The Legend
Born of Love and Legend…and Continuing the Tradition.
In the lawless days of the Barbary Coast, a Texas Ranger rode into San Francisco on a mission of duty. Captain Tony Taylor had been sent west to apprehend a fugitive named Sam Adams — and in a dramatic gun duel on the floor of a Barbary Coast dance hall, he found his man.
But fate had more in store for the Captain than justice.
Within that same dance hall, his eyes fell upon a woman unlike any he had ever known. Her name was Gussie Lee — the toast of San Francisco, radiant and adored by all who encountered her. What began as a chance meeting became a whirlwind romance, and when the time came for Captain Taylor to return to Texas, the two lovers made a promise. They would meet again in San Antonio, where the Captain vowed to build a place worthy of the woman who had captured his heart.
He arrived first. He chose his land and began to build — counting the days until Gussie Lee would join him.
She never came.
The stagecoach carrying her across the Texas frontier was attacked, and she was gone. When word reached Captain Taylor, he was seen riding hard into the night — and was never heard from again.
The dream he carried, however, never died.
“To those lovers, and all other lovers, The Old San Francisco offers the hospitality of Captain Tony Taylor’s dream.”
Hanging in the lobby of The Old San Francisco, the portrait of Gussie Lee has welcomed guests for over half a century — a silent reminder of the love story that inspired this place.
She Still Swings
The Girl on the Red Velvet Swing has been a symbol of The Old San Francisco since 1968. The original swing still hangs in the Swing Room today — a living piece of history connecting every guest to the legend of Gussie Lee.
