John Toomey, the Santa Claus who was fired by Macy's last Christmas for telling off-color jokes, was found dead today at the Budget Inn on Market Street. The cause of death appears to be natural causes but has not been determined. more ›

The city's Fairmont hotel is being put on the market "after city officials failed to approve a proposal to convert some of the building to condos," reports Business Times. The hotel is currently owned by Oakland A’s owner Lew Wolff, investor Philip Maritz, and -- who knew!? --Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, the 26th richest person in the world. The plan, if you recall, was to nix the existing hotel tower, built in the 60s, to build residential spaces.The mighty hotel workers' union, however, got involved because it would've cost hotel jobs, which obviously it would have, and voted no on the thing. [Biz Times]
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Gasp! San Francisco has a new hotel... and it's just for felines. It's called Mission: Cats (which, in a startling coincidence, is also the title of your editor's pending autobiography) and it "combines everyone's love of live cat webcams (owners can check in on their cats while they're out of town) with plush digs for your cat to get comfortable in when you're on that much-needed vacation," reports 7x7. more ›

You'll recall how the Fairmont Hotel wants to take that semi-ugly tower at the corner of Stockton and California and build a new condo tower, demolishing the famed Tonga Room in the process? Well, now Mayor Ed Lee is rallying some support for the developers, who got stymied last fall by the Planning Commission who weren't satisfied with their Environmental Impact Report, or something, and who therefore missed their deadline for getting Planning's approval for the project. more ›

Using traveler ratings for cleanliness, TripAdvisor named the 10 dirtiest hotels in the country. Oakland's Jack London Inn was honored as the second most rank hotel, following behind the Grand Resort Hotel & Convention Center in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. more ›

"At least" four guests were "sickened" by carbon monoxide gas at the Fourth Street Marriott on Thursday night. The deadly fumes sent stricken guests to San Francisco General Hospital and St. Francis Memorial Hospital for treatment. They are expected to survive. But still, yikes. more ›

The toddler who fell into the the Hyatt Regency's fountain last Wedesday succumbed to injuries on Saturday. He was only 18 months old. more ›

An eighteen-month-old child is in life-threatening condition at Saint Francis Memorial Hospital after he was found in a fountain in the lobby of the Hyatt Regency Hotel located at 5 Embarcadero Center on Wednesday afternoon. The child had entered the hotel with his mom, twin sister, and nanny to take pictures of the hotel when he disappeared. more ›

If you find yourself lost on O'Farrell, don't ask the concierge of Hilton San Francisco for directions. The hotel workers began a boycott yesterday with an 800 person march and a 160 person sit in. The union wants to retain health coverage with low co-payments. Oh, and here are some pictures from yesterday's protest. [Amy Crocker] more ›

This year, SFMOMA celebrates its 75th anniversary. In honor of such a grand milestone, according to 7x7, "the St. Regis has rolled out two limited edition MOMA suites and a MOMA Anniversary Travel Package, which lasts the duration of 2010." Said packages involve hotel rooms with real works prints from the museum's "75 Years of Looking Forward" series -- most notably Heni Matisse and Jackson Pollock (the latter, some might argue, being a superior and more important American artist than soup can-happy Andy Warhol). more ›

Just in time for your lunch hour, a woman who received more than 400 bedbug bites during her stay at San Francisco’s Ramada Plaza Hotel has received $71,000 to settle her claim against the downtown hotel. The out-of court settlement is the largest ever paid to victims in similar bedbug-attack cases. more ›

We are super creeped out right now. We've had a few mysterious, little bites appear on our wrists that itched like a bitch the first day and have stuck around for two or three weeks. They have consistently snuck up on us, occurring about a week apart and causing our night terrors to go medieval a few times, until we finally got ahold of ourselves somewhat, thankyouverymuch. more ›

Cabbies are upset. Again. What's else is new? But: more ›

Photo of San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom behind the wheel of a Tesla Motors Roadster protoype in Fisherpersons Wharf more ›

You know, maybe Tapioca Ed wouldn't have problems with fire if he had running water. Bobagate heats up -- literally! more ›

You've got one week left to drive your car up and down Jessie Street. On May 11th, the street closes between Mint and 5th Street, to be turned into a pedestrian thoroughfare with trees and cafes and planters and niceness. This conversion is a process known as "hey, let's make that place suck less." Judging by some of the concept art, it'll look very pleasant; even the clouds in the beautiful blue sky will become magically fluffier. more ›

Photo of four members of the S.F. 49er Gold Rush cheerleading squad on a sunny day more ›

As 2006 ends and 2007 begins, the -ists look back not at the past week, but at the past year. So here it is, your Best of 2006 Spectacular. And from all of us at the -ists, happy New Year! more ›

And now, the story you've all been waiting for anxiously, it's the latest in Treasure Island! We know, we know...you can't say SFist doesn't bring the excitement. more ›

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to the success of their Oracle OpenWorld convention that they entirely shut down Howard Street between Third and Fourth to traffic, because they need the space for their caterers. You're going to make caterers make canapes on the street, Larry Ellison? more ›

We're begging for your help here, readers -- begging! Can someone with a digital camera PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE go to this event and send us your pictures of Chris Daly getting thrown into a swimming pool? We'll throw in some SFist swag if you do! We'd go ourselves, but admission is $125 (and we don't have a digital camera anyways). more ›

like the name of a certain local blog! Oh no, not at all! more ›

We are big fans of drinks that come with their own props – little plastic monkeys swinging off the rim, entire servings of fruit contained on one tiny sword, paper umbrellas. We still think fondly of the many times we walked out of the Caribbean Zone with a purse full of little cocktail tchotckes. We are thrilled that the Tonga Room is still going strong. However, we are not big fans of negotiating BART after having indulged our affinity for drinks that come with their own props. What is an East Bay resident to do when seized with the urge to drink something out of a big hurricane glass, then chew on a few rum-soaked pineapple chunks? more ›

With SFist Rita's report yesterday about Apple settling with Creative, Apple fanboys can console themselves with the news that Microsoft is also getting dinged for even more money in a patent infringment suit. Meanwhile, retail workers who downloaded the development version of Apple's new OS, Leopard, are getting canned left and right (scroll down). But BusinessWeek thinks good iPod news is on the way, while Wired News explores the back alleys of Chennai in search of smuggled iPods and Powerbooks. more ›

If changes aren't made, there could be problems housing the athletes. What dumbass decided to put the athletes up at the old Hunters’ Point shipyard in an “Olympic Village”? Why house people in an area that already is saddled with impressions that it’s unsafe and filled with crime? The weather's warm, but it's a neighborhood said to be in need of re-developing -- more business, more programs, more support. On the other hand, maybe the Bayview Hunter’s Point district would magically get the funds, attention and police coverage it needs, along with more services for its residents. With the whole world watching, we’re betting the higher ups would get it all cleaned up just in time. In between our own elite training exercises of raising our fork and lifting beer bottles, we'll be watching. more ›

The good news is that vacancy rates are low across the hotel business in San Francisco. The bad news is that at least some of those rooms may be off the rolls as they are being fumigated. When we wrote our original post on San Francisco's growing bedbug infestation, we were at a loss to come up with direct reports of encounters with the parasites in some of The City's hotels. Well, Hotel Chatter dropped us a note to point to this tale of abject terror:

But by the morning of the 27th, my arms, legs and other parts of my body were full of bug bites (I took some pictures of the bites). As I was sitting on the edge of the bed putting my shoes on, I saw something crawling on the pillowcase. I carefully took a zip-lock type plastic bag and caught the little bug. I knew right away what I was dealing with. more ›

Some time ago, we met Steve Ford, who, among other things pulls a great shot of espresso. We met him during his tenure with the stalkerriffic Blue Bottle Coffee Company; since our encounter, he's moved onto another coffee-related venture as a roaster at Ecco Caffe in Santa Rosa. Steve recently had a not-so-pleasant experience--he fell out the third-story window of the Burlington Hotel in Port Costa, Calif. more ›

This week we're giving away a night of rock n' roll debauchery. more ›