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PROMISED YOU AMERICA

In the previous century, after the Second World War, many Europeans sought to immigrate to the United States. It was the promised land, a beautiful and safe country. These immigrants had to work to survive, back then there were no financial support programs for immigrants.

My father was one such immigrant after leaving Holland after the Second World War. He worked many odd jobs until he became his own salesperson, first selling Dutch chocolate from his VW van to supermarkets, and thereafter he became a successful fine arts dealer, importing Dutch paintings to California art galleries.  

One of my first jobs after arriving in America in 1983 was that of a busboy at the Bankers Club. Nowadays they call that job an "assistant waiter" but back then that job was called busboy and "Human Resources" was called the "Personnel Office."  

The restaurant was on top of the 52nd floor of the Bank of America building.  At the time, this was the highest floor in San Francisco.  The restaurant was called the Bankers Club and it occupied two floors. The 51st floor was comprised of private game rooms and a very large banquet room.  And every day at noon the Bankers Club was packed for lunch.  It was a place where its members could have a five star lunch on top of the world. 

At night the restaurant became the Carnelian Room and opened-up to the public for fine dining and romance.  At night the view was even more spectacular as the surrounding skyscrapers were all lit-up.  And in the far distance one could see the Golden Gate Bridge, glowing in neon orange, holding-up all the small cars struggling to and fro.  The Carnelian Room was always busy as people from all over the world came to visit.

From a certain angle from the room where I worked, I would see a swimming pool right below me, on top of the Hilton Hotel in Chinatown. Seeing this pool always cheered me up.  There was something refreshing and reviving about it. This pool was made famous in the Dirty Harry movie, where in its opening scene Scorpio shoots a pretty girl as she was diving into the pool.  In the subsequent scene, Dirty Harry walks up to the rooftop of the Bank of America building, right above my workstation, and finds the slug from Scorpio’s sniper rifle.

Frequently, before the bankers arrived for lunch, I would stand by this window and look down on the pool and wonder what the reverse view would look like: swimming in the pool and looking up at the top of the Bank of America.  And I would always ask myself: Would I be able to see a person behind the tinted glass where I now was standing?


Clint Eastwood as Dirty Harry in San Francisco

At other times, I would look farther into the distance and see tall apartment buildings in the Pacific Heights and Presidio Heights neighborhoods, so much great architectural monuments, especially when seeing the early morning shadows caste upon them.  And a little to my right was Pier 39, Alcatraz, and beyond that, on the other side, Marin County. 

I always felt fortunate to be standing behind the glass of the highest floor in San Francisco, to have this luxury that few men had generations before me.  At times I viewed the Bankers Club restaurant as a giant merry-go-round.  And though I didn’t have a seat myself, I was on-board for the ride.

Moreover, the food was incredible.  It was orchestrated by a French chef and the presentation of it seemed no less spectacular than its taste, especially to me.  In Holland I had never seen an avocado before, let alone tasted one with crab meat topped with a creamy vinaigrette house dressing or spooned chilled papaya soup out of a papaya buried in a large silver bowl with crushed ice. And now, at the age of 19, I was eating some of the best foods in the world and had the horizon of the world around my feet. 
Bankers Club / Carnelian Room in San Francisco

SUBSEQUENTLY: The Bankers Club Carnelian Room closed its doors after serving its last dinner on New Year’s Eve in 2009.






 

Theo Bruinsma, San Francisco SFO 2019


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Location: San Francisco, CA, USA

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