We are going to S.F. at the end of Aug for 3 days. I see alot of hotels do not have A.C. Is this a concern ? Thank you.

Remember Mark Twains quote "The coldest winter he ever saw was the summer he spent in SF". Most likely do not need A/C.

I used to repeat that quote all the time, and then discovered that Mark Twain never said it. It's still a good quote, though!

marcielee, you will in all likelihood be fine without AC, even in August. SF gets about 3 truly hot days every (late) summer; all the rest are jacket weather. So chances are in your favor.

just hope the hotel has heating.

There might be a hot day but it will be a fluke. The hotter it is inland the colder and foggier it usually is on the coast/in SF.

There are the odd hot days - and when it happens, those living in SF do suffer. But for the 4 days a summer it might get to 85-90 there are 30 or 40 days in the 60's

Who said it then?

Regardless, its still accurate. If you want good weather, fly me there. I have been to SF (Oct 06, June 07, Sept 07)3 times in the past 2 years and always had 75-80° weather. Talk about lucky.

As for who actually wrote the line, a Google search turned up the following internet gem:

"I am reading "Roughing It" just now. The San Francisco section in fact. What he wrote is "The climate of San Francisco is mild and singularly equable. The thermometer stands at about seventy degrees the year round. It hardly changes at all. You sleep under one or two light blankets summer and winter, and never use a mosquito bar. Nobody ever wears summer clothing. You wear black broadcloth-if you have it-in August and January, just the same....You do not use overcoats and you do not use fans." ("Roughing It" vol. II, chap. XV entitled in the table of contents as "Glorious Climate of California")

In this chapter he further states that Mono Lake has an "eternal winter", San Francisco an "eternal spring" and Sacramento an "eternal summer."

I am sure Harry Murphy (above) will be the first to admit that these are not words to the effect of, "you can never go without a coat in the summer in the city of San Francisco."

-- TJN ([email protected]), January 12, 2003.


After much argument we searched the 'Batlets Familular Quotations'in order to resolve the dispute as to wether Twain actually coined the quote. It appears that there is no mention of him ever saying, "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco."
We agree that this has incorrectly been attributed to Twain as he seemed a likely author. It captures his wit but he never actually said it.

-- Sandy Rosen ([email protected]), January 20, 2003.


I have seen that quote attributed to H. L. Mencken. I can't remember where I saw that, but it sticks in my head. I believe he said that after attending a newspaper conference in SF in July.

-- ([email protected]), April 15, 2003.


I have not been able to verify this yet, but since I have moved here I have heard it attributed to Will Rogers.

-- Brian Mills ([email protected]), March 29, 2004.


I have been told that it was said by Robert Louis Stevenson.

-- Garey Mills ([email protected]), September 10, 2004.


I'm pretty sure Yogi Berra said that. Or was it Yogi Bear? Or maybe Max Bear? Or maybe Max Headroom? Or maybe Sweet Jane? Or ...

-- Melanie Wilcox ([email protected]), December 10, 2004.


The line did appear in the 1979 movie "Escape from Alcatraz" starring Clint Eastwood. Scene in the yard - Frank Morris (Eastwood) is talking with Doc just before Wolf comes over to attack him [Frank].
I actually went to look up the quote, after watching the movie many many timesm and found this site. (read once that Fargo - which starts as "True Story" is a complete lie so I laugh and get into the habit of checking quotes).

The exact quote: "Mark Twain once wrote - the coldest winter he ever spent was the summer in San Francisco."

Cheers!

Dear marcielee,

The only place in San Francisco where I've appreciated having air conditioning is on the Muni Metro subway cars at the end of a long workday in our "summer" which actually comes in mid September. Other times, I barely notice if a place has it or not.

Hot days in San Francisco do not in general extend into hot nights. Even if there is no fog, there is a breeze that rises up off the Bay or straight off the Pacific late in the day. So dependable is this evening breeze, in fact, that old-timers note its absence as being an indicator of "earthquake weather". In 40-plus years of living here, I can count on one hand the nights where I've had trouble sleeping due to hot weather.

I like the quote above about no one in San Francisco wearing summer clothing - that's me for sure. I'm the one who never leaves the house without a jacket.

The entire city of SF is air conditioned by the ocean - hence, no need for it in buildings

I always smile on my summertime return flight to SFO and the tourists coming to CA are in shorts and tank tops. I give them directions to the fleece guy in Chinatown. On my departing summertime flights--filled with same tourists wearing their newly acquired "SF" fleece.

When I was in San Francisco in Auguest, a shop keep told me he could spot the tourists because of what they wore.

He said the tourists all had on long pants and jackets and the San Franciscans would be the ones in shorts when it would get in the 70s.

HI--we were in SF in May '07, during an unseasonably hot spell. If we had not had AC, the hotel room would have been very unpleasant. It just depends on how confident you are that the weather will cooperate and how much you do or don't mind the heat. I have noticed that often the AC is as important for air circulation as it is for temp. Very few hotel rooms have cross ventilation and they can be very stuffy if all you can do is open a window on one wall.

You will miss some very good San Francisco hotels if you insist on air conditioning. The new, large chain and convention supporting hotels will have it. It will be "air conditioning" literally, meaning that you will be glad to turn the temperature up and get some heat, but you will seldom, if ever, need to cool the room off.

Boutique hotels which do not have air conditioning have windows which can be opened, and the San Francisco sea air is much better for you than air which has been pumped in.

I live on the coast 70 miles south of the city and nobody here has air conditiong in their home.

That was my favorite line, too!

My favorite fun fact about San Francisco that I am always tellinjg people when we are happily clad in "summerime clothes" in other places is that we never get to wear them at home!

(Oddly, though, I seem to collect them- you can wear them in the Wine Country and Contra Costa County, though.)

I must respectfully disagree w/jtrandolph. We were in a lovely boutique hotel The Rex, and we had the option of either AC or opening the windows, i.e. the best of both worlds.

Marcielee, I've lived in the SF Bay Area all my life (until now) and went to school in the city. 97% of the time you will need a light sweater. In the summer, it gets 'hot' for us because we're used to 55 - 65 degree weather. Rarely does it ever get into the 90s. If it DOES get hot, the norm is about 75 - 80 degrees. You'll be safe. Really, you will.

Hi--just one last post.....outdoor temp has little if any effect on the air circulation in a hotel room that may have only one window....a stuffy room that may get afternooon sun can be brutal.

One year we were in La Jolla in a room direcctly across from the ocean w/large windows facing the ocean. We thought surely that we were fine w/o AC. Well, said windows faced the intense afternoon sun as well as the ocean. The room stored up so much solar heat and having windows all on one wall allowed for no cross ventilation. We were miserably hot at night even w/a fan blowing. Indoors and outdoors are not the same and only you can decide how a possibly warm or stuffy room will affect you.

We have air conditioning build into the city of San Francisco. We call it fog. LOL

In August it is possible to get a few warm days but it is usually hotter in September.

It is of course MUCH warmer once you leave SF.

I was in San Francisco in May '07 during the brief heat wave that previous poster describes.

While it was very warm during the daytime (around 90 degrees), I stayed in a hotel that had no air conditioning but did not have any trouble sleeping at night with the windows open (no cross ventilation in my room - just 2 windows facing the street) - temps at night were in high 70s. I did have a ceiling fan in my room, so perhaps you could find a place that has the same if you choose to stay at a place with no a/c.

We were there in late August 2006 and wished we had warmer clothes! IT got especially cold in the evening.

I use hotel air conditioning more often for 'white noise' than for cooling.