Today I came across the statue of Tony Bennett just outside the Fairmont Hotel on Nob Hill. It’s been there since 2016 though I don’t think I’d ever gotten around to seeing it until now. The statue is in the front lawn of the hotel on Mason Street — a block also now known as Tony Bennett Way.
Though many would rightfully associate Tony Bennett with his home in New York City, he debuted the song “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” at the Fairmont Hotel in 1961. The song wasn’t originally written for Bennett, yet he released the first recording of the song a year later.
The following two lines of the song stick out to me:
To be where little cable cars climb halfway to the stars
The morning fog may chill the air, I don’t care
Decades later those same foggy weather patterns persist, and thanks to an almost insurmountable effort those little cable cars are still climbing halfway to the stars.