Beefeater doorman is carrying his own bags from now on...

When a kid of Irish descent grows up in San Francisco’s Sunset district, he has proper sights set on becoming one of the City’s finest, either a fireman or a police officer. When that kid’s family has a retreat home in Sonoma, with lots of other uniformed SF families, that future is all the more expected.

That kid has a uniform in his future.

Back in 1976, Riordan High School graduate Tom Sweeney took a summer job while he waited for either the fire department or police department to offer him a spot in their academies. He signed on temporarily at the Sir Francis Drake Hotel, where his mom knew the General Manager’s wife.

The job was as a doorman at the famous hotel. It was a pretty good gig for the young Sweeney. It offered non-stop action, fun interaction with lots of people, eye opening tips for a young kid, and a stylish uniform.

The doormen at the Sir Francis Drake Hotel are outfitted with Beefeater costumes. Forty pounds of flash. The uniform itself was made in New York, the hat was from Los Angeles. Locally made soccer socks worked just fine, but the whistle made in London, England.

Forty-three years later, when Sweeney, 62, retired from his “summer job” at the hotel, he had accumulated 46 of those uniforms, all custom made and paid for by the hotel. “I still have almost all my old uniforms in my closet. I am like an old soldier,” Sweeney said in a phone call from his home in the Richmond district.

The Sweeney summer home in Sonoma is in the hills above the Springs and has been in the family for more than 50 years. “It’s on the top of the mountain. Kinda quiet up there. Now that I am retired, I go to Sonoma every week,” Sweeney said.

Sweeney was a proud member of Unite Here, Local 2, the hotel workers union. The union represents workers in San Francisco and San Mateo counties and has over 30,000 members. His 43 years of service allowed Sweeney to retire on January 12, 2020. The hotel threw him a big party, as he was not just a doorman. One month later, the Sir Francis Drake Hotel was boarded up, a victim of COVID-19.

“I got out just in time,” Sweeney said.

During the time he was there, Sweeney made quite an impression. An effervescent chap, Sweeney was well known and very well liked among the Union Square regulars. And with a bright red uniform and a whistle that was constantly being used to hail a cab, Sweeney was hard to miss.

One thing he did not miss was a tackle. In 1981, just as he was settling into what he calls “the greatest job a guy could have,” he witnessed a robbery.

“I can’t let this happen,” Sweeney thought to himself. He raced after the thief, closed in on him after a half block on a crowded Powell Street sidewalk, and laid him out with a tackle worthy of a 49er.

Crime solved and case closed, Sweeney became a folk hero. He was on the dais in front of City Hall with then-Mayor Dianne Feinstein as she honored two lighthearted recent civic events: his catch of a thief, and a very famous football catch. Standing with Joe Montana, Dwight Clark and Sweeney, Feinstein said, “Today, I honor a quarterback, a receiver and a tackle.”

He spoke fondly of his job as a visible and popular ambassador of San Francisco. “Back then, it was mainly guys, business travelers, 80 percent men, now it’s pretty even. I always knew which conventions were coming into town.”

“I was a greeter, a porter, a guide, a ringmaster, a constable, a valet, and a consierge all in one,” Sweeney matter-of-factly remarked.

“When I started, the suitcases didn’t have wheels on them. Those showed up about 30 years ago; I saw a lot of traveler technology develop.” Sweeney reflected on another big development, “The best thing to happen was the installation of automatic doors 27 years ago. I used to open that heavy door all day long.” The doorman said, “Best thing that ever happened to me, automatic doors.”

Speaking of heavy, Sweeney typically handled between 700 and 1,000 suitcases per day. “I helped them with their luggage from the car to the front door. The bellman would take it to the room. I carried every bag. I never joined a gym, it was a great athletic job.”

Here’s another number for you. Every nine minutes, the Powell Street Cable Car would stop in front on the hotel, and the cameras would start clicking. “I took between 500-1,000 photos a day, a lot of pictures. Had to look good every day, you couldn’t be hungover.”

The constant communication with the tourists and the locals alike that Sweeney enjoyed led to an interesting friendship. Herb Caen, the famous columnist of the San Francisco Chronicle, relied on Sweeney to feed him items for his stories. “Herb Caen….he called me at home all the time. When he called me, it felt like god was calling me. He was the most powerful guy in the world.”

“I knew him real well. We used to go out for drinks, he was a close friend of mine. I was in his column 100 times,” the famous doorman said.

Life on the Powell Street was sweet for Sweeney. He met many famous people, got to know many families as they returned to SF year after year and watched their kids grow up.

He also enjoyed the local spin of street life. The concrete canyons of San Francisco were home to his people. “All my friends would come and visit. We were all working out there. It was one of the best careers I could ever have.”

Sweeney’s wife Cindy spoke of her husband’s routine now that he wears actual normal street clothes. “He runs every afternoon. He goes to Sonoma and the Russian River. He checks the stock market, and he’s my chauffeur.”

Did Tom Sweeney retire that cheery attitude with the Beefeater’s uniform? Cindy said, “He is happy all the time. He’s very positive, 365/24/7 happy.”

Recently, the current owners of the Sir Francis Drake Hotel announced they are considering a name change for the venerable hostelry due to new thinking around the legacy of Drake, an explorer and slave trader. Mrs. Sweeney said, “Tom is happy he retired when he did. He is concerned about the future of the hotel and of his co-workers.”

Sweeney said of his 43 years as a doorman at one of SF’s finest hotels, “It was so exciting. There were so many events going on. Job never got boring, you know.”

Keep your eyes peeled for the ruddy cheeked, mustachioed Sweeney on the weekends around the Plaza. He might, just out of habit, open a door for you. Take his photo, you’ll get a great story to go with it.