If these copper-clad walls could talk, they'd name-drop shamelessly. Its original occupant was political boss Abe Rueff, ousted in 1907 and sent to San Quentin for bribing city supervisors. Grammy-winning folk group The Kingston Trio bought the tower in the 1960s, and the Grateful Dead recorded in the basement. Since 1972 it's been owned by The Godfather director Francis Ford Coppola, who occasionally shares office space with The Joy Luck Club director Wayne Wang and Academy Award-winning actor/director Sean Penn.
During Prohibition, Columbus Tower housed a speakeasy – now you can sip Coppola wines in plain sight, around the heated sidewalk tables of ground-floor Cafe Zoetrope .
