Name: The Kenmore
Address: 1570 Sutter Street 94109 San Francisco,Sutter Street, San Francisco, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94109, United States of America
Rating: 7

Internet access

Internet

Location

Civic Center

Van Ness

Powell Street

Mary Ellen Pleasant Memorial

CPMC Van Ness Campus

Peace Pagoda

The Regency Ballroom

California Pacific Medical Center: Pacific Campus

Cottage Row

Ikenobo Ikebana Society

Sutter Health Pac

Glad Tidings Church

Great American Music Hall

Asian Art Museum of San Francisco

Grace Cathedral

Painted Ladies

Orpheum Theater

Golden Gate Theatre

Warfield Theater

Cable Car Museum

Union Square

Westfield San Francisco Center Shopping Mall

Flood Building

San Francisco Mint

Westfield Metreon

Yerba Buena Gardens

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

Aquarium of the Bay

Pier 39

Palace of Fine Arts

Mission Dolores Park

San Francisco Zoo

San Francisco International Airport

San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport

Hayward Executive Airport

Buchanan Field Airport

Sacramento Executive Airport

Livermore Municipal Airport

The Kenmore

San Francisco

child-bed

child-bed-fee

external-private-bathroom

private-bathroom

shared-bathroom

10-beds

11-beds

12-beds

13-beds

14-beds

15-beds

16-beds

17-beds

18-beds

19-beds

2-beds

20-beds

21-beds

22-beds

23-beds

24-beds

25-beds

26-beds

27-beds

28-beds

29-beds

3-beds

30-beds

31-beds

32-beds

33-beds

34-beds

35-beds

36-beds

37-beds

38-beds

39-beds

4-beds

40-beds

5-beds

6-beds

7-beds

8-beds

9-beds

king-bed

queen-bed

limited-time

lounge

treatment

no-window

bay-view

bosphorus-view

canal-view

city-view

courtyard-view

garden-view

golf-view

harbour-view

inland-view

lake-view

land-view

mountain-view

ocean-front

ocean-view

oceanside

panoramic-view

park-view

partial-ocean-view

partial-sea-view

partial-view

pool-view

river-view

sea-front

sea-view

street-view

sunrise-view

sunset-view

water-view

with-view

annex

basement

main-building

1-bedroom

2-bedrooms

3-bedrooms

4-bedrooms

5-bedrooms

6-bedrooms

not-guaranteed

wired-internet-access

smoking

sauna

duplex

safe

mini-bar

breakfast-for-1

breakfast-for-2

pets-allowed

wi-fi

kitchen

Once lived there for room and board (early 1980s) when it was called Sutter Street Residence Hotel. Some things never change. Got married on the roof deck surrounded by fellow staff and new friends visiting from other countries.

Memories…

Great Place to Stay when in San Francisco. Whilst the building and the rooms are old fashioned, it gives You Just about the Look&Feel you are expecting from an old-Fashioned, weddingcake Style hotel in the Middleton of SF + With a historical Allure on Sutter street. The good ist amazing, If the Kitchen is in service!

Great Place to Stay

This is a memory of a long time ago. It was dirty, there were few amenities and many of the residents were less than savory. Kjell below is pretty accurate to my memories and I never had such a great time in my life.. 
   I moved into a notable San Francisco institution that embraces the young and near destitute, called a residence club in 1972, of which there were three on Sutter between Gough and Octavia. To my amazement they are still there. I lived in all three and the pictures of the Kenmore, the first one I lived in show that it has changed little in the intervening 46 years. You could take a group of 20 somethings from 1972 and a few students from the Morticians School on Van Ness and set them down in the lobby today and they would be right at home.
 Eventually I ended up living in all three, the Kenmore, the Lodge and the Majestic over the next five years.
 As I recall you got a room with a roommate, bath down the hall, and two meals a day for $40 a week. I just checked their web page and the current rate is (OMG) $1180/Mo for a shared studio with the bath down the hall. For the young and restless bachelor it was great. Women would move in, stay a month or two and move out... A guy had a constantly rotating choice.😍
My roommate was asleep when I first walked in the door and woke up with a "Who the hell are you?" I introduced myself and walked over to shake hands, he said "Far out!" and reached over shaking hands then lit up a joint and offered me a hit. Tom (and I forget his last name) drove a taxi and was making a little extra on the side.
 We were all either nearly broke, conning someone and underemployed but there was scrabble or chess in the lobby and a six pack or a bottle of wine was cheap at Abduls.. Now called A&M Liquors on the corner of Octavia across the street from the Lodge. And it was easy to get up a group for a day in GG Park if the weather was decent.
 Who else out there has memories of these clubs? I still consider them some of the happiest years of my life. Karen? Bobbie? Sue? Doug? McCurdy? Stan? Maggie? Terry Kramer? Are you out there?
    The Lodge next door was much cleaner and the food better then. Stayed in the Majestic again (actually in my old room!) about ten years ago when enroute to London which had been greatly upgraded it could almost considered a boutique hotel now.
My wife and I were on the way to London where I stayed in a B&B near Kings Cross that was similar but the rooms were smaller even though private and had a WC amd sink. Impossible to compare prices.
Frankly wife would divorce me If I got us reservations in anywhere similar to the Kenmore today. If I were 25 and single? I'd move back in in a minute!

46 years ago.. and it hasn't changed...

I have been waiting a long time to write this review as I had hoped to forget about this hotel experience...

First of all I must admit that I travel on a budget. I don't spend a lot on fancy hotels, as I usually just use the rooms to sleep. I do however expect the room and hotels to be clean! And expect food and service areas to be the same if e.g. breakfast is included. 
Simple and thrifty should not be confused with lack of maintenance and cleaning!

This hotel is by far the dirtiest and smelliest I have ever experienced. Worse standard than hotels in Jordan, Peru, Israel,  Serbia, Gambia and several other countries I have visited. The walls in the room had stains, the mattress had stains from something I will not go into details about, and the window has so much dust web it could have stopped a bird... As for the food/breakfast area, the standard was pretty much the same. Dust and dirt on shelves and tables. Not inviting at all....

To top it of: the place smelled like dirt and dust. And I'm from a farm so I know that smell...

Disappointing, dirty and smelly

I really wasn’t sure what to make of this place, but in my eight days there I grew to recognise it for what it really was.  Stick with me while I take you on an adventure…of sorts.

When you first role up to the hotel (for me it was late at night), the door is locked and you have to buzz to get in, inside it looks a little shabby, but clean.  So I buzzed in not really knowing what to expect, I’d never stayed in somewhere long stay like this.  

I was greeted by an extremely friendly receptionist (who it turns out mostly live here too), after signing the paper work I was directed to my room.  The room was basic, and old fashioned, although there was a flatscreen in the corner.  The heating system (something you need in San Francisco was a single small radiator, but which belied it’s size by belching out heat like a mini sun.  The floorboards squeak, but honestly, this adds to the charm.  This hotel is not shiny and new, and thats exactly why I grew to love it. 

The staff are fantastic, the wifi was fantastic and the food was included in the price. (not always to my taste, but always tasty and hot) and served by a woman who reminded me a little of my nan (in her younger days).  If you’re looking for luxury, then the Kenmore isn’t for you, but if you’re looking for basic comfort, friendly people and decent food at an amazing price for SF then you can do a lot worse.

I think the best thing about this kooky big hotel was by the far the location.  You are 3 blocks from Van Ness, where you can get a bus to just about anywhere in SF.  There is an amazing cinema on Van Ness to if you fancy a trip to the movies.  Three are shops and all manner of places to eat in the blocks surrounding the hotel.  In fact there’s a liquor store thats open until 11, but seems so much more (it’s like a mini mart really).

I spent 8 nights here and I could start to see how people could spend months at a time here, it’s comfy like being at home.

Like an old aunt you love to visit....

We have tour in San Francisco. A place hunt is Cable Cars Museum, Japanese Tea Gardens, Segway tour, Golden Gate Bridge, Fisherman Wharf, Bus tour, Chinatown, Alcatraz Islands, Union Square, Golden Gate Park, AT&T Park, De Young, Exploratorium, Lombard Street, Coit Tower, California Academy of Science, Muir Woods National Monument, Palace of Fine Arts Theatre, Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, Legion of Honor, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and Ghirlandaio Street.

The Kenmore

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