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Bridge to the Past
by Paul Zemanek

The Maltese Falcon author Dashiell Hammett spent a lot of time around Union Square. The fictional Alexandria Hotel is said to have been based on the Sir Francis Drake Hotel (1928), which, when it opened two years before The Maltese Falcon was published, boasted special windows that allowed in UV rays, meaning you could get a tan in your room. (It also had an indoor golf course.) Hammett aficionados looking for a fix can now stay in the Dashiell Hammett Suite at the Hotel Union Square (1913), formerly the Golden West Hotel, which is up a block from the Cable Car Museum (1873) turnaround at Powell and Market. The Golden West was where Hammett's bride-to-be, Josephine Dolan, stayed the night before their wedding. Bathroom towels are adorned with images of the dashing author, a copy of the famous falcon sits in a case on the television, and a faux vintage typewriter takes up way too much room on the desk if your looking to actually use it as a work space. (I make do.) When you check in, a faux vintage radio plays faux vintage news clips from the old days. It's a CD, of course.

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