SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — San Francisco’s Sir Francis Drake Resort might be referred to as The Beacon Grand within the newest try within the Bay Space to rename streets and landmarks after the slave-trading explorer.
For 94 years the lodge, well-known for the Beefeater doormen who greet vacationers and passersby on the sidewalk by Union Sq., paid tribute to Francis Drake, the primary English sea captain to circumnavigate the globe within the 1500s.
However he additionally participated in slaving voyages to Africa, and the usage of his title got here beneath scrutiny because the Black Lives Matter motion prompted a nationwide reexamination of place names and monuments with ties to racism.
A faculty district in San Anselmo voted final yr to rename Sir Francis Drake Resort to honor Archie Williams, a Black Olympic gold medalist and World Conflict II veteran. Fairfax, a city in Marin County, additionally renamed a stretch of the 43-mile Sir Francis Drake Boulevard to Coastal Miwok Path.
The 416-room lodge, which has been shuttered because the onset of the pandemic, is scheduled to reopen this spring following a makeover of inside components. A spokeswoman for the Northview Resort Group, which bought the lodge final yr for about $157 million, advised the San Francisco Chronicle the rebranding of the lodge will protect parts of the property’s previous.
“Every thing was achieved with a lot thought for such an iconic property,” Leah Goldstein stated. “We aren't simply altering the title after which rapidly altering all the pieces concerning the lodge. It's all far more intentional than that.”