On Thursday, January 18, 2007 at 9:55:10 AM UTC-8, Hoodini wrote:
> Peter Petri -- top bellman at the St. Francis for decades
> Carl Nolte, Chronicle Staff Writer
> Wednesday, January 17, 2007
> http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/01/17/BAGP8NJSUN1.DTL
> Peter Petri was a man who carried the luggage of the rich and famous
> with such style that he became a San Francisco institution himself.
> Mr. Petri welcomed travelers and San Franciscans to the St. Francis
> hotel for 61 years and three months, first as an elevator operator and
> then, after World War II, as the hotel's premier bellman. Mr. Petri,
> who retired when he turned 80 in 1996, died of congestive heart
> failure on Christmas Eve at the age of 90.
> There will be a celebration of his long life and times Thursday at 3
> p.m. at Victor's Palace at the St. Francis.
> "People were always glad to see him. He welcomed people from all over
> the world to the St. Francis,'' said his son, Michael Petri, who
> carries on the family tradition by being a doorman at the hotel.
> "He knew people from all over the world,'' Michael Petri said, "and
> the whole world comes to San Francisco.''
> Mr. Petri carried bags for everyone who was anyone in his day --
> presidents, movie stars, foreign dignitaries, celebrities and regular
> guests. He also assisted San Franciscans in the days when the St.
> Francis had permanent guests who made their home in the hotel.
> Some of the more famous guests would need two or three bellmen to help
> with all their bags. Mr. Petri's guests included Presidents Dwight
> Eisenhower and Richard Nixon, Gen. Douglas MacArthur, and celebrities
> like Bette Davis, Jack Dempsey, Bing Crosby, John Wayne, Marilyn
> Monroe, Rita Hayworth, Jean Harlow, Perry Como, Merv Griffin and
> Xavier Cugat.
> Mr. Petri had a number of stories about his famous guests. Bette
> Davis, he told a hotel industry magazine once, was "a very moody
> person.'' John Wayne sent him out to get a bottle of liquor and then
> invited Mr. Petri to have a drink with him. Mr. Petri hesitated at
> first, because drinking on the job was strictly against the rules.
> But, said the younger Petri, it was difficult to refuse to have a
> drink with the likes of John Wayne.
> Mr. Petri also had other requests from the famous. Jean Harlow sent
> him out to buy a lot of milk so she could take a milk bath; Marilyn
> Monroe wanted a lot of ice, to keep her famous chest cool and firm.
> There were other stories about celebrities that Mr. Petri kept to himself.
> "He would tell stories to a certain extent,'' Michael Petri said, but
> when asked for more tales of the rich and famous, he would say, 'I'm
> going to take that one with me.' ''
> Sometimes, his silences were golden. "You don't want to talk about
> Nixon,'' he said of the former president.
> "Discretion was the better part of valor for him,'' his son said.
> Mr. Petri was born in Lucca, Italy, in 1916 and came to the United
> States when he was 11. His family settled in San Francisco's North
> Beach area. In 1935, he went to work for the St. Francis Hotel as an
> elevator operator. He was paid $2.80 a day.
> He sometimes filled in on bellman shifts and soon became a regular on
> the staff.
> Mr. Petri served in the U.S. Army during World War II in both
> California and Europe.
> He returned to the St. Francis, this time as a senior bellman, after
> the war. He remembered those years fondly, his son said, especially
> the era when the St. Francis washed its coins so that ladies would not
> have to soil their white gloves with dirty money.
> Monday nights were special for a fashion show in the Mural Room that
> attracted an audience that was formally dressed -- the men in tails
> and top hats, the women in evening gowns.
> The St. Francis was "the place to be," he said. "It was the center of
> everything.''
> Mr. Petri decided it was "time to get out'' when he reached the
> 60-year mark, but he stayed another year and three months. "He enjoyed
> his work,'' said his son. "It was fun to him.''
> He loved to ride horses all his life and he retired to Redding where
> he could ride regularly.
> In addition to his son Michael of Santa Rosa, Mr. Petri is survived by
> two daughters, Sandra Belstler of El Dorado Hills in Placer County,
> and Roxanne Turkovich of Redding; by his sister, Alberta "Bea" Crispi
> of Oakland; and by five grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
> --
> Stuff Up the Cracks

Pete retired and stayed in Redwood City, where he lived from at least the late 1970s. He was a good man and I remember him well.