Interior designer Ken Fulk revels in the optimism and the quirks of his home city
Interview by ELIZABETH VARNELL
San Francisco is a mythical, magical city full of optimism and surrounded by natural beauty. Even after 30 years, it still takes my breath away. It’s the only place where I could have made up this life for myself, and I try not to take that for granted.
I dress up every day — and I have since I was a kid. Here, that means going into my dressing room and picking out a suit and tie from my wardrobe. It’s something I look forward to each morning. A fresh haircut from DOYLE LAVARIAS is another of my favorite rituals.
The greatest joy of my life here is hiking with my dogs — going directly from my front door into the wilderness of Twin Peaks — or strolling into town. And I do love a rousing game of pickleball — indoors or outside, it’s an obsession. I’m also a huge WAYMO fan. Once you ride in one, you quickly realize that distracted humans shouldn’t be driving 3,000-pound weapons.
“It’s the only place where I could have made up this life for myself.”
For such a cosmopolitan city, San Francisco has been missing a hotel that has the gravitas of great history and good bones combined with true luxury and gracious comfort. That was our goal as we sought to bring the shine back to the crown jewel of Nob Hill, THE HUNTINGTON HOTEL. I’ve long said that if I could eat at only one restaurant for the rest of my life, it would be ZUNI CAFÉ. That still holds true. It’s an open, airy restaurant with double-height windows overlooking Market Street and the streetcars that traverse it. After more than 40 years, it’s as relevant and delicious as it was when I first experienced it in the early 1990s, and the wood oven–roasted chicken is legendary.
San Francisco is still a town with wonderful quirky independent shops. A few of my favorite interiors spots are the PERISH TRUST, SUE FISHER KING, and the wonderful LINDA FAHEY’s works at our own retail shop, now open at SAINT JOSEPH’S ARTS SOCIETY. The CASTRO THEATRE reopened in March after a multiyear restoration. First up was a 20-show residency with Sam Smith, which was incredible. I went back a few weeks later to see my friend John Waters receive the Frameline Award, along with a screening of Serial Mom. A very San Francisco occasion.
On the heels of a years-long transformation of The Huntington Hotel and The Big Four restaurant in Nob Hill, designer Ken Fulk is at work on the Beverly Hills Hotel’s first expansion since the 1940s.
This story originally appeared in the Fashionable Living 2026 issue of C Magazine.
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