San Francisco Sightseeing Articles

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. - Fairmont Hotel gatekeeper Tom Wolfe is well alert of his city's faults. He sees them every day, in black and white, when he strolls through the lobby of this elegant Nob Hill landmark.

Lining the walls are dozens of old photographs of San Francisco in the hours just after 5 a.m. April 18, 1906 when a huge earthquake, and more than 50 successive fires, destroyed some 28,000 buildings, leaving half the city homeless and 3,000 dead.