The Pacific-Union Club is a social club located at 1000 California Street in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, at the top of

Nob Hill Nob Hill is a neighborhood of San Francisco, California, United States that is known for its numerous luxury hotels and historic mansions. Nob Hill has historically served as a center of San Francisco's upper class. Nob Hill is among the highes ...

. It is considered to be the most elite club of the West Coast, and one of the most elite clubs in the United States, along with the

Knickerbocker Club The Knickerbocker Club (known informally as The Knick) is a gentlemen's club in New York City that was founded in 1871. It is considered to be the most exclusive club in the United States and one of the most aristocratic gentlemen's clubs in th ...

in New York, the

Metropolitan Club The Metropolitan Club of New York is a private social club on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded as a gentlemen's club in 1891 for men only, but it was one of the first major clubs in New York to admit women, t ...

in Washington D.C., and the

Somerset Club The Somerset Club is a private social club in Boston, Massachusetts, founded perhaps as early as 1826. It is a center of Boston Brahmin families - New England's upper class - and is known as one of the big four clubs in the country, the other th ...

in Boston. It was founded in 1889, as a merger of two earlier clubs: the Pacific Club (founded 1852) and the Union Club (founded 1854). The clubhouse was built as the home for silver magnate

James Clair Flood James Clair Flood (October 25, 1826 – February 21, 1889) was an American businessman who made a fortune thanks to the Comstock Lode in Nevada. His mining operations are recounted to this day as an outstanding example of what may be done with a ...

. The former

Flood Mansion The James C. Flood Mansion is a historic mansion at 1000 California Street, atop Nob Hill in San Francisco, California, USA. Now home of the Pacific-Union Club, it was built in 1886 as the townhouse for James C. Flood, a 19th-century silver ba ...

is located in the Nob Hill neighborhood. It was designed by

Willis Polk Willis Jefferson Polk (October 3, 1867 – September 10, 1924) was an American architect, best known for his work in San Francisco, California. For ten years, he was the West Coast representative of D.H. Burnham & Company. In 1915, Polk oversaw t ...

. It is considered the first

brownstone Brownstone is a brown Triassic–Jurassic sandstone that was historically a popular building material. The term is also used in the United States and Canada to refer to a townhouse clad in this or any other aesthetically similar material. Type ...

constructed west of the Mississippi River. Along with the Fairmont Hotel across the street, it was the only structure in the area to survive the San Francisco earthquake and fire of 1906. The club figured prominently in the history of the west coast of the United States.

Prominent members

Many notable citizens have been Pacific-Union Club members, including: * John Barneson, founder of General Petroleum Corporation,

General Pipe Line Company Mobil is a petroleum brand owned and operated by American oil and gas corporation ExxonMobil. The brand was formerly owned and operated by an oil and gas corporation of the same name, which itself merged with Exxon to form ExxonMobil in 1999. ...

Riley P. Bechtel Riley Peart Bechtel CBE (born March 25, 1952) is an American billionaire heir and businessman. He was the chairman of the Bechtel Corporation Bechtel Corporation () is an American engineering, procurement, construction, and project managem ...

, CEO,

Bechtel Bechtel Corporation () is an American engineering, procurement, construction, and project management company founded in San Francisco, California, and headquartered in Reston, Virginia. , the ''Engineering News-Record'' ranked Bechtel as the sec ...

Corporation *

Stephen Bechtel Jr. Stephen Davison Bechtel Jr. (May 10, 1925 – March 15, 2021) was an American billionaire, businessman, civil engineer, and co-owner of the Bechtel, Bechtel Corporation. He was the son of Stephen Davison Bechtel Sr. and grandson of Warren A. Bec ...

, former CEO,

Corporation *

Warren A. Bechtel Warren Abraham Bechtel (September 12, 1872 – August 28, 1933) was the founder of the Bechtel Corporation, the 2nd largest construction company in the United States as of 2022. Early life Warren Abraham Bechtel was born on September 12, 1872, ...

, founder of

Corporation *

Benjamin Biaggini Benjamin Franklin Biaggini (April 15, 1916 – May 28, 2005) was president of the Southern Pacific Company, parent company of Southern Pacific Railroad The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class ...

, former president and CEO,

Southern Pacific Railroad The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...

William Lane Booker Sir William Lane Booker, CMG, FRGS (12 July 1824International Genealogical Index
Batch No. C006339, Dat ...

, British diplomat *

Benjamin Dillingham Benjamin Franklin Dillingham (September 4, 1844 – April 7, 1918) was a businessman and industrialist during the late Kingdom of Hawaii era, throughout the period of the Republic of Hawaii, and during the first two decades of the Territory of Hawa ...

William Henry Draper III William Henry Draper III (born January 1, 1928) is an American venture capitalist. Early life Draper was born on January 1, 1928, in White Plains, New York, the son of Katherine Louise (née Baum) and banker, general, and diplomat William Henry ...

, businessman *

Paul B. Fay Paul Burgess Fay Jr. (July 8, 1918 – September 23, 2009) was the Acting United States Secretary of the Navy in November 1963, and a close confidant of President John F. Kennedy. Background Paul B. Fay Jr was born on July 8, 1918, in San Fran ...

Jr., (deceased) former Undersecretary of the Navy and PT squadron mate of

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination i ...

Tirey L. Ford Tirey Lafayette Ford (December 29, 1857 – June 26, 1928) was an American lawyer and Republican politician who served as a California State Senator and the 18th Attorney-General of California. He acted as General Counsel for the United Railroa ...

, former

California Attorney General The attorney general of California is the state attorney general of the Government of California. The officer's duty is to ensure that "the laws of the state are uniformly and adequately enforced" (Constitution of California, Article V, Section ...

Henry F. Grady Henry Francis Grady (February 12, 1882 – September 14, 1957) was an American diplomat. Born in San Francisco, California, to John Henry and Ellen Genevieve (Rourke) Grady, he earned a PhD in economics from Columbia University. On October 18, ...

, first

US Ambassador to India The United States Ambassador to India is the chief diplomatic representative of United States in India. The U.S. Ambassador's office is situated at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi. Chiefs of Mission to India U.S. Ambassadors to the Dominion of ...

; Dean of the

Commerce Department The United States Department of Commerce is an executive department of the U.S. federal government concerned with creating the conditions for economic growth and opportunity. Among its tasks are gathering economic and demographic data for busin ...

at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

; President of

American President Lines APL, formerly called American President Lines Ltd., is an American container shipping company that is a subsidiary of French shipping company CMA CGM. It operates an all-container ship fleet, including 9 U.S. flagged container vessels. In 1938, ...

Walter A. Haas Jr. Walter A. Haas Jr. (January 24, 1916 – September 20, 1995) was President and CEO (1958–1976) and Chairman (1970–1981) of Levi Strauss & Co, succeeding his father Walter A. Haas (1889–1979). He led the company in its growth from a region ...

, CEO (1958–1976) and chairman (1970–1981) of

Levi Strauss & Co Levi Strauss & Co. () is an American clothing company known worldwide for its Levi's () brand of denim jeans. It was founded in May 1853 when German-Jewish immigrant Levi Strauss moved from Buttenheim, Bavaria, to San Francisco, California, to o ...

Randolph Apperson Hearst Randolph Apperson Hearst (December 2, 1915 – December 18, 2000) was the fourth son of the five sons of William Randolph Hearst and Millicent Hearst. His twin brother, David, died in 1986. Randolph is the father of Patty Hearst. Earl ...

William Randolph Hearst Jr. William Randolph Hearst Jr. (January 27, 1908 – May 14, 1993) was an American businessman and newspaper publisher. He was the second son of the publisher William Randolph Hearst. He became editor-in-chief of Hearst Newspapers after the death of ...

William Randolph Hearst III William Randolph Hearst III (born June 18, 1949) is an American heir, businessman, and philanthropist. Biography Early life William Randolph Hearst III was born on June 18, 1949. His father was William Randolph Hearst Jr., and his paternal gran ...

William Redington Hewlett William Redington Hewlett ( ; May 20, 1913 – January 12, 2001) was an American engineer and the co-founder, with David Packard, of the Hewlett-Packard Company (HP). Early life and education Hewlett was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where his ...

, co-founder of

Hewlett-Packard The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company headquartered in Palo Alto, California. HP developed and provided a wide variety of hardware components ...

Henry J. Kaiser Henry John Kaiser (May 9, 1882 – August 24, 1967) was an American industrialist who became known as the father of modern American shipbuilding. Prior to World War II, Kaiser was involved in the construction industry; his company was one of ...

, engineer and founder of

Kaiser Family Foundation KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation), also known as The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, is an American non-profit organization, headquartered in San Francisco, California. It prefers KFF since its legal name can cause confusion as it is no longer a ...

William S. Mailliard William Somers Mailliard (June 10, 1917 – June 10, 1992) was an American banker and World War II veteran who was member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California from 1953 to 1974. Early life William S. Mailliard was born on June 1 ...

Robert McNamara Robert Strange McNamara (; June 9, 1916 – July 6, 2009) was an American business executive and the eighth United States Secretary of Defense, serving from 1961 to 1968 under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. He remains the Lis ...

, former

U.S. Secretary of Defense The United States secretary of defense (SecDef) is the head of the United States Department of Defense, the executive department of the U.S. Armed Forces, and is a high ranking member of the federal cabinet. DoDD 5100.1: Enclosure 2: a The se ...

David Packard David Packard ( ; September 7, 1912 – March 26, 1996) was an American electrical engineer and co-founder, with Bill Hewlett, of Hewlett-Packard (1939), serving as president (1947–64), CEO (1964–68), and chairman of the board (1964–6 ...

, co-founder of

and former U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense *

R. A. F. Penrose Jr. Richard Alexander Fullerton Penrose Jr. (December 17, 1863 – July 31, 1931), better known throughout his career as R. A. F. Penrose Jr., was an American mining geologist and entrepreneur. He was from a prominent Philadelphia family of Cor ...

, prominent geologist *

Donald J. Russell Donald Joseph McKay Russell (January 3, 1900 – December 13, 1985) was an American railroad executive. He was president of Southern Pacific Railroad from 1952 to 1964 and then chairman from 1964 to 1972. Russell was featured on the cover of '' ...

, former president,

Charles R. Schwab Charles Robert Schwab Sr. (born July 29, 1937) is an American investor and financial executive. He is the founder and chairman of the Charles Schwab Corporation. He pioneered discount sales of equity securities starting in 1975. His company be ...

, founder of

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Caspar Weinberger Caspar Willard Weinberger (August 18, 1917 – March 28, 2006) was an American statesman and businessman. As a prominent Republican, he served in a variety of state and federal positions for three decades, including chairman of the Californ ...

, former

Plácido Vega y Daza Plácido de la Vega Daza y Colón de Portugal (1830–1878) was a General and Governor of the Mexican state Sinaloa. Origins and ancestry He descended directly from Cristopher Columbus' great-great grandson, the Admiral and 3rd Duke of Veragua an ...

, former General and Governor of the Mexican state Sinaloa. He descended directly from Christopher Columbus' great-great grandson, the Admiral and 3rd Duke of Veragua. General Vega y Daza also became a vice-president of the Pacific Union Club of San Francisco

Pacific Union Club Punch

Pacific Union Club Punch is a drink named after the Pacific-Union Club in

William "Cocktail" Boothby William T. "Cocktail Bill" Boothby (November 10, 1862, San Francisco – August 4, 1930, San Francisco) was an American bartender and writer of San Francisco, California in the years before and after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. He tended ...

's 1908 work ''

The World's Drinks And How To Mix Them ''The World's Drinks And How To Mix Them'' is a cocktail manual by William "Cocktail" Boothby originally published in 1900, with revised editions in 1908, 1930 and 1934. The publisher was the Palace Hotel in San Francisco, where Boothby worked. ...

''Boothby, William "Cocktail". ''The World's Drinks and How to Mix Them'', 1908. Photographed at San Francisco Public Library Historical Materials Collectio

on December 28, 2006. with the recipe:

For a party of ten. Into a large punch-bowl place ten tablespoonfuls of bar sugar and ten tablespoonfuls of freshly squeezed lime or lemon juice. Add two jiggers of Curaçao liqueur, Curaçao and dissolve the whole in about a quart of effervescent water. Add two quarts of
champagne Champagne (, ) is a sparkling wine originated and produced in the Champagne wine region of France under the rules of the appellation, that demand specific vineyard practices, sourcing of grapes exclusively from designated places within it, spe ...
and one bottle of good
cognac Cognac ( , also , ) is a variety of brandy named after the Communes of France, commune of Cognac, France. It is produced in the surrounding wine-growing region in the Departments of France, departments of Charente and Charente-Maritime. Cog ...
. Stir thoroughly, ice, decorate and serve in thin glassware.

References

{{Authority control Clubs and societies in California Gentlemen's clubs in California Buildings and structures in San Francisco Clubhouses in California Culture of San Francisco Landmarks in San Francisco Nob Hill, San Francisco Organizations based in San Francisco Organizations established in 1889 1889 establishments in California Neoclassical architecture in California

Prominent members

Pacific Union Club Punch

See also

References