1954.
Menu
Lotta's Fountain
The Palace Hotel
July 26th, 1954.
Garden Court Luncheon
July 26th, 1954.
Garden Court Dinner
July 26th, 1954.
The Palace Corner
Dinner Menu
August 4th, 1954.
Room Service Dinner
August 4th, 1954.
Menu
Lotta's Fountain
August 4th, 1954.
Garden Court Dinner
August 4th, 1954.
Happy Valley Menu (PH Cocktail Lounge)
Cocktails and Mixed Drinks on left.
A La Carte on right.
Not dated and no manager name to narrow it down.
Gala Night
The Palace Hotel
Thursday, September 14th
I saw this date occurred in 1944 and 1950.
Rose Room Bowl
Supper Dance Menu
Thick card menu,
I have two of the same one.
No date or manage name given.
Banquet for the California State Homeopathic Medical Society. Maple Room, Palace Hotel, Thursday, May 14th, 1896.
Menu: January 14th, 1928
Halsey E. Manwaring.
Palace Hotel Christmas Day Dinner Menu & Concert Orchestra Program.
December 25th, 1926.
Right:
The Palace Hotel menu with the best wine list I've seen! Dinner in honor of Dr. Maynard Amerine. On the Occasion of his Departure for the Armed Forces of the United States.
Presidential Suite, The Palace Hotel, San Francisco
July 22nd, 1942
Featuring Schloss Bockelheimer 1934, Chateau Latour m.d.c. 1933, Chateau Latour m.d.c. 1924, Romanee Conti 1934 Monopole, Fine Champagne Hine "Triomphe".
Twentieth Quarterly Dinner of the Society of Medical Friends of Wine
Wednesday Evening, June 2nd, 1948
Comstock Room, The Palace Hotel, San Francisco.
Dinner of the San Francisco Chapter of the Pan-American Medical Association
Saturday Evening, December 11th, 1948.
Right:
Dinner for Le Vodka Smirnoff
Menu in French,
June 16th, 1949, The Palace Hotel.
Wines:
Meursault Perriere, 1937
Clos D'Estournel, 1937
Jeroboam H. G. Mumm
Cordon Rouge 1937
Fine Champagne.
The Garden Court Breakfast Menu, Pied Piper Dinner Menu and Wine List, Garden Court Afternoon Tea Menu - April 2022.
A c1910 Palace Hotel Afternoon Tea menu. Embossed with the PH logo and lined in gold, this thick card gives a fantastic insight into the early days of Palace Hotel tea!
Includes subsections for Tea, Coffee, Hot, Sandwiches, Jams/Jellies and Preserves, Pastry, Ices, and Drinks.
100 Years of Wine! The Inglenook Vineyards Centennial Dinner at the Sheraton Palace Hotel, San Francisco.
January 24th, 1979.
This MASSIVE dinner menu measures 16" high and 6" wide with a silver commemorative sticker and red ribbon on the cover.
Features the dinner menu, accompanying wine list, and 2 Centennial Programs.
Merry Christmas from the Palace Hotel!
Christmas Day dinner menu for
Thursday, December 25th, 1879.
Printed by Crowe & Cooke, Engravers and Printers, 22 Montgomery St. They were located across from the Lick House Hotel, and also published their dinner menus in the same border and style. Their company marking appeared on the Lick House menus, but not on these due to size.
Dinner menu from Monday, December 29th, 1879.
Both of these menus came from the collection of David Gainsborough Roberts (1947-2017), a world-renowned collector from the Channel Island of Jersey. He collected an eclectic variety of 19th and 20th century popular culture history and after his passing, his extensive collection was put up for auction.
Banquet to Aaron A. Sargent, Minister of the United States to Germany. By the Citizens of San Francisco, Palace Hotel. Thursday, March 30th, 1882.
An absolutely beautiful menu lined with fur and tassels. Includes guest list, dinner menu, and wine list for the evening. The back features artwork by Pancroft & Co.
The last photo is of Aaron Sargent, (1827-1887), who was an accomplished American journalist, lawyer, Senator, and diplomat.
Garden Court Dinner Theatre Menu
Date Unknown, possibly 1970s or 80s?
A Bill of Fare Dinner Menu & Wine List for the Palace Hotel, Unfortunately, the top front portion of the menu is missing, which likely would've had the date. The latest year on the wine list was for a Gold Metal Paris Exposition 1889, so it likely dates 1890 or 1891. I have seen an intact version of this menu dating from March 18th, 1890. The oldest wine is an 1870 Chateau Larose, with an 1860 Champagne Brandy for the liquors. This was once glued into an album, with the remains of it on the back bottom.
Palace Hotel Breakfast In Rooms Menu from June 25th, 1919. Measures 11.5" x 7".
A fantastic Palace Hotel
Wine List & Dinner Menu for Tuesday, June 17th, 1884.
Tudor Room at the Palace Hotel dinner menu. No date, c1960s.
Happy New Year 1959
New Year's Eve Menu for the Palace Hotel. Thursday,
December 31st, 1958.
Menu for Prix Fixe Christmas Eve Dinner at the Pied Piper.
December 24th, 2025.
We got to take the menu home as a keepsake, and I also kept our place cards with name and seating time on it.
Christmas Day Grand Brunch Buffet in the Garden Court. December 25th, 2025.
1:00 - 3:00pm seating.
This large three-page menu was gifted to me by one of the staff. We didn't partake in this particular brunch seating, instead we did the 8:30am Grand Breakfast and the 4:00pm Grand Dinner, which had a similar menu for it.
Holiday Tea Service at the Palace Hotel.
Ask and you shall receive, I was able to bring a copy of this beautiful two-page menu home as a keepsake.
Held throughout December, we had our tea on December 26th at 12:00pm.
The Gingerbread Festival tea was so spectacular, I ordered two containers from Harney & Sons online as soon as we returned home!
A 1990s Kyoya menu from when the restaurant was briefly in the Palace Hotel. I found and photographed this when I was in the Palace Hotel archives.
Right: December 2025 GC Lounge Wine List.
Far Right: December 2025 Garden Court Breakfast Menu.
I forgot to photograph the Pied Piper menu while I was there.
Room Service Menu & Beverage List for the Sheraton-Palace. Someone dated it October 26th, 1974.
