Hyatt Regency

The main entrance to the Hyatt Regency leads inauspiciously to two flights of escalators. During the slow ride to the top the spacious atreum lobby greets the visitor, who always looks up, first to the sculpture and reflecting pool, then to the sun streaming through the roof, finally on the right to the lit jelly-bean elevators. When I first visited the Hyatt, I was a sheltered college student and unprepared for the magnificence of the great room.

Uncle Jack, who spent his sabbatical that year working at an engineering firm in San Francisco, gave me walking tours of the City. When he introduced me to the unique, unified architecture of the Hyatt and the four towers of Embarcadero Center, I might have had a presentiment that I would live in or near San Francisco. Here I am 30 years later and counting.....