Columbus Tower, also known as the Sentinel Building. Photo by Thomas Hawk. San Francisco
The Sentinel Building
Jun 5, 2023
Built1907
ArchitectsSalfield & Kohlberg
OwnersAlbert & Connie Der Family Trust

The Kingston Trio’s manager, Frank Werber, established a recording studio in the basement of this 1907 flatiron building. It was known as the Columbus Tower when one of the first big San Francisco rock hits, We Five’s “You Were On My Mind,” was recorded here in 1965. The Grateful Dead also did work some here on their second album, 1968’s Anthem of the Sun. Later the building was sold to famed film director Francis Ford Coppola, who used it to house American Zoetrope, the film studio he co-founded with fellow noted director George Lucas. The Sentinel Building is now San Francisco Designated Landmark #33.

 


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