PORTER Postcard: Veronica Beard In San Francisco

If there is one thing that the pair are in complete agreement about, it’s the Huntington Hotel. The Nob Hill grande dame reopened in 2026 following an extensive restoration, bringing with it the revived Big Four restaurant and an exciting new phase for a building that once started out as apartments in 1922.

“My parents honeymooned there, so it holds a special place in our family history,” says Swanson Beard. “I love how transportive it feels. There is a timelessness to the design that makes staying there feel like stepping into another era.”

Miele Beard is similarly charmed by the history of the former residential block: “I think this contributes to its intimate feel, despite it being such a large hotel.”

Elsewhere, their tastes diverge a little. Swanson Beard enjoys The Battery in Jackson Square, with its 14 Ken Fulk-designed suites and plush, residential atmosphere. Miele Beard, on the other hand, likes to stop at Hotel Drisco, a refined hideaway in Pacific Heights – or the Proper in downtown San Fransisco, where Kelly Wearstler’s interiors fill a landmark Beaux-Arts flat-iron building.

San Francisco’s restaurant culture is legendary: extraordinary produce, vineyards within reach and a long tradition of taking ingredients very seriously, while having enough fun to keep fine dining from feeling solemn.

“The Bay Area has unparalleled access to exceptional farms and producers,” says Swanson Beard. Her essential reservation is Cotogna. “It has everything you want from a restaurant: the food is delicious, the room is stylish and the atmosphere has a European energy. It has the buzz of a see-and-be-seen restaurant, but the food still leads.”

Miele Beard loves Michelin-starred Sorrel, where the menu adds Italian flair to Californian produce, while her newer discovery is Arquet at the Ferry Building, from the same team. “It has quickly become a go-to anytime I’m in town,” she says. The ingredient-led restaurant draws on the neighboring Ferry Plaza Farmers Market, with wood-fired cooking and views across the waterfront.

For Miele Beard, what keeps San Francisco interesting is the freshness of the local produce, but also its diversity. “There are so many different cultural and culinary influences, and chefs are constantly finding new ways to bring them together.”

Exemplifying this, Swanson Beard lists Californios, where chef Val Cantú reinterprets Mexican cooking through Californian ingredients in an ever-evolving tasting menu. In June, it became the world’s first Mexican restaurant to receive three Michelin stars.

“It’s difficult to choose a single dish because the menu changes so frequently,” she says, “but that sense of discovery is part of the appeal.”

Here, there are two schools of thought. Swanson Beard is faithful to her favorite tipple, wherever in the world she jets off to. “A Paper Plane, no matter where I am.” In San Francisco, she takes hers at Bar Crenn, Dominique Crenn’s intimate lair, next-door to Atelier Crenn.

Miele Beard, meanwhile, uses proximity to Napa as an excuse to stay Californian. “I’m of course ordering a glass of red. Lately, my go-to is the Cabernet Franc from Howell Mountain Vineyards.” Later in the evening, she heads to Left Door: “The martinis are not to be missed.

If San Francisco has any kind of dress code, both women agree that layers are essential. The city’s famously mutable weather means a single outfit may need to negotiate fog, sun, wind and dinner.

Swanson Beard packs “chic flats, a gray blazer and a pair of pants that can be dressed up or down”. Miele Beard’s formula is a Veronica Beard dickey jacket, with multiple dickeys for switching things up, an elevated jean and boots. A cashmere sweater is also always just in reach.

Even after dark, Miele Beard says, the city keeps a relatively casual vibe: “There’s an ease to the city’s style – so, even at night, it never feels overly formal.” Swanson Beard sees this as a wider reflection of how San Francisco approaches fashion. “It is a quiet style compass for what’s next,” she says. “The fashion is less about spectacle and more about bespoke.”

The lesson to steal from San Francisco interiors is not a particular color, object or design era, but the confidence to mix them with wild abandon.

Swanson Beard loves homes that combine “art, antiques, pattern, and color, while still feeling considered and personal”. Miele Beard is drawn to the same tension from another angle: “The city knows how to mix the old with the new in a way that feels effortless. I love how ornate historic details sit alongside modern touches.”

And this feels like a fantastic final take on San Francisco as a city, too. This is, after all, a place where a 1920s hotel can suddenly become the hottest in town again; where Victorian façades coexist with one of the world’s most influential technology industries; and where looking ahead often means revisiting the best of the past.