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Your First Look Inside the Sir Francis Drake's Prohibition Room

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By Sally Kuchar
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The prohibition room above the elevator area can only be accessed by tricking a specific elevator's electrical panel [Photo by <a href="http://www.patriciachangphotography.com/">Patricia Chang</a>]
The prohibition room above the elevator area can only be accessed by tricking a specific elevator's electrical panel [Photo by Patricia Chang]

[Photo (sans arrow and text) via Patricia Chang]


Prohibition was very much in effect when the Sir Francis Drake opened in the late 1920s, but that didn't stop San Franciscans and hotel guests from boozing it up in the hotel by any means possible. Guests staying at the hotel had bottles of alcohol hidden in laundry baskets brought up to their room, and drinks could be delivered via a small door hidden in each room. Sadly, the secret doors are no longer around, but the prohibition room still remains. It wasn't a speakeasy, it was a storage area for the booze. It was built for that purpose and has remained largely untouched (and unused) since. Only one of the four elevators will stop there, and you need to know how to trick the elevator to get you to the mezzanine level and then have a key that'll open the door. Here now, your first look inside the Sir Francis Drake's prohibition room.


· Sir Francis Drake [official website]
· All Hotels Week 2013 coverage [Curbed SF]

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