Hotel Review : the Nazareth Hotel in San Francisco, CA

Nazareth Hotel
556 Jones Street
San Francisco, CA
# 415-771-2006

* Cash only
* Near #38 and #27 MUNI bus lines
* Not for families

When it comes to S.R.O. (Single Room Occupancy, or residential) hotels in the city of San Francisco, it's hard to know what you are getting into before you go in the door. Thus, my reviews. Like most S.R.O.s in the $200 per week price range, the Nazareth is a grab bag of amenities that may surprise you and a complete lack of other things you might consider to be basics.

First of all, the hotel is located right on the corner of Geary and Jones. It is very convenient to Union Square and fairly convenient to Market Street and the major public transportation corridors (being a short bus ride or walk away). The price is apparently $200 to $225 per week depending on the size of the rooms; they run ads on Craig's List sometimes, so check there and/or call ahead to verify availablility and rates. I'm not certain if they offer rooms by the night.

The place is family-run with the managers residing on-site. I found them to be pleasant and easy to deal with and they seem to run a fairly tight ship. There's an attendant that sits out front during the daylight hours; one of them seemed confused and loaded most of the time, but all-in-all the place seemed fairly secure. The only incident during my stay had to do with some police being called due to a loud domestic argument on my floor around 3 A.M., which was resolved peacefully. I'm not gonna delude myself into thinking the place doesn't have drug dealers and such, I mean every S.R.O. does, but the owners seemed to not want that stuff going on in there and whatever dirt may have been going on didn't spill out into the common areas.