Those behind San Francisco's new four star Hotel Vitale, which opened on Wednesday, March 9th 2005, are on a Joie de Vivre mission. Their mission combines the talents of Architect Clark Manus of Heller-Manus Architects, zen-like interior design by Colum McCartan, the management of David Curell and Christine Gaudenzi and the vision of Joie de Vivre's king of hospitality, Chip Conley. Together they conspired to offer a "luxuriously natural" City by the Bay boutique hotel experience. And they've pretty much nailed it!

The Embarcadero waterfront dream took six years and $53 million to complete. In fact, of Chip Conley's previous twenty plus Northern California hotel ventures, it is his first to begin from the ground up.

The corner of Mission and The Embarcardero is a "dream" location where city buses used to sleep.

Interior Designer McCartan was on site yesterday putting finishing touches in every corner before Mayor Gavin Newsom and former Mayor Willie Brown's arrival for the grand opening. In every room and every nook and cranny he used light, shadow, natural materials, and then sprinkled them with a touch of soul.

Pier 26 - Future Site of The Int'l Museum of Women

On October 2nd 2004, an historic moment for women around the world took place in San Francisco.

Entrepreneurs, communicators, artists, philanthropists, ministers, past presidents of countries, and even masked men and women gathered on Saturday evening at One Market, next door to the acclaimed restaurant. The purpose of the gathering was to celebrate women and to officially open the Celebrating Women All Over the World exhibit.

This exhibit serves as the pre-cursor to the proposed launch of the world's first international museum exclusively dedicated to honoring the lives of women around the globe.

Carrie Schwab Pomerantz, President of the Charles Schwab Corporation Foundation, was the chair of Saturday night's Gala. She joined the team, in part, because she is passionate about helping women gain economic parity. On behalf of her entire family, she is dedicated to helping women become financially successful.

Honorary Co-Chairs included Dagmar Dolby and Toni Rembe.

Gloria Steinem, Congresswoman Barbara Lee with Elizabeth Colton

The museum, founded by entrepreneur and philanthropist, Elizabeth Colton and run by Chris Yelton is called The International Museum of Women.

The plan of the museum's Board, chaired by Colton, their Advisory Council, along with President Yelton and her team, is to create a world-class cultural and educational institution.

One of the women on Yelton's executive staff is Maureen Blanc.

Ms. Blanc, the co-founder of Blanc & Otus - a leading technology public relations firms now owned by Hill & Knowlton, is the organization's new Vice President of Marketing.

Maureen said:

The International Museum of Women will be different from the women's history museum and women's halls of fame. Our mission is to create a unique cultural center that documents women's pasts, that captures their present accomplishments with a mission to change the future regarding how women's contributions are valued.

Today, the current exhibit opened to the public in the Concourse Lobby of One Market in the Spear Tower.