Haunted Pub Crawl Near Me Downtown: Pied Piper and President Harding's Ghost

Searching haunted pub crawl near me from a Market Street hotel room leads to a bar where a president died down the hall and a painted piper leads children away above the bottles. Pied Piper sits inside the Palace Hotel at 2 New Montgomery Street, at the corner of Market, and its official site lists dinner and cocktails daily from 5 to 11 pm. It is the most elegant first stop in the city, and the ghost story comes with a rival version across the street.

The first thing to look at is the painting. According to the Palace Hotel, Maxfield Parrish was commissioned to paint The Pied Piper of Hamelin for the hotel's reopening in 1909, after the 1906 earthquake and fire, and it has hung in its namesake bar ever since. ABC7 reported that the canvas measures 16 feet long by six feet high, and the hotel says it holds 27 faces, including Parrish's wife, his mistress, his two sons and the artist himself as the piper.

That painting nearly vanished, which is part of its legend. In March 2013 the hotel's owner announced plans to auction it, and ABC7 reported an uproar, with Mayor Ed Lee personally calling the management to ask that the painting stay in San Francisco. The owner backtracked, sent it to New York for restoration and promised its return, and ABC7 put its value at $3 million to $5 million. Tablehopper reported it was hung back behind the bar on August 22, 2013.

The ghost angle starts in 1923. CBS San Francisco recounts that President Warren G. Harding died in his bed in the presidential suite of the Palace Hotel on August 2, 1923. A sudden death, a president far from Washington and an old grand hotel make the kind of story that lingers in a building, and the bar keeps the memory alive on its cocktail list.

Order Harding's Old Fashioned, which the official menu builds from rye whiskey, Fernet Branca, maple and port orange bitters, a darker, more bitter twist on the classic. The Charlie Chaplin mixes rye, Dubonnet Rouge, absinthe, honey, Peychaud's bitters and lemon juice, and the Hamelin combines blueberry-infused whiskey, Benedictine, dry vermouth and peach bitters. Each one is a little history lesson in a glass.

There are lighter choices too. The menu's crafted creations include the French Parlor with Gosling's rum, Licor 43, pineapple syrup, Campari, lime and orgeat, and the Green Goddess Refresher is the zero-proof option for designated walkers. If you are eating, the dinner menu runs 5 to 10 pm and a late-night bites menu covers 10 to 11 pm, so a crawl that circles back here can still find a burger.

That burger has its own small controversy. The current menu lists the Pied Piper Smash Burger, a house-made wagyu patty with Point Reyes Tomarashi cheese, green goddess aioli, lettuce, tomato, red onion and pommes frites on a brioche bun. A September 2026 OpenTable reviewer mourned the old gourmet burger and wrote that Carol Doda and Herb Caen are gone along with it, which sums up how regulars feel about change in this room.

Across New Montgomery is the rival legend. The House of Shields, at 39 New Montgomery Street, says it opened in 1908 and has never had a clock on the premises. Its own story page says Harding was a favorite customer, with his picture on the wall, and that while he is reported to have died at the Palace, local lore suggests he died at the House of Shields with a woman who was not his wife at his side.

That pairing makes the perfect two-stop opening for a downtown haunted pub crawl. Start with the official version under the Parrish mural, then walk across the street and hear the scandalous one under the no-clock rule. The two bars are steps apart on New Montgomery, and arguing over which story is true is a good way to spend the second round. Ghost hunters can decide for themselves which room the president haunts.

The hotel itself carries more history. The Palace says the original hotel opened in 1875 as the largest and most luxurious hotel in the world, with horse-drawn carriages driving in through the grand entrance on New Montgomery. The 1906 earthquake and fire reduced it to a burned-out shell, it reopened in 1909, and after the 1989 earthquake it closed for a renovation that took two years.

Halloween weekend brings a daytime option for mixed groups. The Palace Hotel's Spooky Tea runs Saturday, October 31, from noon to 2 pm in the Garden Court, starting at $70 per person, according to the hotel's holiday announcement published in Luxury Travel Magazine. It is designed for guests of all ages, so families can do the tea while the adults save the Pied Piper bar for the evening crawl.

Reservations go through OpenTable, which lists business casual as the dress code and valet parking at the hotel. The Palace's main line, handles hotel questions, including bookings for the Garden Court tea.

A few more practical notes. Treat it as the one elegant stop on the crawl rather than the place to linger all night. Sit at the bar facing the mural for the best view of the 27 faces, and ask the bartender to point out Parrish himself as the piper. Montgomery Street station is a short walk back along Market if you finish late, with BART and Muni Metro trains running late.

Pied Piper suits crawlers who want their ghosts with polish: history buffs, art lovers, couples starting a date night and visitors staying downtown. Order Harding's Old Fashioned, find the faces in the mural, then cross New Montgomery to the House of Shields and let the two versions of 1923 argue it out over the next round.