Haunted hotel guide · San Francisco, California
The Haunted San Remo Hotel, San Francisco: Rooms 33 and 42
A 1906 pension hotel near Fisherman’s Wharf with shared baths down the hall, a madam who knocks on Room 33 and a little girl who wants to get into Room 42.
The San Remo Hotel is a three-story Italianate building on Mason Street, on the slope between North Beach and Fisherman’s Wharf. It was built right after the 1906 earthquake and fire by A.P. Giannini, the founder of the Bank of Italy, later Bank of America, to house the workers rebuilding the city. Today it is a 62-room European-style pension with antique furniture, shared bathrooms and some of the best-value rooms in San Francisco.
Its ghost stories are unusually specific for such a modest hotel, and they are a big part of why it appears on lists of haunted hotels in San Francisco. The Painted Lady, said to be a madam, knocks on the door of Room 33 and is gone when it is opened. A little girl is seen in the hallways trying to get into Room 42. And because the bathrooms are down the hall, guests do a lot of late-night walking.
San Remo at a glance
Haunted Rooms Score
- Address 2237 Mason Street, San Francisco, CA 94133
- Built 1906, as the New California Hotel; renamed the San Remo in 1922
- Most haunted spots Room 33, Room 42, the hallways
- Best-known ghosts The Painted Lady, a madam; a little girl
- Booking the haunted room Rooms 33 and 42 are ordinary guest rooms. Request one when you book or call after booking; not guaranteed
- Good to know Shared bath facilities down the hall; no phones or TVs in rooms. Small pets up to 35 pounds by arrangement. Fior d’Italia restaurant downstairs
The ghosts of the San Remo Hotel
The Painted Lady of Room 33
The San Remo’s best-known ghost is the Painted Lady. The story says she was a madam who ran the place as a brothel at some point in its early years, and that she still keeps an eye on her old room. Guests in Room 33 report a knock at the door late at night. When they open it, the hallway is empty.
One guest who stayed in Room 33 in 2018 posted a longer account: a window they had shut was found open on the first night, a painting of a woman in the room seemed to turn its head when he looked away, and his girlfriend saw a dark, shadowy figure about five feet tall standing by the door. He also repeated a story that a woman who lived in Room 33 died there and staff had to climb in through the window to reach her. None of this has been confirmed, but it is a good example of how the room’s reputation has grown.
The little girl at Room 42
The second ghost is a child. Guests describe a small girl wandering the hallways and trying to get into Room 42, as if it were her room and she could not find the key. One guest wrote that he came back from a movie to find a girl staring at him while she tried the door, and he did not wait around to ask her name.
The madam and the figure in the mirror
Some writers treat the madam and the Painted Lady as two different spirits; others say they are the same woman. A guest brushing her teeth in one of the shared bathrooms reported seeing a figure in the mirror standing behind her. Others mention cold spots, whispers and small objects moving.
Was it really a brothel?
There is no published record that the San Remo was a brothel. The hotel’s own history describes immigrant workers, seamen, waterfront laborers, poets and pensioners, with some artists paying for rooms with paintings. Legends of America says it served liquor in coffee cups during Prohibition, which may be where the racier stories come from. Treat the Painted Lady as North Beach folklore rather than history.
The most haunted rooms and places to look
- Room 33: The Painted Lady’s room: knocks at the door with nobody there, a window that opens itself, a shadow by the door.
- Room 42: The door the little girl is seen trying to open.
- The hallways and shared bathrooms: Where most guests walk at night, and where the girl and the mirror figure are reported.
History of San Remo Hotel
The earthquake and fire of April 1906 destroyed most of North Beach. A.P. Giannini, founder of the Bank of Italy, built a new hotel on Mason Street as part of the rebuilding. He called it the New California Hotel: a 62-room, three-story Italianate Victorian for Italian immigrants and the workers recruited to rebuild the city. According to the hotel, some of them received free meals and rooms.
Over the following years the guests were merchant seamen, waterfront workers, poets, journalists and pensioners. Some artists paid their bills with paintings. In 1922 it was renamed the San Remo, after the Italian Riviera town on the Gulf of Genoa, to match the Genoa-style meals served in its restaurant. During the Depression the restaurant served full-course dinners for fifty cents, and it became a North Beach institution.
Brothers Tom and Robert Field have owned the hotel since 1971 and restored it as a European-style pension, with Victorian heirloom furniture and old photographs in the halls. After the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake they offered free rooms to people whose homes had been damaged or destroyed, in the spirit of Giannini.
The hotel’s ground-floor restaurant is now Fior d’Italia, a Northern Italian restaurant with a full bar. Upstairs, rooms are small and simple, with pedestal sinks and shared bath facilities down the hall, and no phones or televisions.
Tips for a haunted stay
- Ask for Room 33 or Room 42 when you book, and call to confirm a few days before arrival. They are ordinary rooms, so there is no surcharge, but nothing is guaranteed.
- Pack slippers and a robe. The bathrooms are shared and down the hall, which means you will be in the hallways at night whether you like it or not.
- Bring earplugs if you sleep lightly. It is an old wooden building with shared halls, and footsteps carry, ghostly or not.
- Fisherman’s Wharf is a short walk away, so after dinner downstairs you can walk the waterfront after dark before heading back up to Room 33.
- Pair your stay with a night at the Hotel Majestic on Sutter Street for a two-night San Francisco ghost weekend.
More haunted hotels nearby
- Hotel Majestic: Room 407 and the lady in the portrait
- Queen Anne Hotel: Miss Mary Lake’s Victorian school on Sutter Street
- Haunted hotels in San Francisco: every haunted stay in the city
- Alcatraz: the island prison, a short walk to the ferry
- Haunted hotels in California
- Haunted hotels in San Francisco
Stayed in one of these hotels? Tell us what happened
We collect first-hand accounts from guests and add the best ones to our guides, with your first name and the date of your stay. We read every story before it’s published.
Frequently asked questions
Is the San Remo Hotel in San Francisco haunted?
The San Remo has a strong local ghost reputation. Guests report a madam known as the Painted Lady knocking on the door of Room 33, a little girl trying to get into Room 42, a figure in a bathroom mirror and cold spots in the halls.
Which rooms are haunted at the San Remo Hotel?
Room 33, linked to the Painted Lady, and Room 42, where a little girl is seen trying the door. Both are ordinary guest rooms you can request.
Was the San Remo Hotel a brothel?
That is the legend behind the Painted Lady, but there is no published record of it. The hotel’s documented history is as a home for immigrant workers, seamen and artists after the 1906 fire.
Who built the San Remo Hotel?
A.P. Giannini, founder of the Bank of Italy (later Bank of America), built it after the 1906 earthquake as the New California Hotel. It was renamed the San Remo in 1922.
Does the San Remo Hotel have private bathrooms?
The hotel describes its rooms as European pensione style, with shared bath facilities and no phones or TVs. Check the room description when you book if a private bath matters to you.
Sources
Facts on this page are checked against the hotel’s own website, historic records and news coverage. Ghost stories are reported as guests, staff and local historians tell them. Read how we rate haunted hotels.
- San Remo Hotel: history
- San Remo Hotel: official site
- Legends of America: Sleeping With Ghosts in California
- HauntedPlaces.org: San Remo Hotel
- Fright Find: San Remo Hotel
- Only In Your State: Haunted hotels in San Francisco
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About the authors
The Haunted Rooms Team runs public ghost hunts and overnight investigations at historic venues across the United States. We research every hotel in our guides using hotel histories, local archives, news coverage and the accounts of guests and staff, and we review each guide regularly so you are not booking a hotel that has closed or changed its name. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.
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