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Introduction
by Francis Ford Coppola

The history of the Sentinel Building is, in many ways, the history of San Francisco – and by extension, a reflection of 20th century America.

It’s the story of a unique, somewhat quirky building that has attracted and fostered creative talent from its earliest days.

In a country that prides itself on “the new” and “the latest thing,” it has managed to survive amid more than a century of radical changes.

New York’s Pennsylvania Station, Singer Building, Hippodrome and Cornelius Vanderbilt Mansion, Chicago’s Federal Building, Los Angeles’ Hayvenhurst and its Brown Derby Restaurant ­ all admired, all beloved – were not so lucky. In the name of progress, some gave way to banks, others to parking lots.

In 2018, when S.F.’s Clift Hotel changed hands, overzealous developers made plans to demolish its magnificent Redwood Room -- an irreplaceable local treasure since 1933-- and intentionally kept those plans “quiet.” The room was “renovated” rather than razed only because word leaked out over the Internet at the eleventh hour, inciting a huge public protest.

Such losses result in a kind of cultural amnesia.

To borrow a line from Hamlet, “We shall not see their likes again.” Except, perhaps, recreated on a Hollywood sound stage.

In my case, the Sentinel began as “love at first sight” and evolved, over more than half a century, into an enduring affair of the heart. It’s impossible to imagine my life, and work, without having had the Sentinel Building as an anchor and, yes, an inspiration.