“Dear Lollie- We drove our car up to the 11th floor of this big hotel.”
This postcard is very fun seeing this architecture (1966) and hearing about the attached parking structure. I love how the inside of the hotel has a pool and for this time period, this shows the lap of luxury. The postcard also mentions the weather “very little snow and no chains needed”. Being that the card was being sent from San Francisco to Seattle Washington, you can imagine the various weather situations the writer drove down in.
I looked online and found the hotel is still there, much larger, improved but they still have the pool outside on the roof. The parking structure is enormous now, as you can see to the rear, right (pasted at the bottom).
On Tumbler, I found a post with old historic hotels, many designed with a pool with the hotel wrapped around it, so a similar design from the same time period.
https://66.media.tumblr.com/0d4f369ff8e082f2188f7fe3bb4e1fbf/tumblr_p959si2ES41r9h4tno10_1280.jpg
https://collectorsweekly.tumblr.com/post/174156734187/jack-tar-hotels-and-motels-1960s
Postcard description: The front of the postcard is an ariel photo of the San Francisco Hilton, a huge boxy monolith square of windows with an open center and a huge blue pool in the center. There is a parking structure attached to the hotel.
Postcard information: The San Francisco Hilton with 1200 guest rooms is the City's newest and largest hotel. Motoring guests may drive their automobiles direct to their rooms along the unique interior ramp which spans seven floors. All registered guests enjoy free parking. A heated swimming pool on the 16th floor terrace is a San Francisco 'first;. At Mason and O’Farrell streets. (Adjoining the Downtown Airline Terminal)
Postmarked in 1966
What it looks like today:
