Author: Alfredo Casuso

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Cindy Ramesh / Hilton San Francisco Union Square Hotel / (415) 202-7739 / cindy.ramesh@hilton.com

David Perry / David Perry & Associates, Inc. / (415) 676-7007 / news@davidperry.com 

San Francisco’s Largest Hotel, Hilton San Francisco Union Square Hotel,
Reopens on Monday, May 24 

Hotel to illuminate a five-day countdown on its exterior leading up to the hotel’s opening

Hi-res images are available for download here.

19 May 2021 – SAN FRANCISCO: On Monday, May 24, Hilton San Francisco Union Square Hotel, the largest hotel in San Francisco and on the West Coast, will reopen its doors and welcome back guests for the first time in over a year. Throughout the pandemic, the 46-tower property has displayed an illuminated heart and “S.F” to honor the city and serve as a sign of hope and solidarity for the San Francisco community. In celebration of the hotel’s reopening, the hotel will launch a five-day countdown illuminated on the hotel’s exterior as it gets ready to reopen its doors.

“Throughout the pandemic, in addition to offering a little bit of warmth and light to San Francisco, we also wanted to stand in support with our community to let them know that we would get through this,” said Terry Lewis, complex general manager, Hilton San Francisco Union Square Hotel. “As recovery continues, travel restrictions lift and we get ready to reopen our doors, we wanted to send a message of excitement and anticipation to our city with our hotel reopening countdown. It’s an important message for not only our guests, but the many surrounding businesses in our neighborhood letting them know that we’re back and ready to welcome them even at a safe distance.”

As the City by the Bay reopens to visitors, many activities near the hotel have already opened, including the Asian Art Museum, Westfield Shopping Center, and the famous Alcatraz Island Tours, which are just a fun Cable Car ride from the hotel. The hotel’s grab-and-go picnic baskets from Herb N’ Kitchen Marketplace are perfect for guests to enjoy while touring San Francisco’s beautiful city sights.  

Building on Hilton’s commitment to the health and safety of guests, Hilton San Francisco Union Square participates in Hilton CleanStay to deliver an industry-defining standard of cleanliness and disinfection. Created in collaboration with Reckitt, maker of Lysol and Dettol, Hilton CleanStay provides guests with assurance and added peace of mind with a focus on cleanliness that is visible to guests throughout their entire stay. Guests who desire a contactless arrival experience can check in, choose their room, unlock their door with a Digital Key, and check out using their mobile devices through the free Hilton Honors mobile app. This option is available for guests who book direct via the Honors app or at Hilton.com.

As meetings and events start to return, Hilton San Francisco Union Square has the largest amount of flexible meeting and event space in the city and is committed to creating event experiences that can accommodate all types of groups and cater to every meeting planner’s needs. Hilton EventReady with CleanStay provides curated solutions with creative food and beverage, thoughtful technology resources including Hilton EventReady Hybrid Solutions, elevated standards, and reimagined ways to meet and gather.

Hilton San Francisco Union Square Hotel is also part of Hilton Honors®, the award-winning guest-loyalty program for Hilton’s 18 distinct hotel brands. Hilton Honors members who book directly through preferred Hilton channels have access to instant benefits, including a flexible payment slider that allows members to choose nearly any combination of Points and money to book a stay, an exclusive member discount, and free Standard WiFi. Members also have access to contactless technology exclusively through the industry-leading Hilton Honors mobile app, where members can check-in, choose their room and access their room using Digital Key. 

Rates start at $199+ per night. Hilton San Francisco Union Square is located at 333 O’Farrell St, San Francisco, CA 94102. For reservations please visit Hilton San Francisco Union Square Hotel at Hilton.com or call (415) 771-1400. Guests traveling to the area can visit destination sites such as SFtravel to see what attractions are or have plans to open in the coming months. 

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About Hilton Hotels & Resorts

Hilton Hotels & Resorts has set the benchmark for hospitality around the world, providing new product innovations and services to meet guests’ evolving needs. With more than 575 hotels across six continents, Hilton Hotels & Resorts properties are located in the world’s most sought-after destinations for guests who know that where they stay matters. Hilton Honors members who book directly through preferred Hilton channels have access to instant benefits. Begin your journey at hiltonhotels.com, and learn more about the brand by visiting newsroom.hilton.com/hhr and following Hilton Hotels & Resorts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

About Hilton

Hilton (NYSE: HLT) is a leading global hospitality company with a portfolio of 18 world-class brands comprising more than 6,500 properties and more than one million rooms, in 119 countries and territories. Dedicated to fulfilling its founding vision to fill the earth with the light and warmth of hospitality, Hilton has welcomed more than 3 billion guests in its more than 100-year history, earned a top spot on the 2020 World’s Best Workplaces list, and was named the 2020 Global Industry Leader on the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices. In 2020, Hilton CleanStay was introduced, bringing an industry-defining standard of cleanliness and disinfection to hotels worldwide. Through the award-winning guest loyalty program Hilton Honors, the more than 115 million members who book directly with Hilton can earn Points for hotel stays and experiences money can’t buy. With the free Hilton Honors mobile app, guests can book their stay, select their room, check in, unlock their door with a Digital Key and check out, all from their smartphone. Visit newsroom.hilton.com for more information, and connect with Hilton on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube.

Media Contact: DP&A, Inc. / David Perry / news@davidperry.com / (415) 676-7007

LYRIC Issues Statement Following Death of Felicia Elizondo:

“A true icon and fearless advocate for the LGBTQ+ communities”

17 May  2021 – San Francisco:  Calling her “a true icon and fearless advocate for the LGBTQ+ communities”, the Board and Staff of LYRIC (www.lyric.org), the San Francisco nonprofit that provides programming and a safe space for LGBTQQ+ youth, remembered Felicia Elizondo following her death this past week.

“The LYRIC family mourns the death of Felicia Elizondo, a true icon and fearless advocate for the LGBTQ+ communities for decades and a courageous activist on behalf of the Transgender community especially. Felicia participated in LYRIC’s very first intergenerational storytelling project in a partnership with GLBT Historical Society, New Leaf and OutLoud Radio. She continued to be an active participant over the years in what now is LYRIC’s collaboration with Openhouse for the annual youth and elder transgender brunch prior to the Trans March. Because of Felicia’s unflinching  visibility, many of her Transgender brothers and sisters can feel safer and more celebrated. Felicia’s legacy and love of her community will long be an example.” 

LYRIC is a leader in the San Francisco Bay Area offering safe spaces, workforce development, healthcare navigation, individual counseling, and group-based community building to marginalized low-income LGBTQQ+ youth.  During the COVID-19 pandemic, LYRIC has continued its vital work for LGBTQQ youth in our community. LYRIC’s mission is to build community and inspire positive social change through education enhancement, career trainings, health promotion, and leadership development with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQQ) youth, their families, and allies of all races, classes, genders, and abilities. For more information and to make a donation, go to www.lyric.org  

Media Contact: Jaguar Bennett / publicity@quilldriverbooks.com

Silver Medal for David Eugene Perry’s “Upon This Rock” from Pace Press

33rd Annual Benjamin Franklin Awards from Independent Book Publishing Association Honor Critically-Acclaimed Mystery Thriller in LGBT Category

www.quilldriverbooks.com

14 May 2021 – Fresno, CA: First-Time author David Eugene Perry took home a coveted Silver Medal in the LGBT category in ceremonies last night marking the 33rd Annual Benjamin Franklin Awards from the Independent Book Publishers Association for his critically-acclaimed mystery thriller Upon This Rock from Pace Press.

“Ben Franklin was always my favorite patriot so this award thrills me,” said Perry, 59. “In a year when COVID made us all turn even more to books, the IBPA had more submissions than at any time since 2008. I’m greatly honored to have been nominated among so many fine writers and to have won this prize and so grateful to Pace Press.”

The IBPA Benjamin Franklin Awards, recognizing excellence in book editorial and design, are regarded as one of the highest national honors for independent publishers

“This is a well-deserved honor for an exceptional novel,” said Kent Sorsky, publisher of Pace Press/Linden Publishing. “Upon This Rock is a delightfully intricate thriller that readers have embraced. We have never had this response to a first-time novelist before.”

Upon This Rock is an “elegant twisty thriller” (Armistead Maupin, author ofthe international sensation Tales of the City) and “the gay DaVinci Code, but a lot better” (Fenton Johnson, Guggenheim Fellow, author of The Man Who Loved Birds); Upon This Rock is “for those readers who love Italy and who love crime fiction” (Lucinda Hawksley, great-great-great-granddaughter of Charles Dickens, author of Dickens’s Artistic Daughter, Katey); “Perry’s novel sparkles with campy wit but is written with serious clues that keep you reading. And, oh yes, because it is a mystery, there’s a killer of a surprise at the end. Move over, Sam Spade and Nick and Nora Charles. Welcome the new kids to the neighborhood, Lee and Adriano.” (Will Snyder,Bay Area Reporter); Upon This Rock is “a perfect read for anyone who is into thrillers, mysteries and historical fiction, like John Grisham and Dan Brown for sure.”(Ankita Dasgupta, The Bookworm Resort); “This is a wild read. Perry’s ability to build suspense is impressive and the denouement of this thriller will not just surprise you, but literally stun.”(Erika Atkinson, author of Ode to the Castro).

“You will not find a more exquisite, captivating, well written first novel than David Eugene Perry’s Upon This Rock. I was literally hooked from the first chapter. Set in the Italian city of Orvieto, Perry takes us on a roller-coaster ride that begins with the Sixteenth Century papacy of the de Medici Pope, Clement VII, and then quickly plummets us to the present day. A wonderfully addictive and engrossing story with brilliant characters and an ending that will have you perusing your favorite bookstore looking for Perry’s next novel”(Dennis Koller, author of The Rhythm of Evil). “You will not be able to put his book down. It is a page-turner from the first sentence until the twisted unexpected ending.” (Lynn Ruth Miller, author of Getting the Last Laugh). In short, David Eugene Perry’s Upon This Rock is “A potboiler thriller with nail-biting suspense” (Lew J. Whittington, New York Journal of Books); a “sexy, historical thriller” (Julissa James, Nob Hill Gazette);”a love letter to Orvieto like Tales of the City is a love letter to San Francisco” (Eric Jansen, SF Bay Times & Out In the Bay).

Perhaps Emmy Award winning journalist, famed Hollywood reporter Jan Wahl put it best: “Upon This Rock is fabulous. This historical thriller is a sexy ‘DaVinci Code.’ I can’t wait for the movie.”

Upon This Rock by David Eugene Perry / 360 pages / $18.95 / Quilldriver Books, Fresno, CA.  

https://quilldriverbooks.com/new-in-fiction-upon-this-rock-an-elegant-twisty-thriller-is-winning-rave-reviews/

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Wednesday, May 12, 2021

Contact: Mayor’s Office of Communications, mayorspressoffice@sfgov.org

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SAN FRANCISCO ANNOUNCES PLAN TO REOPEN CITY HALL TO PUBLIC

Starting June 7, City Hall will be open for in-person services and general public access

San Francisco, CA — Today, Mayor London N. Breed and City Administrator Carmen Chu announced the schedule for reopening City Hall to the public. City Hall was shut down in March 2020, along with the rest of the City, and has not been open for the general public for almost 15 months. 

Starting Monday, June 7, City Hall will reopen for in-person services and general public access. This includes in-person services like applying for marriage licenses, obtaining birth and death certificates, recording documents, and registering businesses as well as payment of property and business taxes and fees. Counter services will be open for the Treasurer and Tax Collector’s Office, the Assessor’s Office, County Clerk, Office of Small Business, and other agencies. The County Clerk will begin to accept online appointments for in-person marriage ceremonies today and marriage ceremonies (no more than six guests) will resume after City Hall reopens. In the week prior, starting June 1, some City Hall services will be open for very limited in-person services by appointment only and not open to the general public. For more details on the reopening schedules and plans for each Department, visit sf.gov/location/city-hall.

“Bringing the public back into City Hall is a significant step in our reopening process,” said Mayor London Breed. “City Hall is the heart of our civic life, where people can come to take care of their basic needs or take part in the most important moment of their life. It’s where we gather to mourn, to celebrate, and to share in the most important moments of our City. I’m so excited to see people back in this building, especially on that first day when we see weddings return. San Francisco is opening up again.”  

“With our early successes in vaccine distribution and managing COVID-19, we’re now able to implement expanded in-person services across San Francisco,” said City Administrator Carmen Chu. “We’re excited to welcome back the weddings and people into City Hall, but more importantly, we are excited to ensure that those who haven’t been able to connect with us online or by phone have another avenue to access critical services.”

Visitors to City Hall are required to wear facial coverings and maintain 6 feet of distance from members of other households. There may also be additional instructions regarding maximum occupancy when receiving services at individual offices. Regular security screenings will take place upon entry at the Goodlett/Polk Street Steps and the Grove Street entrances. The Van Ness steps and McAllister Street entrances will remain closed.

“This is an exciting day for our staff, and a hopeful milestone on the road to our City’s recovery,” said Treasurer José Cisneros. “Coming to work at City Hall in service to our taxpayers is always an honor, but it will be truly joyful to return to a building full of city workers, residents and tourists.”

“Our office is delighted to be one of the first departments to safely reopen and welcome people back to City Hall. Throughout this pandemic, we quickly pivoted to working remotely, while making sure our resources were still accessible to the public,” said Assessor Joaquín Torres. “Now, once again, whether you are looking to gain answers to your issues, obtain copies of marriage licenses, record vital documents, or to get access to records for research or review, our knowledgeable staff is here to serve you and answer any of your questions. Together, by reopening our doors for service, we are moving forward to provide access and stability for San Franciscans.”

Throughout the pandemic, City agencies have continued to serve the public by responding to constituents’ needs through phone, mail, and online services. San Franciscans can continue to access City services by calling 3-1-1 or visiting sf.gov. 

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