Overnight Stay Booking Required
Overnight Stay at the Westin St. Francis
Book a stay at the flagship Westin facing Union Square. The 12th-floor suite numbered 1219-1221 is the centerpiece of the hotel's haunted reputation.
- Duration:
- 12 hr
No photograph
on file
Est. 1904on file
HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena, as catalogued
- 01Apparitions
- 02Sense of being watched
- 03Lights cycling
- 04Doors not latching
Haunted Hotel / Inn
Westin St. Francis Hotel
Landmark 1904 Union Square hotel whose twelfth-floor suite 1219-1221 is tied to two notable deaths — Virginia Rappe in the 1921 Fatty Arbuckle scandal and entertainer Al Jolson in 1950 — and to the building's persistent haunted reputation.
335 Powell Street, San Francisco, CA 94102
Wheelchair Accessible
Research-Backed · 4 sources
Research updated September 2026
Age
All Ages
Minimum age to check in: 18.
Cost
$$$$
Active flagship Westin property; room rates typically $300+/night. Public lobby and bars accessible without a stay.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Accessible on-site and van parking, elevators, wheelchair-equipped vehicle valet, and service animals without fee or documentation. Call hotel for disability-specific room/common-area features.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1904 · Virginia Rappe collapse in Arbuckle suite 1219-1221 (September 5, 1921) · Al Jolson died in same 12th-floor suite (October 23, 1950) · 1906 earthquake survivor with 1907 reconstruction · Sara Jane Moore assassination attempt on President Gerald Ford outside hotel (September 22, 1975)
Charles T. Crocker financed the original St. Francis, which opened on Union Square in 1904 as a 250-room luxury property. The 1906 earthquake left the building gutted; the hotel refurbished its interior and reopened with 450 rooms late in 1907, with later expansions in 1908 and 1913. Construction of the 32-story Pacific Tower began in 1969 and it opened in 1971, doubling the room count and giving the property the city skyline footprint it retains today.
On the weekend of September 5, 1921, comedian Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle hosted a Labor Day party in his three-room suite — rooms 1219, 1220, and 1221 — on the twelfth floor. Actress Virginia Rappe was found seriously ill during the party and died four days later, on September 9. Arbuckle was charged with manslaughter; after two mistrials he was acquitted in April 1922, but his film career was effectively destroyed and the case became one of the defining Hollywood scandals of the silent era.
The same twelfth-floor suite was the scene of another celebrity death three decades later. Al Jolson, returning from entertaining U.S. troops in Korea, checked into the St. Francis to record a Bing Crosby radio appearance. At about 10:30 PM on October 23, 1950, while playing gin rummy with friends in his room, Jolson said he felt unwell and died of a heart attack in his suite at age 64.
The St. Francis also has a documented near-history with President Gerald Ford. On September 22, 1975, as Ford was leaving the hotel, Sara Jane Moore fired at him from across Post Street; the attempt failed and Moore was apprehended. The hotel remains the flagship Westin property and is operated by Marriott.
Sources
- https://www.foundsf.org/index.php?title=The_Weird_History_of_the_St._Francis_Hotel
- https://www.kqed.org/arts/13953890/st-francis-hotel-san-francisco-history-arbuckle-jolson-crocker-gerald-ford
- https://jolsonville.net/2012/10/18/jolson-dead-new-york-times-1950/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Rappe
ApparitionsSense of being watchedLights cyclingDoors not latching
The St. Francis lore is unusually tightly geographically focused. Guest and staff accounts from the past several decades converge on the twelfth-floor suite of rooms 1219-1221 and on the corridor immediately outside. The most-repeated report is of Al Jolson seen seated at a small table in his old suite, dressed for a 1950s social evening, occasionally appearing to look up at an observer before fading. Some accounts describe Jolson's apparition specifically holding playing cards, a detail aligned with the documented circumstances of his death mid-card-game.
Virginia Rappe's reported apparition is the second pillar of the lore. Guests describe a young woman in 1920s dress in apparent distress, tearing at her hair or her clothing, in the corridor near the suite. The description is consistent enough across unrelated reports that several haunted-history features treat it as the building's signature apparition, though it is also the most editorially difficult element — the documented facts of Rappe's death involve a contested sexual-assault prosecution against Arbuckle, and the apparition's distressed framing can edge into sensationalism if not handled with care.
Additional reports describe lights cycling on the twelfth floor, doors that fail to latch on the suite hallway, and a sense of being watched in the corridor between the elevators and the suite. Activity is reported as concentrated to this single hallway segment and is not described as a building-wide haunting; the rest of the St. Francis is generally absent from the lore.
Notable Entities
Al Jolson (purported)Virginia Rappe (purported)
Media Appearances
- FoundSF feature 'The Weird History of the St. Francis Hotel'
- KQED arts feature
- Amy's Crypt profile
Plan Your Visit
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Sources & Further Reading
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Frequently Asked Questions
Is Westin St. Francis Hotel family-friendly?
The hotel itself is family-friendly. The Virginia Rappe / Fatty Arbuckle history involves sexual assault allegations and is not appropriate for younger children; the Jolson story is age-neutral but Jolson's racial blackface legacy is a separate adult conversation. Overall family fit: Moderate.
How much does it cost to visit Westin St. Francis Hotel?
Active flagship Westin property; room rates typically $300+/night. Public lobby and bars accessible without a stay.
Do I need to book in advance?
No advance booking is required, but checking availability is recommended.
Is Westin St. Francis Hotel wheelchair accessible?
Yes, Westin St. Francis Hotel is wheelchair accessible. Accessible on-site and van parking, elevators, wheelchair-equipped vehicle valet, and service animals without fee or documentation. Call hotel for disability-specific room/common-area features.